Today, besides being Holy Saturday, is the feast of Blessed Henry Walpole, S.J. Poor Henry was arrested just 24 hours after his feet hit his native English soil as a priest! He had waited so long, trained so hard, studied so carefully all over Europe . . . and poof! He was captured at York and then taken to the notorious Tower of London where he was tortured 14 times. He was thrown on the floor of his cell with not even any straw on which to lay his head and not even a shred of a blanket to cover him in the winter. It was damp and rat-infested, that on top of his chilling tortures of thumbscrew and rack. He wavered a bit under torture, but he never apostatized and he never gave up any names.
After a year of this, he was condemned to death for treason. He never denied he was a Jesuit and there to win souls. He was sentenced to be drawn and quartered with Father Alexander Rawlins, a secular priest, but they were not allowed to talk to each other on the way. Rawlins suffered first and Henry was made to watch. Then Henry mounted the platform with bravery and grace. He died in 1595.
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