In London, on the corner near the Marble Arch, there’s a noteworthy medallion on a traffic island commemorating Tyburn Tree. When English Catholics think of Tyburn, they think of the martyrs who died there – dragged through the streets after torture in the Tower of London, hanged, racked, and disemboweled, denied mercy unless they were prepared to deny loyalty to the Catholic Church and Peter’s successor in Rome.
Their names have come down to us with honor: Edmund Campion, Ralph Sherwin, John Stoughton, and more. Today there are churches and schools named after them, and pilgrims flow steadily to Tyburn where nuns at a thriving convent nearby hold a 24-hour vigil before the Blessed Sacrament.
The shrine, and the site of the gallows itself, have undergone a notable change in my lifetime. From being a slightly obscure shrine, known to devout Catholics, but not to the general public, they are now widely publicized, not least with an official Transport for London sign at the Tube station (Marble Arch).
The English Martyrs, as they are collectively known, were canonized by Paul VI in 1970. It was done with wisdom and with tact – the pope referred briefly and in a generous
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