During the persecution of the Church in England under Elizabeth I and James I, English Jesuits were smuggled into the country to fill the sacramental needs of recusant and hidden Catholics. They often hid in houses that had “priest holes” designed and built by St. Nicholas Owen. St. Nicholas Owen was a carpenter and mason, and became a Jesuit lay brother in 1577. We don’t know how many of these priest holes he built, but they saved many priests’ lives. Eventually he was hunted down after the failure of the Gunpowder Plot, captured, and tortured on the rack for information on his projects. However, he never revealed any information and was abused to the point that his stomach split open and his intestines spilled out. He died the next day, March 2, 1606, and is listed as one of the Forty Martyrs of England canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970.
Called “Little John” because of his small size, St. Nicholas Owen was a man of huge accomplishments. He used his skills as a mason and carpenter to save lives and allow the sacraments to be celebrated. And yet, in the United States about 20% of those who call themselves Catholic attend weekly Mass. We have the greatest gift that God can give us, Jesus Christ, in the presence of the Eucharist for our worship and spiritual nourishment. There is an old phrase that is apropos here: “Seven days without prayer makes one weak.” Our very lives depend on the food we eat. Our very souls depend on the Eucharist we eat! Invite someone you know to Mass. Take your children to Mass. Go to Mass on weekdays. We thank St. Nicholas Owen for his witness to the necessity of the Eucharist.
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