Consequences of the persecution of the Catholics by the government of England

February 2, 2025

Consequences of the persecution of the Catholics by the government of England and the founding of our country or The last installment on the heresy of Henry VIII and Anglicanism.

As we all know, it is due to religious persecution that the pilgrims came to our country in the year 1620. A number of them were Puritans, which at that time was not an accepted group by the Church of England. In reality - which this fact is seldom mentioned - the persecution of the puritans and such is a consequence of the founding of the Church of England and its vigorous persecution of Catholics. That particular group didn’t come about until after the founding of Henry VIII’s new church. They were one of the groups that wanted the new church to eliminate any trace of Catholicism or organized liturgy of any sort. Their persecution begins well after the persecution of the Catholics has already been in full swing for a period of time and they are persecuted because they now refuse to go along with this new church which they helped create. If Henry hadn’t broken from the Catholic Church, there would be no puritans. While King James 1 became king in 1603 and was less openly hostile toward the Catholics because his mother had been a Catholic, he still pursued the anti-Catholic policies of his predecessors. He himself was more of a puritan. On a side note, this is where the King James Bible comes from and why it is not a complete or accurate Bible. It was commissioned by King James and is the protestant version of the Bible, meaning it is missing a number of the actual books contained in the bible since the 4th century.

In 1625 King Charles becomes King of England, while he himself was not a Catholic, he had married Henrietta Maria of France who was. During this time there was a brief reprieve for the Catholics, however there was still enormous societal prejudice and persecution by those in power which increased after the execution of King Charles in 1649.

Those first 102 pilgrims landed here in 1620, but in 1634 two ships – the Dove and the Ark - arrived in what is now Maryland with 140 Catholic pilgrims, among them were two priests. The name of their first city was St. Mary City in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The fist Mass was said on March 25th, 1634, which was the feast of the Annunciation. It would have been much harder for the Catholic pilgrims to find a way to leave England as they were considered traitors and had no property rights or even the ability to travel more than a few miles from their homes as we remember from the previous article.

So how does this affect the world at large and our country in particular? We remember that the monarch of England was also the head of the church, so what we have there is an actual state-run church, where the monarch and those whom they appointed were making the rules and choosing the bishops etc. Catholics were not allowed to worship freely outside of the state church, they weren’t allowed to travel more than certain distances, they weren’t allowed to own property, firearms or to assemble, soldiers could occupy their homes at any time or search them. They were not allowed jury trials or to defend themselves, they had no political rights and were subject to many cruel punishments. This history of the rise of the Church of England gives rise to an important piece of our own history, the Bill of Rights. The rights that 8 of those 10 amendments promise to protect are the exact same rights that were lost in England when the persecution of the Catholics began. Each of them directly corresponds to an official government policy in England that was enacted against the Catholics primarily. Had there been no persecution of Catholics, those rights would not have been in danger. We remind ourselves here of those first 8 amendments:

• First Amendment [Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, Petition (1791)]

• Second Amendment [Right to Bear Arms (1791)]

• Third Amendment [Quartering of Troops (1791)]

• Fourth Amendment [Search and Seizure (1791)]

• Fifth Amendment [Grand Jury, Double Jeopardy, SelfIncrimination, Due Process (1791)]

• Sixth Amendment [Criminal Prosecutions - Jury Trial, Right to Confront and to Counsel (1791)]

• Seventh Amendment [Common Law Suits - Jury Trial (1791)]

• Eighth Amendment [Excess Bail or Fines, Cruel and Unusual Punishment (1791)

  
  

The goal of these was never to prevent the Church form being an active participant in civil and political life. They were meant to prevent the government from taking control of the Church and using it as one more arm of their power. The fact is that these are rights that the government does not have the power to remove. It is a fact, that had these amendments not been included in the constitution, it would never have been ratified. In summary, if our good God had not heard the cries and prayers of those Catholics who risked everything for their faith and persevered in the face of horrible persecution, then we would not have the United States of America.

God love you, Fr. Anthony