Remember, remember...

Today is the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot. Visit The Gunpowder Plot Society's comprehensive site for more information on this historic event which is now largely an excuse for a bonfire and fireworks fun. There is also a pertinent and relevant article by Fr Michael Barnes SJ in this week's The Tablet.

This day remains one of the more fascinating 'What if?'s in English history...

As for the title above, it comes from a rhyme taught to children to remind them of this day. The fear of Catholic conspiracy and even hatred for the Church and the Pope remains to this day and in some towns in Sussex effigies of Guy Fawkes and even the Roman Pontiff are still placed on the bonfire! So behind each bonfire and firework display is a far more sinister and hateful commemoration.

The photo on right is of a stained-glass window of a Jesuit martyr from the Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs in Cambridge.