FATHER FRANK’S RANTS - A Saint’s Prayer

Rant Number 398 20 May 2010

‘If Henry VIII is saved...it will be at the prayer of John Houghton’, preached Rowan Williams . Beautiful, spiritual words. Witnessing to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s profound piety. But not wholly unproblematic. For four reasons.

First, Henry VIII founded the Anglican Church. Second, King Henry had the monk John Houghton gruesomely executed for refusing to recognise him as supreme head of the English Church. Third, Rowan Williams heads the very church Henry promoted. Fourth, King Henry is either in Heaven (however unlikely that may be) or in Hell. If in the former, he needs no prayers. If he is in the latter, no prayer, however saintly, could save him – Hell is forever – all you who enter here, leave behind all hope, as Dante inscribes over the gate of Hades. Unless...tertium datur, there is another possibility. Henry might be in Purgatory, from which prayer could speed up his release. But a doctrinal difficulty arises. After the Reformation the Church of England rejected belief in Purgatory outright. Article 22 of the Articles of Religion states that: ‘The Romish doctrine concerning Purgatory...is a fond thing vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God.’ Does Rowan wish formally to repudiate that Article? If so, we Anglicans should be told.

The priest is not having a go at the good Archbishop. Actually, Purgatory makes sense. There are hints of it in Scripture. And I am spiritually certain that is where a much beloved person – my muse- now is. But I am an Anglican minister. As such, Purgatory is not a doctrine I can hold ex officio. Pity.

John Houghton was an austere, holy man. The rule of his Order, the Carthusians, demanded radical self-denial and total renunciation of the world. The monks were vowed to silence, long devotions and manual work. More mild and harmless persons are hardly imaginable. Yet John Houghton was butchered in 1535 according to the ferocious custom of the times. After grim imprisonment in the Tower of London, he was taken to Tyburn on a hurdle. There he was hung by the neck. After some time, the executioner cut him down, still alive, and began disembowelling him, fully conscious. Lastly, the victim’s body was quartered, i.e. divided into four parts, which were displayed in London. A Zurbaran painting shows the martyr, a rope round his neck, holding in his hand the heart the executioner tore out. ‘The heart of a traitor!’ the executioner would have told the crowd, showing it off.

A foul lie. John Houghton was no traitor. He suffered martyrdom like a true Christian, because he obeyed God, rather than men.

King Henry. There are in fact other holy, innocent people whose forgiveness might be necessary for saving his soul. From St Thomas More to the many religious and lay men and women whom he had tormented and then sent to the scaffold. They were ‘criminals’ whom today would be deemed prisoners of conscience. Maybe it is true, as St Just said, that no one can reign without committing some crime. So, like most earthly rulers, Henry had to dip his hands in blood. However, that bloated, syphilitic tyrant simply takes the biscuit. He was just too awful. May God forgive him – I can’t.

Waxing lyrical about forgiveness is something de rigueur for Christians. ‘Father, forgive them, because they know not what they do’ (St Luke 23:34). Jesus’ awesome prayer, as he was about to be crucified. Words usually invoked to show the extent to which his followers should go in forgiving their most bestial persecutors. I can only bow my head to the Master’s example, though doubting I would ever be able to live up to it. However, note: Jesus prayed to his Father that he would forgive the soldiers who drove the nails into his flesh. He did not say ‘I forgive you’. Why not? Was that too much even for the Messiah, the Lord’s Anointed One? A tantalising thought. But the Letter to the Hebrews teaches that Christ is now in the heavenly places, sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on high, and constantly making intercessions for humanity, so in the end that must be true.

Forgiveness and love of enemy are of course not exclusive to Christianity. A similar injunction exists in the Old Testament. Also, Muhammad’s well-known prayer at Taif springs to mind. The riff-raff of that Arabian city, near Mecca, had abused him and pelted him with stones, drawing blood. Yet Muhammad did not call down Allah’s wrath on his enemies. ‘O God, do not punish them, because they do not know I am your Prophet’, he exemplarily asked, according to the historian Tabari. Luminous words! I wish jihadists meditated on them day and night.

I possess a book entitled ‘A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life’, by the Buddhist master Shantideva. A bodhisattva is a compassionate, radically altruistic being. Someone who postpones his own enlightenment in order to help the salvation of others. To those who seek to become bodhisattvas, Shantideva recommends the following spiritual exercise: ‘Think of your bitterest, most unpleasant, hostile enemy. Perhaps, if he exists, someone who constantly haunts you, who dogs every single footstep of yours. Maybe someone who has cheated you, slandered you, ruined your life, brought you into disrepute or disgrace. Perhaps he has murdered your parents, violated your children, thrown acid into your face, blinded and disfigured you. Visualise him. Have his face before your mind’s eye. Now pray that he may be blessed. That the loveliest, most joyful and beautiful things may happen to him...’ Wallahi! I must leave that supreme heroism to bodhisattvas – such degree of selflessness is too much. Definitely beyond me, alas. Can’t even bring myself to forgive those creeps, the bishops of...So, theology or pathology? I dread to speculate.

Five centuries after St John Houghton suffered his Calvary, John Paul II proclaimed him a saint. Of course, ultimately only God knows who his saints are. But a saint is just that – a saint. His supernal world of grace is a different world from that of the mass of ordinary believers. So, perhaps...perhaps it is good news for all of us, miserable sinners. Saintly prayers do help. And even Henry VIII stands a chance after all.

Revd Frank Julian Gelli