Rare discoveries shed light on secret Catholic life in Tudor house

[Disir]

The family once occupied a prominent position in the Tudor royal court but was ostracized after Sir Henry Bedingfeld (pictured below) refused to sign the Act of Uniformity 1588, which imposed fines on those who refused to attend Anglican services.

The Bedingfelds defied the authorities by continuing to practice the Catholic faith, building a priest hole to shelter clergy in the event of a raid. The narrow room was reached via a trap door that blended in with the tiled floor when shut.

... When builders returned to the property, which is maintained by the National Trust, they discovered an almost intact book known as the King’s Psalms (pictured below), printed in London in 1568. Previously only one copy of the book was known to have survived. It is kept in the British Library. The book, which was found in an attic void, was written by St. John Fisher, the Catholic Bishop of Rochester who was executed by order of Henry VIII in 1535.

Rare discoveries shed light on secret Catholic life in Tudor house

A restoration project at a country house has uncovered items that shed new light on the steadfast faith of a Catholic family in the wake of the English Reformation.

www.catholicnewsagency.com

Excellent find. I wonder what else they will find.

 

[Dick Foster]

The family once occupied a prominent position in the Tudor royal court but was ostracized after Sir Henry Bedingfeld (pictured below) refused to sign the Act of Uniformity 1588, which imposed fines on those who refused to attend Anglican services.

The Bedingfelds defied the authorities by continuing to practice the Catholic faith, building a priest hole to shelter clergy in the event of a raid. The narrow room was reached via a trap door that blended in with the tiled floor when shut.

... When builders returned to the property, which is maintained by the National Trust, they discovered an almost intact book known as the King’s Psalms (pictured below), printed in London in 1568. Previously only one copy of the book was known to have survived. It is kept in the British Library. The book, which was found in an attic void, was written by St. John Fisher, the Catholic Bishop of Rochester who was executed by order of Henry VIII in 1535.

Rare discoveries shed light on secret Catholic life in Tudor house

A restoration project at a country house has uncovered items that shed new light on the steadfast faith of a Catholic family in the wake of the English Reformation.

www.catholicnewsagency.com

Excellent find. I wonder what else they will find.

No other country treasures their history like the limeys.

 

[Disir]

It's the US history as well.

 

[fncceo]

It's the US history as well.

I don't believe we ever had a state sponsored religion in America.

 

[Disir]

It's the US history as well.

I don't believe we ever had a state sponsored religion in America.

Before it became known as "America" there was a state sponsored religion. People think that the Revolutionary War was fought for the America we know now and as "Americans". They were fighting for their rights as British subjects. That's what they knew. That's our legal history and that's our history. We kept common law until it was replaced at the local level. That history heavily influenced our Bill of Rights.

 

[Tommy Tainant]

These houses are all over the country. When I did my degree we visited one in Llangollen. The owners knew one of our lecturers and it was really Scooby Doo stuff, secret sliding panels and long dark hidden passages with a small chapel at the end.

 

[fncceo]

Before it became known as "America" there was a state sponsored religion.

Pre-independence America was home to many religions, from Protestant Puritan to Native American Animism.

We don't have a history of attempting to foist a state religion on everyone in the way England did.

 

[Disir]

Before it became known as "America" there was a state sponsored religion.

Pre-independence America was home to many religions, from Protestant Puritan to Native American Animism.

We don't have a history of attempting to foist a state religion on everyone in the way England did.

Pre-Independence America everyone was taxed to support Anglican clergy and churches in the colonies.

America's True History of Religious Tolerance

The idea that the United States has always been a bastion of religious freedom is reassuring—and utterly at odds with the historical record

www.smithsonianmag.com