''THEY MAY DESTROY OUR CHURCHES, BUT THEY CANNOT DESTROY OUR FAITH.'' William Allen was a 16th century English Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. His main call was set up colleges in Douai and later in Rome to train 'English priests' with the mission of sending back secretly to England 'To Keep The Catholic Faith Alive'. Life of Catholics in Elizabethan England was one of the toughest and intense tribulations. Catholic Church was outlawed and Catholic Priests in entire England were hunted, torched, hanged, drawn and quartered.
In 1574 Allen's first students to be ordained as priests began returning from Douai to England with the 'Fire of Faith'. Within the next decade thirty three had been put to death, eight had been died in prison and fifty more were imprisoned awaiting trial and further sixty had been exiled. William Allen's great college at Douai was pivotal in keeping the Catholic faith alive in England and in doing so, established the pattern for English Seminary life for the next four hundred years. If not for Cardinal William Allen, Catholic Church in England would have been history by now.
0 Comments