FOLLOWING THE MARTYRS TO HOLYWELL
In the year before they were martyred, four Jesuits Companions, along with a whole host of friends, travelled to St Winefride’s Well in North Wales.
Michael O’Halloran SJ tells their story and previews the Jesuits and Friends Pilgrimage to Holywell in May.In this year of important Jesuit anniversaries there is to be a pilgrimage for Jesuits and their friends on Saturday 20th May, to St Winefride’s Well at Holywell in North Wales. This is to help us remember a pilgrimage to Holywell made in 1605 by a group of Jesuits and their friends who sought the help of God through the intercession of St Winefride.
Her story goes back to the 6th Century, owing much to legend - rather less to verifiable fact - and everything to faith. It is the story of how a young Christian woman refused to compromise her virginity with a hot-headed suitor. In his anger at her refusal, so the story has it, he struck off her head with his sword, but it was at once restored to her body by her uncle, St Beuno, who was preaching nearby. Winefride came back to life; a spring of water emerged at the spot where her head had fallen; and then the earth opened and the wretched young man was swallowed up into it. Soon afterwards Winefride consecrated her virginity to the praise and service of God and founded a monastery for a group of virgins like herself. Over the years the waters of the spring, which had bubbled up at her beheading, became known as a source of healing for the sick. Pilgrims were swift to follow.
Those pilgrims continued throughout the Middle Ages and the fame of Holywell grew. In the last few years of the 15th Century, the well was reconstructed and a lovely chapel built over it at the expense of Lady Margaret Beaufort, the mother of King Henry VII. Those buildings are still standing and remain the focal point of today’s pilgrimages. Even through the 16th, 17th and 18th Centuries, pilgrims kept on coming - although forbidden by law - and some of them even carved their names, initials and a date on the stonework of the well, where they can still be seen. During the brief reign of King James II, he and his wife came to Holywell as pilgrims and, at the suggestion of Queen Mary Beatrice, the well was placed in the care of the Society of Jesus. That arrangement stood until 1931 when the parish, church and pilgrimage centre were handed over to the then diocese of Menevia, now the diocese of Wrexham.
So who came on pilgrimage in the late summer of 1605? There are reckoned to have been more than thirty men and women in the end, since the group was joined by a variety of Catholic people, as it made its way from Enfield in Middlesex through the Midlands and into North Wales. They were led by Fr Henry Garnet, Superior of the Jesuits working in England and Wales. Three other Jesuits were there: two Jesuit Brothers -
St Nicholas Owen and Blessed Ralph Ashley; and Blessed Edward Oldcorne who, as a priest sixteen years before, had come to Holywell to seek and find healing from cancer of the throat. Within twelve months, those four would all die violent deaths for the Faith. St Nicholas died whilst being tortured in the Tower of London; Blessed Edward and Blessed Ralph were both hanged, drawn and quartered on the outskirts of Worcester; and Fr Henry Garnet was hanged, in the churchyard of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. It is right that we honour these brave and holy men and seek their intercession along with that of St Winefride.
Jesuits and friends came to Holywell in 1605. Jesuits and friends will be coming again four hundred years later.
Michael O’Halloran SJ tells their story and previews the Jesuits and Friends Pilgrimage to Holywell in May.In this year of important Jesuit anniversaries there is to be a pilgrimage for Jesuits and their friends on Saturday 20th May, to St Winefride’s Well at Holywell in North Wales. This is to help us remember a pilgrimage to Holywell made in 1605 by a group of Jesuits and their friends who sought the help of God through the intercession of St Winefride.
Her story goes back to the 6th Century, owing much to legend - rather less to verifiable fact - and everything to faith. It is the story of how a young Christian woman refused to compromise her virginity with a hot-headed suitor. In his anger at her refusal, so the story has it, he struck off her head with his sword, but it was at once restored to her body by her uncle, St Beuno, who was preaching nearby. Winefride came back to life; a spring of water emerged at the spot where her head had fallen; and then the earth opened and the wretched young man was swallowed up into it. Soon afterwards Winefride consecrated her virginity to the praise and service of God and founded a monastery for a group of virgins like herself. Over the years the waters of the spring, which had bubbled up at her beheading, became known as a source of healing for the sick. Pilgrims were swift to follow.
Those pilgrims continued throughout the Middle Ages and the fame of Holywell grew. In the last few years of the 15th Century, the well was reconstructed and a lovely chapel built over it at the expense of Lady Margaret Beaufort, the mother of King Henry VII. Those buildings are still standing and remain the focal point of today’s pilgrimages. Even through the 16th, 17th and 18th Centuries, pilgrims kept on coming - although forbidden by law - and some of them even carved their names, initials and a date on the stonework of the well, where they can still be seen. During the brief reign of King James II, he and his wife came to Holywell as pilgrims and, at the suggestion of Queen Mary Beatrice, the well was placed in the care of the Society of Jesus. That arrangement stood until 1931 when the parish, church and pilgrimage centre were handed over to the then diocese of Menevia, now the diocese of Wrexham.
So who came on pilgrimage in the late summer of 1605? There are reckoned to have been more than thirty men and women in the end, since the group was joined by a variety of Catholic people, as it made its way from Enfield in Middlesex through the Midlands and into North Wales. They were led by Fr Henry Garnet, Superior of the Jesuits working in England and Wales. Three other Jesuits were there: two Jesuit Brothers -
St Nicholas Owen and Blessed Ralph Ashley; and Blessed Edward Oldcorne who, as a priest sixteen years before, had come to Holywell to seek and find healing from cancer of the throat. Within twelve months, those four would all die violent deaths for the Faith. St Nicholas died whilst being tortured in the Tower of London; Blessed Edward and Blessed Ralph were both hanged, drawn and quartered on the outskirts of Worcester; and Fr Henry Garnet was hanged, in the churchyard of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. It is right that we honour these brave and holy men and seek their intercession along with that of St Winefride.
Jesuits and friends came to Holywell in 1605. Jesuits and friends will be coming again four hundred years later.