Year of Faith - The Saints - The Irish Martyrs

Today we remember the 17 Irish Martyrs who were beatified on the 27th September 1992 by 

Bl. John Paul II and we ask their intercession for our country at this time.  We pray to them with an attitude of faith and hope as they had in the Lord, who is Lord of all Life.  All martyrs lay down their life for Jesus Christ who is our Way, our Truth and our Life.  Their faith meant more to them than their careers or their very lives and hence they inherited the Eternal Life and the glorious crown of martyrdom where their happiness and joy will never end in the Kingdom of the Lord.  

Margaret Bermingham Ball 1584, 

Patrick Cavanagh, 5 July 1581

Edward Cheevers, 5 July 1581

Dominic Collins, Jesuit lay brother from Youghal, Co. Cork, 31 October 1602

John Kearney, Franciscan Prior of Cashel, 1653

Matthew Lambert, 5 July 1581

Maurice MacKenraghty, Chaplain to the Earl of Desmond

Robert Myler, 5 July 1581

Terence Albert O'Brien O.P., Bishop of Emly , 31 October 1651

Conor O’Devany, Franciscan Bishop of Down & Connor, 11 February 1612

Patrick O'Healy, Franciscan Bishop of Mayo, 31 August 1579

Peter O'Higgins O.P., Prior of Naas, 23 March 1642

Dermot O'Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel, 20 June 1584

Patrick O'Loughran, priest from Co. Tyrone, 11 February 1612

Conn O'Rourke, Franciscan priest, 31 August 1579

Francis Taylor, former Mayor of Dublin

William Tirry, Augustinian priest from Cork, 12 May 1654

More information on the above from: Wikipedia - Irish Catholic Martyrs

Prayer

Holy Martyrs of Ireland, you witnessed by giving your own lives for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Please intercede for Ireland and its leaders at this crucial time.  Help us to believe and put our trust in the Lord to protect the lives of innocent human beings and that we may know and learn to cherish the faith that you gave your very lives for.  Help us to have courage, and witness to the Truth of the Gospel and return to a greater faith in the 

True Presence of Jesus Christ who is with us in the Most Holy Eucharist.  

Grant us also the grace of final perseverance. 

We ask this through your most powerful intercession today, 

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Picture above is of Bl. Dominic Collins (Jesuit brother)