Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer, previously Bishops of London and Worcester respectively, were burned to death as heretics in Oxford today in 1555 (above). The Catholic Queen Mary had succeeded her Protestant half-brother Edward VI two years earlier, and the flip-flopping between Catholics and Reformers meant that the fate of Ridley and Latimer was in the hands of powerful clerics who had themselves lost their positions and their liberty when the Reformers had been in charge. Latimer, who was old and feeble, died quickly in the flames, but Ridley, chained next to him, was slow to burn, and only died when a collar of gunpowder about his neck exploded. Latimer gained immortal fame for his final words to Ridley at the stake:
‘Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle in England as I trust, by God’s grace, shall never be put out.’ Hugh Latimer, final words to Nicholas Ridley
Today in 1943 saw the razzia (‘roundup’) of the Jewish people of Rome, when German soldiers knocked on doors in the ghetto and deported families to Auschwitz. Out of over 6,500 people, they found only 1,000, because so many were being hidden in the Vatican and in the monasteries and nunneries of the city. It is said (although contested) that Pope Pius XII personally ordered the doors of the Church opened to shelter Jewish people. Only a handful of those captured survived the war.
CS Lewis’s first Narnia story for children, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, was published in London today in 1950. He had written the story and read it to JRR Tolkien by the early months of 1949. By May that year, he was arguing with a friend over the scene where Lucy gets lost among fur coats in the wardrobe. The friend was worried about the ethics of furs and the health and safety aspect of children getting locked in wardrobes.
‘The Lion all began with a picture of a faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood… suddenly Aslan came bounding into it. I think I had been having a good many dreams of lions about that time. Apart from that, I don’t know where the Lion came from or why he came. But once He was there He pulled the whole story together, and soon He pulled the six other Narnian stories in after him.’ CS Lewis
Today in 1978 John Paul II became Pope. As well as being one of the longest running popes ever, he created more cardinals and canonized more saints than any other. As the first global pope, he raised the prestige of the papacy in the world, and had a decisive influence in the fall of Communism in Europe, while theologically retreating a long way from the progressive spirit of Vatican II.
It is St Longinus’s Day. In medieval tradition he was the Roman centurion who pierced Christ’s side. It is said that the blood which spurted out healed his blindness – although it would have been news to the Roman army that it was employing blind centurions. He was then catechized by the apostles and became a monk. Naturally (for medieval legends) he was martyred, for smashing up pagan idols with an axe.
Image: Simon Jenkins