St Nicholas Owen SJ, English Martyr Mar. 22 + ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS

St Nicholas Owen was born in 1562 in Oxford into a devout recusant family, and trained as a carpenter and joiner. As a Jesuit lay brother he became the servant of Henry Garnet SJ, the Superior of the English mission, in 1588 - a time when the penalty for Catholic priests discovered in England was torture and death. .Mar. 22

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS:
St. Nicholas Owen. Nicholas was born at Oxford, England. He became a carpenter or builder and served the Jesuit priests in England for two decades by constructing hiding places for them in mansions throughout the country.
He became a Jesuit lay brother in 1580, and was arrested in 1594 with Father John Gerard, and despite prolonged torture would not give the names of any of his Catholic colleagues; he was released on the payment of a ransom by a wealthy Catholic. Nicholas is believed responsible for Father Gerard's dramatic escape from the Tower of London in 1597. Nicholas was again arrested in 1606 with Father Henry Garnet, who he had served eighteen years, Father Oldcorne, and Father Oldcorne's servant, Brother Ralph Ashley, and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Nicholas was subjected to such vicious torture that he died of it on March 2nd. He was known as Little John and Little Michael and used the aliases of Andrews and Draper. He was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. 

St. Trien, 5th century. A disciple of St. Patrick. He served as a missionary and then as abbot of Killelga Monastery, Ireland. 

St. Darerca, 5th century. The sister of St. Patrick. She was reported to have borne fifteen sons, ten of whom became bishops throughout Ireland.  Mar.22