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Handout #179 |
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The Troubles of a Catholic Priest |
| Roman Catholic families and the roving
priests who served them often faced grave danger from Elizabeth's
government, and sometimes through traitors in their own midst. Here is the
account of Fr. John Gerd, SJ, of a narrow escape in 1594 A.D., just before
he was indeed caught by government agents:
On Easter Monday we rose earlier than usual for Mass, for we felt there was danger about. As we were preparing everything for Mass before daybreak we heard, suddenly, a great noise of galloping hooves. The next moment, to prevent any attempt an escape, the house was encircled by a whole troop of men. At once we realized what was afoot. We barred the doors: the altar was stripped, hiding places opened and all my books and papers thrown in. It was most important to pack me away first with all my belongings... (A search for Gerard's hiding-place went on in the house for four days; but without success; the government agents left.) The doors of the house were then barred and the mistress came to call me out: Like Lazarus, who was buried for four days, I came forth from what would indeed have been my tomb if the search had continued a little longer. I was very wasted and weak with hunger of sleep. All that time I had been squatting in a very confined space. While the search was on the mistress of the house had eaten nothing whatsoever, partly because she wanted to share my discomfort and find out by testing herself how long I could live without food, but chiefly to draw to" God's mercy upon me and upon herself and her whole family by fasting and prayer. when I came out I found her face so changed that she looked a different person; and had it not been for her voice and her dress I doubt whether I would have recognized her. Text from P. Caramen (ed.), the Autobiography of John Gerard, Longmans 1951, 58-63. |
