"Jesu, Jesu, have mercy on me"

"Jesu, Jesu, have meecy on me" These were the dying words of St Margaret Clitherowe. She was not a bishop, nor a priest, nor a Ladh of court but just a simple wife and mother who was born in York and lived there all her life. Yet she gave this life for the Catholic Faith. She was born in the troubled days of Mary Tudor when an attempt was made to restore the Catholic Faith to England but to no avail. Elizabeth came to power and there was great persecution. Priests and seminarians from the Catholic Mission at Douay were especially hunted down and those who gave them shelter were also savagely imprisoned and executed. Yet it was at this time that Margaret converted to the Catholic Faith. Her house became a haven for these Jesuit priests and she was imprisoned and realeased several times. But she did not give up her `treasonable` activities. At last she was arrested and sentenced to death. She was in prison for a week and many people pleaded with her to save herself by changing her faith but she refused. She was put to death in a most brutal manner. She was laid on the ground and a door placed over her on which many weights were placed until the body underneath was crushed. What vile mind thought this up? Was this really about God and the Protestant faith? Margaret was heard pleading in her agony "Jesu, Jesu, have mercy on me". Margaret`s body we know was eventually recovered by her friends and was moved around from place to place for its safety. But such was the secrecy that eventually the place of the body was forgotten and we do not know where it is today. St Margaret`s only crime was her love of the Catholic Church and she gave her life for the Catholic Faith. We ow so much to these simple catholics. God bless her and may she help us in our endeavours to bring England back to the true Faith.