killed during the Reformation will take place tomorrow. During their annual pilgrimage from the Tower of London to Tyburn, the 150 seminarians at Campion House, Osterley, will this time make a detour to the Protestant memorial in Smithfield where 45 Protestants were burned to death during the reign of Queen Mary.
They expect to leave the Tower at 1.45 p.m., following the route which the Catholic martyrs were dragged on hurdles to Tyburn.
Then they will break off from the route at Giltspur Street to reach the Smithfield shrine by 3 p.m. From there they will walk on to Marble Arch for Benediction at the Tyburn Convent.
FR. TIGAR'S PLAN The pilgrimage was planned by Fr. Clement Tigar, S.J., Rector of Campion House, and Westminster diocesan representative of the movement to canonise the Catholic martyrs of the Reformation.
"I hope it will get rid of the idea that the 40 Martyrs cause is aggressive towards Protestantism," he said.
"Some ecumenists regard it as an obstacle to unity. But of course it's not. We realise that it was not only the Protestant regime that persecuted people for their beliefs. The Catholic regime did it too. And we admire the courage of Protestants who died for their convictions."
Mr. 0. T. Taylor, secretary of the Protestant Alliance which owns the shrine at Smithfield, regards the pilgrimage as "a definite sign of Catholic progress".
For Churches to venerate their own martyrs, he feels, is "only natural" and no block to ecumenism. "But it's good to see now that the Catholic students recognise that the Protestants had martyrs too."