BLESSED THOMAS PERCY

BLESSED Thomas Percy, whose feast is kept to-day, August 22, is a man whose life and death we to-day are well able to understand, for
he fought and died in conflict with a despotism which robbed men of freedom of body and soul,
Born af a family which was noble, centuries before the world had beard Of the Tudors, he represented all that was old and traditional, all that was really English in the world of his day. Against the new type of man which had sprung up in the half century or so before his birth, the Cecils, the Greys, the Dudleys, the Knollys, the Sadlers, and the rest of the career-making politicians, he stood for government by an ancient atistocracy, conscious alike of its duty to the crown and to its dependents. Against the new foreign and freak religions which dominated the court, he stood for the traditional Catholicism of the English people.
Troubled Times Thomas Percy was bora the year after Henry VIII had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn arid he lived to see Anne 1Boleyn's daughter deposed from her kingdom by the Bull Regtrans in Excelsis. When only eight year s old he lost his father, the filth Earl of Northumberland, who was executed for the support he had given to that great religious rising of northern England which we call the Pilgrimage of Crace. So the life of Thomas Percy was passed in troubled times. But he was not a man who sought traubie. Lard Hunsdon complained at his trial that all his talk was of hawks and of hunting. And indeed for nearly twenty years after the death of his father he lived the retired life of a young country gentleman. But, as was natural Queen Mary gave him a more prominent position in the country, and thus when Elizabeth became queen in 1558 Thomas Percy, seventh Earl of Northumberland, was a man or some consequence. q The Great Rising However, Percy's staunch Catholicism speedily got him into trouble with the new government. For sonic years he again lived in comparative obscurity, and then when he was just forty years old came the great crisis of his life, his meeting with Mary. Queen of Scots, who had just fled from her kingdom to throw herself on the mercy of Elizabeth after her defeat at Langside. Thomas Percy, as the great nobleman of the northern counties, welcomed her, was touched by her misfortunes, and by the
charm and grace of her personality. But to his indignation she was taken away front his jurisdiction and placed in charge of gaolers appointed by Cecil. From this incident there arose the plan of the great rising.
Percy realised, as did everyone else, that the union between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn had been no true marriage and that accordingly the legitimate heir to the throne was not her daughter, Elizabeth, but Mary, Queen of Scots. However, at the time there was no wish to depose Elizabeth. The question was, who was to be Elizabeth's successor? The matter was urgent because Elizabeth had already had two serious illnesses and was not eapected to live long. Clearly the rightful heir was Mary, Queen of Scots. hut it was certain that Cecil and his group would spare no effort in keeping Mary off the throne. Noshing would upset their plans more than the accession of a Catholic Now it was this plan of the Cecil party that Percy hoped to destroy. He knew 'that Cecil and his associates were destroying men's bodies by enclosing their lands, and he knew that they were destroying their souls by robbing them of their Faith. He hoped then to lead a rising which would remove Cecil and his dependents, free Mary, Queen of Scots and get her acknowledged as successor to Elizabeth, and restore the Catholic Faith to England.
The Rising of 1569
Not wishing to act without the approval of the Holy See, Percy sent a letter to Pius V asking for his blessing on the enterprise. The blessing was cordially given, but before it could reach England the rising had taken place and had failed. Percy's plans were precipitated by an attempt of Cecil to arrest him. Gathering what forces he could he marched southwards, taking Durham, Ripon and Hartlepool, which he hoped might serve as a landing-place for the Spanish help from the Netherlands. But the 'Spaniards did nothing. The enemy forces were constantly increasing in strength while those of Percy were dwindling. At last he was compelled to retreat northwards and finally to fly into Scotland.
However, the Scots sold him to the English government. He was offered his life if he would give up his religion, bet staunchly refused, and accordingly was beheaded on August 22, 1S72. on the pavement in York. Before his own death at least 800 Catholics had been put to death in various parts of the uorthern counties, at least three times, and probably eight times as many as those executed at the Bloody Assizes of Judge Jeffreys, about which our official history books are always so shocked.
In honouring Blessed Thomas we honour all those unknown martyrs, who so bravely resisted tyranny, and whose prayers and sufferings merited for their descendants the treasure of the Catholic Faith W. F. REA, S.J.