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Hey there, Sproutes. Today is Friday, December 10th, 2021.

We've had so many great feast days this week.

And guess what?

We have another group of people to celebrate today.

Today is the feast day of several English Catholic martyrs.

So these are people that lived during the Reformation in England, particularly under the rule of King Henry the 8th and his daughter, Queen Elizabeth.

They are men that decided to pursue the Catholic faith, even though priests were being killed

and the church was forced to go underground. Two of them went over to France or Spain.

They studied the Catholic faith.

They were ordained priests, and then they snuck back into England to serve the faithful.

Three of the men we are celebrating today were lay members of the church who hid these priests.

However, all of them were captured, were tortured, and were killed because they refused to give up

their Catholic faith. Now, the reason why it's so important for us to remember these martyrs

for the faith is because in our world where practicing our faith is not an immediate danger,

where we can go to Mass and receive reconciliation

whenever we desire. We need to realize how valuable what we have is. People are willing to

die for it. They're willing to give their lives. They're willing to give up everything and to

sneak back into their country just to serve the faithful.

This is how valuable our Catholic faith is. This is how amazing and true it is. So I just hope

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