Today, the Church honors not just an individual person, but a whole group of persons who laid down their lives for their Faith. They are the 40 English Martyrs—they are priests, monks, nuns, married men and women—who, after King Henry VIII had made Catholicism illegal in the country of England, continued to practice their Faith. Over the course of the Reformation, 244 more Catholics were martyred for their Faith on the hill Tyburn, which is today located in west-central sector of London.
The prayers for today’s Mass express the martyrs’ desire for true unity in Jesus Christ and his Holy Church: O merciful God, who, when thy Church on earth was torn apart by the ravages of sin, didst raise up men and women in England who witnessed to their faith with courage and constancy: give unto thy Church that peace which is thy will, and grant that they who have been divided on earth may be reconciled in heaven and be partakers together in the vision of thy glory; through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.