Bl. Henry Heath

An English martyr.

As an English Protestant during the persecution under James I, he struggled with the faith of his youth and was inspired to pray to the Blessed Virgin for enlightenment. He embraced the Catholic faith in 1622, and escaped England to France where he studied at the College of Douai, where he eventually entered the Franciscan Order. His heart became ever more set upon returning to England as a priest, ministering to the Catholics there and eventually dying a martyr. The prayer posted below, expresses both his great love for the Blessed Mother and his desire to honor by his ministry, suffering and sacrifice. In 1643 he returned secretly to England as a priest, but was apprehended on his arrival. When has was asked by the judge why he had come to England, he replied that he had come to save souls, and when interrogated further he unhesitatingly confessed to being a priest, a crime then under English law. He was convicted of treason an butchered at Tyburn in the same year.