Let's hear it for Venerable Eustace White!

Whose anniversary of death it is today. A great man who came, originally, from Louth in Lincolnshire (a bit of a spiritual desert today).
He became a convert to the faith and, as a result, his father laid a most awful curse upon him. He studied at Rheims and later Rome and was ordained in 1586.
In 1588 he was assigned to the English Mission and laboured in the fields of the Lord in Dorset, being arrested in the town of Blandford.

Whilst in prison the authorities sent for a learned Protestant scholar (as was the custom) by the name of Dr Houel, to debate with Fr White. However, the priest soon put Houel to flight and he vanished in some disarray.

Sent to the Bridewell Gaol in London, Fr White became the focus for the most notorious of torturers, Topcliffe, who suspended him, in manacles, for over eight hours on seven different occasions. It is reported that the sweat from his body formed pools under him, such were his agonies. At the height of his pain he cried out: "Lord, more pain if Thou pleasest, and more patience". And to his torturer he said: "I am not angry with you for all this, but shall pray to God for your welfare and salvation". He was cut down alive from the scaffold and dragged to the fire where two men stood on his arms, pinning him to the ground, while he was butchered.
He remained resolute to the end and refused to name any colleagues or helpers.
He won his crown at Tyburn in 1591, a mere thirty one years of age.

ST EUSTACE WHITE - ORA PRO NOBIS

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"I believe in getting into hot water, it keeps you clean"

G K Chesterton