ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS MAY 28 Bl. Thomas Ford,Bl. Robert Johnson,St. Augustine of Canterbury,Bl. John Shert,Bl. Margaret Pole

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS MAY 28 Bl. Thomas Ford, 1582 A.D. Martyr of England. He was born in Devon and educated at Oxford. There he converted and set out for Douai, France. Ordained a priest in 1573, he was sent back to England three years later. Thomas labored in Oxfordshire and Berckshire until his arrest. He was martyred on May 28 at Tyburn by being hanged, drawn, and quartered. He was a companion of St. Edmund Campion, and he died with Blesseds Robert Johnson and John Shert. Thomas was beatified in 1882. Bl. Robert Johnson, 1582 A.D. English martyr. Born in Shropshire, England, he was a servant before he went to study at Rome and Douai, France, receiving ordination in 1576. Returning to the English mission, he served in the area of London for four years, until his arrest. Robert was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn with Blesseds Thomas Ford and John Short. Robert was beatified in 1886. St. Augustine of Canterbury, 605 A.D. At the end of the sixth century anyone would have said that Augustine had found his niche in life. Looking at this respected prior of a monastery, almost anyone would have predicted he would spend his last days there, instructing, governing, and settling even further into this sedentary life. But Pope St. Gregory the Great had lived under Augustine's rule in that same monastery. When he decided it was time to send missionaries to Anglo-Saxon England, he didn't choose those with restless natures or the young looking for new worlds to conquer. He chose Augustine and thirty monks to make the unexpected, and dangerous, trip to England. Missionaries had gone to Britain years before but the Saxon conquest of England had forced these Christians into hiding. Augustine and his monks were to bring these Christians back into the fold and convince the warlike conquerors to become Christians themselves. Bl. John Shert, 1582 A.D. English martyr. He was born at Shert Hall, near Macclesfield, Cheshire, and educated at Oxford. Converting to the Church, John studied at Douai and Rome. Ordained in 1576, he went to England three years later, working only two years before his arrest. John was martyred at Tyburn with Blessed Thomas Ford and Blessed Robert Johnstone by being hinged, drawn, and quartered. Pope Leo XIII beatified him in 1886. Bl. Margaret Pole, Martyr of England. She was born Margaret Plantagenet, the niece of Edward IV and Rich-ard III. She married Sir Reginald Pole about 1491 and bore five sons, including Reginald Cardinal Pole. Margaret was widowed, named countess of Salisbury, and appointed governess to Princess Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and Queen Catherine of Aragon, Spain. She opposed Henry’s mar-riage to Anne Boleyn, and the king exiled her from court, although he called her “the holiest woman in England.” When her son, Cardinal Pole, denied Henry’s Act of Supremacy, the king imprisoned Margaret in the Tower of London for two years and then beheaded her on May 28. In 1538, her other two sons were executed. She was never given a legal trial. She was seventy when she was martyred. Margaret was beatified in 1886.