"The bishops lament the" terrible crimes "of Queen Mary," wrote the British Catholic Herald on December 11, 1998. The Catholic bishops of England and Wales recognized that "terrible evils were committed in the name of the Catholic religion". For example for Protestants at the time of the Reformation in Great Britain. "Who was Queen Mary? What mistakes did she make that made her admit it? And why did the Bishops of England and Wales choose this moment to make their statement public?"
Mary Tudor was born in Roman Catholic England in 1516. Mary, the only surviving daughter of Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of King Henry VIII, was raised a devout Catholic by her mother. Her father wanted a male heir, but Catherine did not bring him up. When the Pope refused to break off his marriage to Catherine, Henry decided to solve the problem himself and pave the way for the Protestant Reformation in England. He married Ana Boleyn in 1533, four months before the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer declared Henry's first marriage void.
The following year, a provocateur Henry severed ties with Rome and was appointed supreme head of the Church of England. Maria, now considered out of wedlock, never saw her mother again as Catherine was forced to spend her final years in isolation from public life.
Protestant intolerance
For the next 13 years, some were executed who refused to recognize Henry as head of the Church or who still accepted the authority of the Pope. Henry died in 1547 and was replaced by Eduardo, nine years old, his only legitimate son, who was the third of his six wives. Edward and his advisors tried to make England Protestant. Catholics were persecuted for practicing their religion and churches were stripped of pictures and altars.
The restrictions on printing and reading the Bible in English were quickly lifted, and services that included reading the Bible were to be in English rather than Latin. In 1553, Eduardo died of tuberculosis at the age of only 15. Mary was considered the legitimate successor and became Queen of England.
Catholic intolerance
At first, people greeted 37-year-old Mary, but she quickly became unpopular. Her subjects got used to Protestantism, and now Mary was determined to make the country Catholic again. In a short time all of Eduardo's religious statutes were repealed. Mary asked the Pope for forgiveness on behalf of the nation. England became Catholic again.
The reconciliation with Rome triggered a new wave of persecution against the Protestants. They were compared to a malignant boil that had to be eliminated before the entire body was affected. Many who refused to accept the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church were burned alive at the stake.
Punishment of heretics
The first to die in Mary's reign was John Rogers. He put together the so-called Matthew Bible, which formed the basis of the King James version. After delivering an anti-Roman Catholic sermon to "pestilent papism, idolatry, and superstition," he was imprisoned for a year and burned alive for heresy in February 1555.
John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester and Worcester, was also known as a heretic. He said it was legal for the clergy to marry and divorce for adultery was legal. He also denied that Christ was physically present at mass. Hooper was roasted alive, and his terrible death lasted nearly three quarters of an hour. When it was the turn of the Protestant preacher Hugh Latimer, 70, to encourage Nicholas Ridley, also a reformer and victim at stake, "Comfort yourself, Master Ridley, and be the man." On that day we will light this candle in England by the grace of God which I hope will never go out. ""
Thomas Cranmer, the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry and Edward, was also convicted of a heretic. Despite portraying his Protestant faith, at the last moment he went on a public tour, denouncing the Pope as an enemy of Christ and placing his right hand on the fire to burn it first as he was guilty of signing withdrawals.
While at least 800 wealthy Protestants fled abroad for security reasons, at least 277 people were burned at the stake in England over the next three years and nine months until Mary's death. Many of the victims were ordinary people who were completely confused about what to believe. Young people grew up on the Pope's complaint and are now being punished for speaking out against him. Others learned to read the Bible themselves and formed their own religious views.
The slow and agonizing death of men, women and children who burned at the stake horrified many. Historian Carolly Erickson describes a typical scene: “The firewood was often green or the reeds too damp to burn quickly. The sacks of gunpowder attached to the victims to alleviate the ordeal were not set on fire or maimed without killing them. “The victims were not gagged, so“ their cries and prayers were often heard until the moment of death ”.
More and more people had doubts about a religion that had to burn people at the stake in order to apply its teachings. A wave of compassion for the victims prompted the ballads to compose songs about Protestant martyrs. John Foxe began compiling his Book of Martyrs, which would be almost as influential to Protestant reformers as the Bible. Many of those who were Catholics at the beginning of Mary's reign became Protestants by the end.
Legacy of Mary
After Maria became queen, she said she would marry her cousin Felipe, heir to the Spanish throne. He was a foreign king and devout Catholic, the last thing many English people wanted. A Protestant uprising organized in protest against marriage failed and 100 rebels were executed. Felipe and María were married on July 25, 1554, although Felipe was never crowned. However, their childless marriage was a source of hardship for Mary, who wanted a Catholic heir.
Maria's health deteriorated and after a short period of five years she passed away at the age of 42. She went to the grave in fear. Her husband was tired of her and most of her subjects hated her. When he died, London held many street parties. Instead of rebuilding Roman Catholicism, he used his fanaticism to advance the cause of Protestantism. Her legacy is based on the name by which she is known: Bloody Mary.
Badly motivated awareness
Why did Mary burn so many people? He had learned that heretics were traitors to God and believed it was his duty to remove their influence before they infected the entire nation. He heard his conscience but ignored the rights of other people whose consciences led them in a different direction.
However, the Protestants were just as intolerant. Under Henry and Edward, people were also cremated for their religious beliefs. Mary's Protestant successor, Elizabeth I, made the practice of Roman Catholicism a crime of treason, and more than 180 English Catholics were executed during her reign. Hundreds more died in the following century because of their religious beliefs.
Why apologize now?
December 10, 1998 marked the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 18 recognizes "the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion", including the freedom to change one's religion and to teach and practice it. The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales chose the 50th anniversary as "an appropriate opportunity for Catholics to examine their consciences on these matters" and to recognize the "terrible evils" that were committed, particularly in Mary Tudor's time.
If the religious acts of intolerance of almost 450 years ago are regretted today, has anything really changed? People are no longer burned at the stake, but many so-called Christians continue to rape and massacre people of other religions. God does not like this intolerance. Indeed, Jesus Christ, who perfectly reflected the personality of God, said: "By this all will know that if they love one another they will be my disciples" (John 13:35).
Nice