Jan Hus was condemned by the papacy as an arch-heretic, and commanded
that he be burned at the stake. The wood was piled around him up to his chin, as
hundreds of people watched he was given one last chance to renounce his
beliefs. Silence fell over the crowd as Hus said these words:
ìGod is my witnessÖthe principal intention of my preaching
and of all my other acts or writings was solely that I might
turn men from sin. And in that truth of the Gospel that I
wrote, taught, and preached in accordance with the sayings
and expositions of the holy doctors, I am willing gladly die
today.î 8The pyre was lit and as the flames began to consume the body of this faithful
saint, he was heard singing:
ìJesus, Son of the living God, have mercy on meÖJan Hus
sang these words three timesÖHe died singing.î 9Catholic persecution did not stop at the English Channel, the body of water that
separates Europe and Great Britain.
ìIn 1508, at Salisbury in southern England, Lawrence Guale
was imprisoned for two years and then burned live for
denying that the bread and wine in the mass became the real
body and blood of Jesus when the priest prayed over it.î 10The list of the faithful that willingly surrendered their lives for the sake of truth
concerning the ìMost Holy Eucharistî and the Gospel of Christ is seemingly
endless.
People like Arnald, a lecturer at Brescia, Italy; William Swinderby and Margaret
Backster of London; Catharine of Lorraine, France or Carius Prader of Salzburg.
Their lives were sacrificed in Germany, France, England, Bavaria, the
Netherlands and other countries throughout Europe. They were burned at the
stake, or drowned, or left to starve to death in prison. The means by which they
were tortured and killed were so inhuman; that only Satan could have thought up
the punishment.
Books such as ìMartyrs Mirrorî, ìFoxes Book of Martyrsî, and a whole score of
others detail the persecutions, testimonies, sufferings and victory of numerous
true Christians.
Precious Saints of whom the world was not worthy!