TUESDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK IN LENT; FORTY HOLY MARTYRS (320 A.D.); SAINT JOHN OGILVIE (1615 A.D.) Martyr

TUESDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK IN LENT

FORTY HOLY MARTYRS

SAINT JOHN OGILVIE 
Martyr 

SIMPLE / PURPLE
INTROIT Ps. 26:8, 9
My heart has spoken to You; I have sought You. Your presence, O Lord, I will still seek; hide not Your face from me.
Ps. 26:1. The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear?
V. Glory be . . .

COLLECT
O Lord, help us keep the holy Lenten fast. Teach us our duties and assist us with Your grace to perform them. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of THE FORTY HOLY MARTYRS
The Forty Martyrs were soldiers belonging to various nationalities, who were quartered at Sebaste, Armenia, in A.D. 320. According to tradition, these Christians were condemned to lie naked on the frozen surface of a pond until they should die of exposure. The forty witnesses to Christ united in prayer, asking God that all of them might persevere to the end. Then one soldier weakened. But a pagan guard was inspired to confess Christ and take the place of the apostate, and again the number of forty martyrs was complete.

We pay honor to the bravery of Your glorious martyrs in bearing witness to You, O Almighty God. Grant that we may feel the power of their intercession with You.

Commemoration of SAINT JOHN OGILVIE
John was the eldest son of Walter Ogilvie, a respected Calvinist who owned the estate of Drumnakeith in Banffshire. At the age of twelve he was sent to the European continent to be educated. He attended a number of Catholic educational establishments, under the Benedictines at Regensburg in Germany and with the Jesuits at Olmutz and Brunn in Moravia. In the midst of the religious controversies and turmoil that engulfed the Europe of that era, he decided to become a Catholic. In 1596, aged seventeen, he was received into the Catholic Church at Leuven, Belgium. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1599 and was ordained a priest at Paris in 1610. After ordination he served in Rouen in Normandy where he made repeated requests to be sent to Scotland to minister to the few remaining Catholics in the Glasgow area (after 1560 it had become illegal there to preach, proselytise for, or otherwise endorse Catholicism).^[1]
It was his hope that some Catholic nobles there would aid him, given his lineage. Finding none, he went to London, then back to Paris, and finally returned to Scotland in November 1613 disguised as a horse trader named John Watson. Thereafter he began to preach in secret, celebrating Mass clandestinely in private homes.

The Jesuit John Ogilvie, who was publicly hanged and drawn on 10 March 1615 in Glasgow.^[2]

This ministry was to last less than a year. In October 1614, Ogilvie was discovered and arrested in Glasgow under the orders of Archbishop Spottiswood, and was imprisoned. He was initially treated well, but after continually refusing to confess, was tortured by sleep deprivation until he gave the names of some of his accomplices. He aggravated his position by refusing to pledge allegiance to King James, and it was for this crime that he was tried. During the trial he accused the king of 'playing the runagate from God' and stated he would acknowledge him no more than an 'old hat'. Found guilty, he was hanged and drawn at Glasgow Cross on 10 March 1615, aged thirty-six.^[3]
Ogilvie's last words were "If there be here any hidden Catholics, let them pray for me but the prayers of heretics I will not have." After he was pushed from the stairs, he threw his concealed rosary out into the crowd. According to legend, one of his enemies caught it and subsequently became a devout, lifelong Catholic. After his execution Ogilvie's followers were rounded up and put in jail. They suffered heavy fines, but none received the death penalty.
As a martyr of the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation he was beatified in 1929 and canonised in 1976 on 17 October, becoming the only post-Reformation Scottish saint.^[4][5] His feast day is celebrated on 10 March in the Catholic Church.
In Corby, Northamptonshire—an English town with a strong Scottish heritage—a Catholic church registered in March 1980 is dedicated to St John Ogilvie.^[6]
At the service to mark the quadricentenary of his death, he was described as "Scotland's only Catholic martyr".<sup>[7]

 Almighty, everlasting God, who didst make blessed John, Thy Martyr, an unconquerable defender of the Catholic Faith, grant us by his intercession, that day by day we may unceasingly grow in Faith, Hope and Charity. Through our Lord . . .</sup> 


LESSON III Kings 17:8-16 [I King 17:8-16]
In those days, the word of the Lord came to Elias the Thesbite, saying: "Arise, and go to Sarephta of the Sidonians, and dwell there: for I have commanded a widow woman there to feed thee."
He arose, and went to Sarephta. And when he was come to the gate of the city, he saw the widow woman gathering sticks, and he called her, and said to her: "Give me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink." And when she was going to fetch it, he called after her, saying: "Bring me also, I beseech thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand." And she answered: "As the Lord thy God liveth, I have no bread, but only a handful of meal in a pot, and a little oil in a cruise: behold I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it, for me and my son, that we may eat it and die."
And Elias said to her: "Fear not; but go, and do as thou hast said but first make for me of the same meal a little hearth cake, and bring it to me, and after make for thyself and thy son. For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: 'The pot of meal shall not waste, nor the cruise of oil be diminished, until the day wherein the Lord will give rain upon the face of the earth.' "
She went, and did according to the word of Elias: and he ate, and she, and her house: and from that day The pot of meal wasted not, and the cruise of oil was not diminished according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke in the hand of Elias.

GRADUAL Ps. 54:23, 17, 18, 19
Cast your care upon the Lord, and He will support you.
V. When I called upon the Lord, He heard my voice and delivered me from those who war against me.

GOSPEL Matt. 23:1-12
At that time Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples, Saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees have sitten on the chair of Moses. All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do: but according to their works do ye not. For they say, and do not. For they bind heavy and insupportable burdens and lay them on men's shoulders: but with a finger of their own they will not move them. And all their works they do for to be seen of men. For they make their phylacteries broad and enlarge their fringes. And they love the first places at feasts and the first chairs in the synagogues, And salutations in the market place, and to be called by men, Rabbi. But be not you called Rabbi. For one is your master: and all you are brethren. And call none your father upon earth; for one is your father, who is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, Christ. He that is the greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled: and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted."

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Ps. 50:3
Have mercy on me, O Lord; in the greatness of Your compassion, O Lord, blot out my sinfulness.

SECRET
O Lord, sanctify us by this sacred rite so that we may be cleansed from earthly sinfulness and come to our eternal reward. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of THE FORTY MARTYRS
Look favorably on the prayers and offerings of Your people, O Lord. May this celebration of the feast of Your saints please You and bring us Your merciful help.

Commemoration of SAINT JOHN OGILVIE
May the offering of our service be pleasing to Thee, O Lord, that by the intercession of blessed John Thy Martyr, it may mercifully fulfill our sanctification. Through our Lord . . . 

COMMUNION ANTIPHON Ps. 9:2-3
I will declare all Your wondrous deeds; I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High!

POSTCOMMUNION
O Lord, make us ever obedient to Your commandments so that we may be deserving of Your heavenly gifts. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of THE FORTY MARTYRS
May the prayers of Your saints win forgiveness for us, O Lord. Grant that the Sacrifice we offer in this life may be our everlasting possession in the life to come.

Commemoration of SAINT JOHN OGILVIE
O Lord, having partaken of the heavenly Food, we humbly pray to Thee, that we may be sharers with blessed John of Thine everlasting glory. Through our Lord . . . 

PRAYER OVER THE PEOPLE 
O Lord, be moved by our prayers and heal the sickness of our souls. Grant us pardon for our sins and make us always joyous in Your blessings. Through our Lord . . .