From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On Ardent Love and Eager Desire to Receive Christ [II]   
      
   Although I am not fit to enjoy such feelings of devotion as the Saints   
   yet I offer Thee all the love in my heart, as though I alone were   
   moved by these most fitting and ardent longings. So, whatever a pious   
   heart can conceive or desire, that I offer Thee with all reverence and   
   love. I wish to withhold no part of myself, but freely and most gladly   
   to make an offering to Thee of all that I am or have. O Lord my God,   
   my Creator and Redeemer, I wish to receive Thee today with that   
   affection, reverence, praise and honour, with that gratitude,   
   worthiness, and love, with that faith, hope, and purity with which Thy   
   most holy Mother, the glorious Virgin Mary, desired and received Thee,   
   when she devoutly and humbly answered the Angel who brought the joyful   
   message of the Mystery of the Incarnation: `Behold, the handmaid of   
   the Lord: be it done to me according to Thy word.' (Luke 1:38)   
   --Thomas à Kempis--Imitation of Christ Book 4  Ch.17   
      
   =============   
   JUN 20 – BLESSED MARGARET BERMINGHAM BALL   
   Also known as   
   Maighréad Ball   
   Maighréad nic Fheorais   
   Margaret Bermingham   
   Margherita Ball   
      
   Memorial   
   20 June   
   30 January on some calendars   
      
    (1515-1584), WIFE & MOTHER, & FRANCIS TAYLOR OF SWORDS (1550-1621),   
   HUSBAND & FATHER, LORD MAYOR OF DUBLIN, MARTYRS   
      
   “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child;   
   children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.”   
   -Mt 10:21   
      
   Margaret came from a prominent family. When she was 16 years old,   
   Margaret Bermingham married Bartholomew Ball, an alderman of the City   
   of Dublin, and a prosperous Dublin merchant, whose wealthy family   
   operated the bridge over the River Dodder, which is still known as   
   Ballsbridge. She then moved to the city, where the couple lived at   
   Ballygall House in north county Dublin and had a town house on   
   Merchant’s Quay. They had ten children, though only five survived to   
   adulthood. Bartholomew Ball was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1553,   
   making Margaret the Lady Mayoress of the city. She had a comfortable   
   life with a large household and many servants, and she was recognised   
   for organising classes for the children of local families in her home.   
      
   In 1558 Queen Elizabeth I reversed the policy of her sister Queen Mary   
   and imposed her Religious Settlement upon her realms. In 1570 the   
   papacy responded with the papal bull Regnans in Excelsis, which   
   declared Elizabeth to be an illegitimate usurper. During a coronation,   
   the most illustrious, high ranking cleric available, at least the   
   local bishop, but ultimately the Pope, himself, would place the crown   
   on the head of the monarch, Emperor Napoleon, notwithstanding.   
   Coronations were religious services, originally. The separation of   
   Church and State was unthinkable. So when the Pope declares a monarch   
   illegitimate, this means legitimate Catholic monarchs have a duty to   
   attack this usurper and restore rightful authority. During this time   
   of religious persecution, it was well known that Ball provided “safe   
   houses” for any bishops or priests who might be passing through   
   Dublin.   
      
   Her eldest son, Walter, yielding to the pressure of the times, became   
   a Protestant and an opponent of the Catholic faith. Margaret continued   
   to provide ‘safe houses’ for bishops and priests passing through   
   Dublin and would invite Walter to dine with them, hoping for his   
   reconversion to Catholicism.   
      
   Margaret Ball’s eldest son, Walter, who wanted to follow in his   
   father’s footsteps and advance his political, embraced the “new   
   religion” and was appointed Commissioner for Ecclesiastical Causes in   
   1577. Margaret was disappointed with her son’s change of faith (“If my   
   children lose their faith, I have failed as a mother!!!” -Mary D.   
   McCormick), and tried to change his mind. On one occasion, she told   
   him that she had a “special friend” for him to meet. Walter arrived   
   early with a company of soldiers, and found that the “special friend”   
   was Dermot O’Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel. He was celebrating Mass   
   with the family.   
      
   But Walter was not for turning. Immediately after his installation as   
   Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1580, Walter had his mother and her personal   
   chaplain arrested and taken to the dungeons of Dublin Castle. Due to   
   her advanced age and severe arthritis, she had to be transported there   
   by a wooden pallet through the streets of Dublin.   
      
   When the family protested, Walter declared that his mother should have   
   been executed, but he had spared her. She would be allowed to go free   
   if she “took the Oath”, which probably referred to the Oath of   
   Supremacy. Her second son, Nicholas, who supported her, was elected   
   Mayor of Dublin in 1582. However, Walter was still Commissioner for   
   Ecclesiastical Causes, which was a royal appointment. He outranked   
   Nicholas and kept him from securing their mother’s release from   
   prison. Nicholas visited her daily, bringing her food, clothing and   
   candles.   
      
   Ball died in 1584 at the age of sixty-nine, which was an advanced age   
   at the time. She was crippled with arthritis and had lived for three   
   years in the cold, wet dungeon of Dublin Castle with no natural light.   
   She could have returned to her comfortable home at any time had she   
   apostasized. Although she could have altered her will, she still   
   bequeathed her property to Walter upon her death.   
      
   Two generations later this pattern was repeated when Francis Taylor,   
   who was Mayor of Dublin (1595–1596) and was married to Gennet Shelton,   
   a granddaughter of Ball, was condemned to the dungeons after exposing   
   fraud in the parliamentary elections to the Irish House of Commons. He   
   likewise refused to “take the oath” and died in Dublin Castle in 1621.   
   A convinced Catholic, he refused to accept the Acts of Supremacy   
   (Monarch is the head of the Church) and Uniformity (The Book of Common   
   Prayer is the only legal form of worship and all citizens must attend   
   Church services according to that form).   
      
   Ball and Taylor could not have known each other, but they were   
   beatified together, along with Dermot O’Hurley and 14 other Catholic   
   martyrs, on 27 September 1992 by Pope John Paul II.   
      
   All you holy men & women, pray for us, for the grace of final   
   perseverance.  Amen.   
      
   https://soul-candy.info/category/june/page/3/   
   by Matthew   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Cheerfulness strengthens the heart and makes us persevere in a good   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)