The prey of the priest catchers

the long version

Priest catchers wer professional lawmen in the Era of the Underground Church in England (1535-1679). They raided houses where they suspected a Mass was being held, guarded the ports where newly ordained priests might land, searched the houses of known Catholics for the secret panels which disguised the "priest holes". The stories of 40 of their victims, who were declared saints in 1970, are told in this book. They included not only priests, but those who helped them, like the butcher's wife, St. Margaret Clitherow, pressed to death in 1586, and the mysterious carpenter, St. Nicholas Owen, who designed priest holes so cleverly that some were not discovered until the 20th century. When Pop Paul VI canonized the 40 English and Welsh Martyrs, he put their heroism in perspective: "These martyrs take us back to those turbulent times when the Christian family was torn apart. Yet their canonization should not reopen old wounds. On the contrary, it should offer us a signal opportunity humbly to confess our own faults and to ask pardon for them." (dust jacket)