On 24 May 1689 the English Parliament passed the Act of Toleration or “An Act for Exempting their Majestyes Protestant Subjects dissenting from the Church of England from the Penalties of certaine Lawes”.
This Act granted religious freedom to non-Anglican Christians but deliberately excluded Catholics, which referred to Catholics as “Popish Recusants” and non-trinitarians. Catholics continued to be viewed as a threat to the English government both due to memories of the Gunpowder Plot under James I and hostility to the pro-Catholic policies of the recently overthrown James II.
All English citizens were required to take an oath which promised not only obedience to King William and Queen Mary but also to “renounce, as impious and heretical, that damnable doctrine and position, that princes excommunicated or deprived by the pope, or any authority of the see of Rome, may be deposed or murdered by their subjects, or any other whatsoever.” They were also to reject the belief that any foreign person might have spiritual or secular authority over England. Both of these statements were directed against the pope.
Act of Toleration
On 23 May 1497, the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola was burned at the stake as a heretic by order of Pope Alexander VI.
Savonarola had become very popular with the people of Italy and very unpopular with Alexander as a result of his outspoken preaching in Florence for the reform of the Church, against the immorality he saw amongst the clergy and especially within the Roman Curia and in the life of Alexander VI himself. Alexander had failed to put a stop to Savonarola’s criticisms by prohibiting him from preaching and even excommunicating him, but Savonarola refused to silence his message.
However, after Savonarola refused a challenge from a Franciscan friar to undergo a trial of fire in order to prove the validity of his criticisms, the people of Florence rioted and he was arrested. Savonarola was tortured and under torture confessed to heresy, though later he would renounce this confession.
In 1558, Pope Paul IV would assert that Savonarola was not a heretic and more recently there has been a call for Savonarola’s canonization.
More on Savonarola
On 22 May 337, ill and fearing that death would soon come upon him, Emperor Constantine I was baptized in Nicomedia – though he promised to live a better life should he recover.
Constantine had wanted to be baptized in the Jordan but instead was baptized by the Arian bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia on his deathbed as was the traditional practice at the time, so as to be cleansed from all the sins he had committed during his life.
Eusebius relates the account of Constantine’s baptism, noting that he was baptized in the “usual manner” and that after baptism Constantine dressed himself in white rather than the usual imperial purple. Eusebius also relates these words from Constantine, “Now I know that I am truly blessed: now I feel assured that I am accounted worthy of immortality, and am made a partaker of Divine light.”
Constantine died later that day.
Eusebius on the Baptism of Constantine
On 21 May 1996, the bodies of seven monks of the Cistercian Monastery of Our Lady of Atlas were found. These monks had been kidnapped on the night of 27-28 March from their monastery near the village of Tibhirine in Algeria by the Islamic GIA (Groupe Islamique Armé).
The Trappist monks of Atlas wanted to be a small Christian community to witness for Christ in Algeria. They remained despite the danger to their lives because they wished to be signs of peace.
There remains some controversy over the facts of the death of the monks, while the GIA claims responsibility for executing the Trappists, French General Francois Buchwalter has claimed that the monks were accidentally killed during a rescue attempt and then made to look like the GIA had killed them.
After their deaths, Rabah Kebir, the leader of the Islamic Salvation Front, who had earlier demanded of the GIA the release of the monks, condemned what he called “this criminal act, which runs absolutely contrary to the principles of Islam.” Kahdidja Khalil of the High Council of French Muslims went further: “We strongly condemn this savage and barbaric act. It is forbidden in the holy Koran to touch ‘all servants of God,’ and that means priests and rabbis as well.”
The Martyrs of Atlas
On 20 May 1521, Inigo Lopez de Loyola/Ignatius of Loyola was injured during the Battle of Pampeluna or Pamplona. This battle, between the French supported people of Navarre and the Spanish forces moving to conquer the the Iberian region, saw Ignatius severely wounded by a French cannonball which shattered his leg.
During his recovery, Ignatius occupied his time by reading the only books available to him – a life of Christ by Ludolph of Saxony which was a commentary on the Gospels based on the writings of the Church Fathers and a book on the lives of the saints. These texts inspired in Ignatius a profound religious conversion and upon his recovery he would visit the Benedictine monastery, Santa Maria de Montserrat on 25 March 1522, where he would hang his military uniform before an image of the Blessed Mother as a sign that he was now a soldier for Christ.
Later Ignatius would use the ideas of Ludolph of Sazony when he wrote his Spiritual Exercises and establish the Society of Jesus/the Jesuits in 1534.
Ignatius of Loyola
On 19 May 715, Gregory II began his papacy which would last until 11 February 731. During his papacy, Rome would move closer to the Franks and further away from Constantinople due to both the Iconoclastic controversy and the threats of the Lombards.
Byzantine Emperor Leo III had ordered the destruction of all images of the saints and Christ on the grounds that it was idolatry. But this policy was greatly opposed in the West and even civil conflict between the Eastern and Western parts of the former Roman empire erupted after the decrees of Leo III regarding images reached Rome in 727.
Moreover, at this same time Gregory was looking for help against the Lombard threat in Italy. Unable to obtain assistance from Leo III due to the iconoclasm controversy, Gregory will seek help from Charles Martel land the Franks. This turning of Rome toward the West rather than the East will contribute both to the eventual crowning of Charles’ son, Charlemagne, as the Holy Roman Emperor and the eventual schism between Rome and Constantinople.
Gregory II to Leo III on Holy Images
Gregory II to Charles Martel of the Franks
On 17 May 1809, Napoleon annexed the Papal States on the grounds that what Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor had given, Napoleon as the new Emperor could take away. However, one of the main reasons for Napoleon’s action was Pius VII’s refusal to support the French against the British.
Napoleon joined the Papal States to the French Empire, made Rome a free imperial city, and planned for a constitutional government to be placed upon the former territory of the Pope.
In response, Pope Pius VII had bulls of excommunication placed on the doors of Rome’s churches which imposed this sentence on anyone who participated in the annexation, including Napoleon himself. Pius VII, fully expecting to be imprisoned or executed by Napoleon also issued a bull calling for a new papal election. Indeed, French troops would arrest Pius VII in July of 1809 and he would remain a prisoner of Napoleon until May 1814.
The annexation documents
On 16 May 1532, Thomas More resigned from the office of Lord Chancellor due to his refusal to acknowledge Henry VIII as Supreme Head of the English Church “as far as the Law of God allows.” Thomas did this by sending to Henry a pouch containing the great seal of England. More had served as Lord Chancellor for less than three years.
Since this was the day after the English Clergy gave up their authority to formulate laws without the king’s assent, More’s resignation was seen as a criticism of Henry’s move to separate the Church of England from Rome. So, while More was hoping for a quiet life in retirement, Henry wanted More’s support for his actions.
Thomas More would be executed for treason on 6 July 1535.
He would be canonized by Pius XI in 1935.
Thomas More
On 15 May 1956 and on the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pius XII issued the encyclical Haurietis Aquas (You will draw water).
Pius XII used this encyclical to encourage greater devotion to the Heart of Jesus both because it is united to the “Person of the Incarnate Son of God Himself” and because it is a sign of the love of Jesus for all people. Pius XII also stressed that devotion to the Sacred Heart is for all people and designed to encourage growth in faith today.
Both John Paul II and Benedict XVI have referred to this encyclical in their own encouragement of a greater love of the Sacred Heart.
Haurietis Aquas
Pope Benedict XVI on Haurietis Aquas
On 14 May 1971, Paul VI issued the Apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens. The Letter was addressed to Cardinal Maurice Roy, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. The letter was issued in honor of the eightieth anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum.
Octogesima Adveniens discusses problems with economic inequality discrimination and other issues of Catholic Social Teaching mentioned in earlier papal documents; but also discusses new issues such as urbanization, the environment, and social communication. It criticizes the problems of Marxism and warns of the dangers of contemporary ideologies which fail to recognize human dignity.
In Octogesima Adveniens, Paul VI notes, “It is to all Christians that we address a fresh and insistent call to action.” Urging laity to “take up as their own proper task the renewal of the temporal order”. In response to this, the bishops of the United States put together the first Call to Action Conference in Detroit, Michigan in 1976. This delegates at this conference in turn would ask for the Catholic Church to reexamine teachings on priestly celibacy, male clergy, birth control and other issues and would lead to the foundation of the Call to Action movement in the United States.
Octogesima Adveniens
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