3/22 - St. Nicholas Owen

0:00Welcome to the Saint of the Day podcast, a service of good Catholic and the Catholic company. Join us each day as we share the story of a unique Saint in pre-minutes or less. Today's Saint is Saint Nicholas Owen. Saint Nicholas Owen, who died in 1606, was born in England, the son of an Oxford carpenter. He became a carpenter himself and joined the Jesuits as a lay brother during the time when Catholicism was outlawed in England. After serving jail time for defending the martyred Saint Edmund campaign, Nicholas began working for it, traveling with the Jesuits, staying in Catholic houses where he made repairs during the day and secretly constructed well-disguised priestholes or hiding places for hunted priests during the night. He was so skilled at his craft that his priestholes saved hundreds of lives over his 20 years of work. While on a trip to London with a Jesuit priest, they were betrayed by a household servant, captured and tortured. After Nicholas's release, he masterminded the priest escape from the Tower of London.

1:01Years later, after the gunpowder plot of 1605, Nicholas was again a wanted man. He had a long of the priest in one of his priestholes, and although 100 men searched for them diligently, they were not discovered. After eight days of hiding without food, Nicholas left the hideout disguised as a priest in order to protect the real priest who was still concealed. He was captured and tortured on the rack in the Tower of London. Day after day, he refused to give up any information about the underground Catholic Church in England. He died a martyr after his entrails burst open. St. Nicholas's own is one of the 40 martyrs of England and Wales. Father John Gerard wrote of him, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote,

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