From: hildegard8@excite.com   
      
   August 28th - St Edmund Arrowsmith   
      
   In the village of Haydock, which lies a mile from Ashton in Makerfield,   
   Brian Arrowsmith (later confirmed Edmund) was born in 1585. His parents   
   Margery and Robert were staunch Roman Catholics, not an enviable position to   
   take at this time for their faith was outlawed and it's members mercilessly   
   persecuted. When Brian was just eight years old he witnessed a raid on his   
   family home by the priest hunters. His parents were taken off to jail at   
   Lancaster, and Brian, together with the three other Arrowsmith children, was   
   left shivering in his night clothes. This would undoubtedly have been a   
   traumatic episode which remained in his memory forever. Eventually, Robert   
   and Margery were released after paying a fine, but his father then went   
   abroad for a period of time to escape the harassment. Sadly, shortly after   
   his return to Haydock he died, an event which he had foretold.   
      
   In 1605, the same year as the gunpowder plot which increased hostility   
   towards the Catholics, Brian Arrowsmith sailed to the continent. He had made   
   the decision to study for the priesthood at the English College at Douai. He   
   was finally ordained on December 9th 1612, and returned as an undercover   
   missionary priest to his native Lancashire in June 1613. His mission was   
   centred on the village of Brindle, covering the countryside around Chorley,   
   Clayton Green, Walton-le-dale and Salmesbury. Here he carried out his   
   clandestine activities for ten years.   
      
   In 1628 he had a disagreement with the son of the landlord of the Blue   
   Anchor Inn at Brindle, regarding the young man's marriage before a   
   Protestant minister, which Edmund considered invalid. The young man was   
   furious and reported Edmund to the Justice of the Peace, who although   
   reluctant, was forced by the laws of the time to act. Edmund was warned that   
   the priest hunters were about to arrive so he made his escape on horseback   
   across Brindle Moor. Unfortunately his horse refused to jump a ditch and the   
   priest hunters were able to catch up with him. He was arrested and was   
   locked up in the cowshed of the Blue Boar Inn until he could be transported   
   to Lancaster Castle dungeons.   
      
   He was brought to trial on August 26th 1628 and was sentenced to death by   
   the presiding judge, Henry Yelverton, with the terrible words, "You shall go   
   from hence to the place from whence you came; from thence you shall go to   
   the place of execution on a hurdle. You shall be hanged by the neck till you   
   be half dead; your members shall be cut off before your eyes and thrown into   
   the fire, where likewise your bowels shall be burnt. Your head shall be cut   
   off and set upon a pole, and your quarters shall be set upon the four   
   corners of the Castle. And may God Have mercy on your soul." After receiving   
   absolution from John Southworth of Samlesbury Hall, who himself was a   
   prisoner at this time, Edmund Arrowsmith was taken to a hillside above   
   Lancaster on the 28th August 1628 and the horrific execution took place.   
      
   Following his death several relics of Edmund Arrowsmith were secured by his   
   followers, the most famous one being his severed hand. This came into the   
   possession of the Gerard family of Bryn, who were relatives of his mother.   
   Soon afterwards the hand became venerated by pilgrims and many miraculous   
   cures were attributed to it.   
      
   On October 25th 1970 Edmund Arrowsmith was one of forty martyrs who were   
   canonized. Since 1822 his holy hand, which is now housed in St Oswald's   
   Church at Ashton-in-Makerfield, has become the source of a weekly   
   pilgrimage. Pieces of linen which have come into contact with the hand are   
   also requested by people from all over the world.   
      
   At the isolated village of Brindle where the saint carried out his ministry   
   there are still many reminders of his presence. In St Joseph's church, the   
   high altar is an ornately carved sideboard that was once used by him, and in   
   the sacristy is preserved his tattered chasuble. On Gregson Lane stands a   
   Tudor cottage known as the House of the Last Mass. A plaque over the door   
   tells how he 'offered the sacrifice of the Mass in this house.' and mass is   
   still celebrated regularly in an upstairs room.   
      
      
   Reflection: Read the lives of the Saints, and you will find yourself living   
   amid company to whose standards you will be forced to raise, at least in   
   some measure, your own in your daily life.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
      
   "In many things they are with me, in a few things not with me; but in those   
   few things in which they are not with me the many things in which they are   
   will not profit them. (on Ps 54, n. 19). ... You, who believe what you like,   
   believe yourselves rather than the Gospel" ("Contra Faustum Manichaeum",   
   book, 17, ch. 3).   
      
   -St. Augustine (Doctor, 354-430)   
      
   Bible Quotes:   
      
   "That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the   
   gates of hell shall not prevail against it" And I will give to thee the keys   
   of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it   
   shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it   
   shall be loosed also in heaven." - Matt 16:18-19   
      
   "This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.   
   And in vain do they worship me, teaching doctrines and precepts of men. For   
   leaving the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men. And he said   
   to them: Well do you make void the commandment of God, that you may keep   
   your own tradition." - Mark 7:6-9   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   An act of love, to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament (with Psalm passages):   
      
   Good Jesus, I love Thee.  I love Thee with my whole heart and above all   
   things.  Thou know that I love Thee, but I wish to love Thee daily more and   
   more, and to do what is most pleasing to Thee.   
      
   "My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God...For the sparrow   
   hath found herself a house and the turtle a nest for herself...Thy altars,   
   O Lord of hosts, my King and my God," there Thou do bid me peace in Thy   
   Body and Blood.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)