The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-05-17
BLESSED JOHN FOREST.

When King Henry VIII of England,
carried away by passion, sought to
divorce his lawful wife, Catharine of
Aragon, in order to marry Anne Boil
eyn, and was thinking of making him.
self Head of the Church in England"
because the Pope justly refused to
grant the divorce, he found no more
determined and courageous opponents
than the Franciscans of the Regular
Observance, as they were then called.
These Jealous sons of st. Francis,
writes FIR Silas Barth, o. F. NJ, in
the Franciscan Herald, fearlessly de-
clared the conduct of the King to be
unlawful and impious and exhorted
the people to remain firm in their
allegiance to the Pope. For this rea-
son, they became the object of the
special hatred of the King Fearing,
however, to use violence against men
whom he had few years before prais-
ed most highly for their exemplary
lives, Henry commanded his commits
sioners to use every other means to
induce the friars to acknowledge his
marriage with Anne Boleyn and his
spiritual supremacy in the Church of
England. But all promises, threats,
and wiles of the commissioners failed.
The friars refused to be forced or
coaxed into submitting to the Kings
demands, declaring that "they had
professed st. Francis religion (rule), .
which obliged them to obedience and
reverence to the Pope, "and in the
observance thereof they would live
and die" Thereupon the King in his
anger commanded the friars -about
two hundred in number-to be ar
rested and cast into prison. Fifty
are said to have succumbed to the
hardships and privations of their con-
finement
The most conspicuous of the friars
that fell victims to the anger Of the
King, was FIR. John Forest, who, on
account of his learning and virtue,
had been for a time guardian of the
convent at Greenwich and, as seems
probable, provincial of the six con-
vents of the Observants, and also
confessor to Queen Catharine. From
the beginning, he had taken deter
mined stand in the question of the
Kings divorce and of the supreme
spiritual authority in the Church.
Though the King was highly incensed
at the fearless denunciation of FIR.
Forest, he at first did not modest
him. But when he was informed that
the sanity friar encouraged his
penitents not to acknowledge the
Kings pretended authority in spirit
ual matters, and to remain firm in
their allegiance to the Pope, he
gave orders to arrest him and confine
him in prison. Contrary to expec.
tations, FIR. Forest was not tried and
condemned to death at once; he
had to bear the hardships of prison
for about four years.
During these years of suffering, he
found time to write a book "On
the Authority of the Church and OF
the Sovereign Pontiff," in which he
defined and defended the universal
spiritual authority of the Pope
against the pretensions of Henry
When this was reported to him
Henry commanded that the holy
man be treated with the utmost
severity. FIR. Forest was therefore
brought before the Privy Council
and asked, whether he would &C
knowledge the King as the supreme
head of the Church in England. He
answered courageously: Il hope thai
God will never allow me to go sc
far astray; and l will rather die thar
renounce the doctrine of the Catholic
Church" This answer sealed his
fate. and sentence of death was passed
upon him. He was then led bacl
to prison, and on the way thither hi
prayed: 81 thank thee, o my God
| for calling me to be martyr, ant
for having granted me the grace tx
confess the doctrine of the Church
and to brave the Kings anger in thu
sight of death"
i The execution of the cruel sen
tence was deferred, and the confessol
of the faith had to languish in prison
for two more long years. DURING
this time no means were left untrieC
to shake his constancy, but in vain
FIR. Forest invariably answered tina
he would rather die than offend Coz
in this matter. He also confesse'
that he had always admonished hi
! penitents to remain firm in the Cath
Ole religion, as it had been held il
the kingdom from times immemorial
The constancy of the holy friar AM
his fearless answers angered Henri
to such an extent, that he determine
to make his death most painful one
, Thinking the punishment for Treason
hanging, drawing, and quartering-
too light. he commanded the commits
sioners to find the courageous RELIC
. ious guilty of heresy. This was n
difRcult task for them. They declare
that FIR. Forest, by refusing to ODE
the King, acted contrary to Hol
J Scripture, which commanded obe6
: fence to kings, and that he was there
! fore a hereto. They then sentence
him to suffer death by fire.