Churches of the Day
Pictorial Thought for Today
Oct 31 - Bl. Dominic Collins (3) Irish martyr, Jesuit brother: 1566-1602
Summary: Dominic Collins SJ was a big man in every way. A soldier of fortune in the Catholic armies of Europe, joined the Jesuits in Santiago de Compostela, sent back to Ireland in 1601 with army of Spaniards going to Kinsale, eventually captured and put to death for his faith.
Desmond Forristal tells his story.
Dominic was born into a leading Catholic family in Youghal, Co Cork in 1566. Both his father and his brother served as mayor in the town. Two friaries, Franciscans and Dominicans, flourished in the town beside the parish church. In 1577 two Irish Jesuits, Fathers Charles Lea and Robert Rochford, settled in the town, setting up a grammar school and organising classes in Christian doctrine for adults. Dominic may have attended this school. Later in life he said he learned some Latin as a boy, but admitted having forgotten it.
Local people acknowledged the rule of Queen Elizabeth, but were reluctant to accept Anglicanism as the new religion. The pope, not the Queen, was the head of their Church. In 1579 the Catholic Earl of Desmond led a rebellion against the Queen. The people of Youghal, though sympathetic to his religious aims, did not join the rebellion, so he seized the town and destroyed many of its buildings. The Jesuit school closed.
Soldier of Fortune
When the Desmond Rebellion was crushed, there was little else for a young Catholic man with ambition like Collins but to seek a career on the continent. He had grown up tall, strong and handsome. Sailing to France, he enlisted in the army of the Duke of Mercoeur, fighting for the Catholic League against the Huguenots in Brittany. For nine years, he served with distinction and rose through the ranks. His greatest moment came when he captured a strategic castle at Lapena and was appointed military governor of the region.
As governor he showed himself to be as honest as he was brave. When the Catholic League began to disintegrate, Henry IV of France offered him 2,000 ducats to hand over the castle, but he refused the bribe. Instead he gave the castle and its surrounding territory to the Spanish general, Don Juan del Aguila, who represented the devoutly Catholic King of Spain, Philip II. He then set out for Spain with a letter of recommendation from del Aguila, and was granted a pension of 25 crowns a month by the King.
Jesuit brother
Disenchanted with soldiering, even though King Philip II had placed him in the garrison at La Coruña on Spain’s Bay of Biscay, in 1598 he met a fellow Irishman, a Jesuit priest called Father Thomas White, to whom he confided his desire to join the Jesuits and serve as a brother.
Father White had come to Spain from Clonmel and in 1592 founded the Irish College at Salamanca for the education of young Irishmen, especially those who wanted to study for the priesthood. Soon afterwards he joined the Society of Jesus. There were many Catholic Irishmen living in Spain at the time, seeking the education and the careers that were no longer open to them at home. It was in his capacity as chaplain to the Irish community that Fr White met Dominic. He left this description of their first meeting which took place in the spring of 1598:
I went to the coast to hear the confessions of Irish soldiers in the fleet which was stationed there during Lent. Among them I met this officer, Dominic Collins. When I spoke to him he gave thanks to our Lord for meeting a priest who was a member of the Society of Jesus and a fellow countryman. He told me that for more than ten months he was unable to feel any joy or inward peace by reason of a struggle with our Lord who was urging him to choose a different walk in life and leave the world and its vanities. He told me he had said this to friars of different orders to whom he made his confession during this time, and that they had offered to give him the habit of their order and to make him a priest or religious, according as he might wish; that he had no inclination or desire for what the friars offered him, but that when he heard I was a member of the Society of Jesus he felt an inward joy which he could not account for or explain.
Fr White was impressed by Dominic's sincerity, but also pointed out some difficulties. Already in his thirties and with little formal education, he could not hope to become a Jesuit priest, and if he were accepted as a brother he would have to carry out the kind of duties he might think beneath his dignity as a high-ranking officer. Dominic was not in the least discouraged. He said he would do any work if only he were accepted by the Society. Fr White agreed to write about him to the Provincial.
The Jesuits were initially reluctant to accept him because they felt that a battle-hardened soldier would never be able to settle into religious life. Dominic bombarded the provincial with requests and was finally admitted to the novitiate in Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain.
At Santiago the Jesuit College was struck by a plague. Seven of the community were infected and many others fled for fear of catching the awful disease. Collins stayed on and tended the victims for two months, nursing some of them back to health and comforting the others in their last hours. He had proved his worth and completed his novitiate without further question. A report sent to Rome by his superiors states that he was a man of sound judgment and great physical strength, mature, prudent and sociable, though inclined to be hot-tempered and obstinate.
Return to Ireland: Kinsale 1601
At this time Ireland was in turmoil. In Ulster Hugh O'Neill and Red Hugh O'Donnell were defying the power of the English crown and trying to call all Ireland into revolt. In 1601 King Philip III of Spain decided to send an army to help the Irish rebels. A number of bishops and priests travelled with the expedition including an Irish Jesuit, Father James Archer, who asked that Brother Collins be sent as his companion for the journey even though the priest had never met Collins. The two set sail on different vessels, however, which became separated during a storm. Collins's ship had to return to La Coruña before finally reaching Ireland. He arrived on 1st December 1601 at Castlehaven, 30 miles from Kinsale, where the main part of the Spanish fleet was already ensconced.
A large English army under Lord Mountjoy had laid siege to Kinsale. Irish forces, including O'Neill and O'Donnell from the North and O'Sullivan Beare from West Cork, converged on the town. Dominic along with the Spanish soldiers in his ship travelled with O’Sullivan Beare, hoping to link up with Fr Archer there. The Irish army surrounded the English on the outside of the town while the Spanish faced the English from inside. The Irish attacked at dawn on Christmas Eve, but for reasons never fully understood, suffered a humiliating defeat, with no help from the Spaniards who remained within the town.
The Irish scattered. O'Neill and O'Donnell's armies marched back northward while O'Sullivan Beare led his men back to the Beara peninsula. Dominic Collins accompanied them to Bearhaven, a deep, safe harbour sheltered by Beare Island from the Atlantic. Dunboy Castle, a small square fortress on the mainland overlooking Beare Island, its guns commanding the strait leading to the harbour, was the spot that O'Sullivan chose to make a last-ditch stand against the English. Dominic was joined here by Fr Archer, who had escaped from Kinsale. It was the first time he and Dominic had met.
O’Sullivan’s strategy was to pin down for as long as possible the English army, now under the command of Sir George Carew, president of Munster. A picked garrison would hold the castle while O’Sullivan would attack the besiegers from the mountains on the mainland peninsula. This would give the other Irish chieftains time to regroup and keep resistance alive until the arrival of reinforcements which were expected to land shortly from Spain. The first part of the strategy worked, and the English forces were tied up there for six months after victory at Kinsale. They could not approach the castle by sea because of bad weather and O’Sullivan’s guerillas harassed them in the mountains. The second part failed because the Spaniards never came.
The Siege of Dunboy Castle
Eventually on 6th June 1602 Carew had 4,000 English troops make an unexpected landing on a sandy beach just below the castle. Some of the Irish crossed the mountains to join O’Sullivan Beare on the north side of the peninsula, about twenty miles away. With them was Father Archer who subsequently set out for Spain seeking more aid. O' Sullivan with his thousand men did not intervene and was later accused of callousness and cowardice. Possibly he still hoped for the Spanish troops which would have turned the balance in his favour.
Inside the castle were 143 soldiers under the command of Richard McGeoghegan. As a religious, Dominic could not take part in the fighting but as a veteran of so many battles he could give bodily and spiritual assistance to the wounded and the dying. As a Jesuit religious he could keep before their eyes the cause for which they were fighting, their lands and their faith.
For ten days the English dug in around the castle and attacked, but were beaten back. Eventually on 17th June when their guns were in position, they bombarded the castle unremittingly. When the tower eventually fell, they rushed the breach but were driven back. The defenders fought bravely and towards evening retreated down into the crypt of the castle. As night was drawing on, the English dared not press further. They simply placed their flags on the castle ruins and waited to see what the morning would bring. But just after sunset a tall figure emerged from the crypt and made its way through the smoking rubble and over the piled-up corpses. Dominic, knowing how anxious Carew was to capture a Jesuit, hoped that by handing himself over he could negotiate an honourable cease-fire. But Carew refused to consider the proposal and ordered Dominic to be held prisoner.
Next day The English started firing on the ruins and into the crypt. It was clear to the defenders that Dominic's peace attempt had failed. After a bitter siege, with huge casualties, the defenders surrendered. What was left of the castle was blown up. Of the seventy-three prisoners that survived Carew set aside three for questioning - Dominic Collins, Thomas Taylor, and an Irishman of noble birth, Turlough Roe MacSwiney. The rest were brought to the market-place and hanged, fifty-eight on that day, 18th June, and the remaining twelve four days later.
The ruins of Dunboy Castle can still be seen today on a small headland, facing Beare Island. Though grass has grown over the ruins and cows graze peacefully where so many men fought and died, three walls of the crypt survive and a part of the stone stairway. On one of the walls is a commemorative tablet with an inscription in Irish:
Interrogation
The three surviving prisoners were brought to Cork for interrogation. Taylor and MacSwiney were soon executed, as they had little to reveal. Collins, a Jesuit lately come from Spain, was thought to be a more promising prospect. Carew interrogated him at length on 9th July, and sent a long report to London on the result of the interrogation, but was forced to admit that it contained little of value. Dominic answered questions about his years in France and Spain and his return to Ireland, but nothing he said was of any military importance. There seemed no reason to postpone his execution any longer.
But Carew had other plans. He thought if he could persuade the Jesuit to renounce his allegiance to the Pope and embrace the new religion it would be a resounding propaganda victory. No effort was spared in the attempt to break Dominic's resolution. We are told that he was savagely tortured, though the form of torture is not mentioned. He was promised rich rewards and high ecclesiastical office if he would accept the doctrines of Anglicanism. Ministers of religion were sent to persuade him of the error of his beliefs. Even some of his own family visited him, urging him to save his life by pretending a conversion which he could afterwards repudiate. He was in his middle thirties with much to live for. But he rejected all the offers, and chose a martyr's death.
Execution
Taken to Youghal on 31st October 1602, he was marched by a troop of soldiers through the streets to the place of execution. It was the first time he had seen his home town in fifteen years. He wore the black gown of his order, which he had desired so long and loved so greatly. He knelt at the foot of the gallows and greeted it joyfully: “Hail, holy cross, so long desired by me!” Then he addressed the crowd in a mixture of Spanish, Irish and English, telling them that he had come to Ireland to defend the faith of the Holy Roman Church, which was the one true path to salvation and for which he was about to die. He was so cheerful that an English officer remarked, “He is going to his death as eagerly as I would go to a banquet”. Dominic overheard him and replied, “For this cause I would be willing to die not once but a thousand deaths”.
His words and demeanour so touched the crowd that the hangman refused to do his work. The soldiers eventually seized on a passer-by, a poor fisherman, and forced him to accept the office. He asked the victim for forgiveness, which Dominic gladly granted before mounting the ladder with the rope around his neck. Reciting a psalm, he had just reached the words "Into your hands I commend my spirit", when the fisherman pulled away the ladder; and so he died.
Left hanging on the gallows for several hours, the rope eventually broke and his body fell to the ground. Under cover of darkness local Catholics took him away and buried him reverently in a secret place. From that day he was venerated as a martyr in Youghal and his fame quickly spread throughout Ireland and parts of Europe. In the Irish Colleges of Douai and Salamanca the Jesuits showed his portrait. Many favours and cures were attributed to his intercession.
A martyr
It might be suggested that Dominic Collins’s execution was for political rather than religious reasons. Had he been hanged with the rest of the Dunboy garrison immediately after the siege, there could be some room for doubt. But he was not executed until more than four months later, and it was made clear to him that he could save his life if he renounced his religion. It was his choice to die as a martyr.
Today we know Dominic Collins only through the words of others, some friends, others enemies. No letters or writings of his own survive. Yet we feel he is someone we know well. His personality is still vivid after almost four hundred years.
A big man in every way - in height, in strength, in heart, in mind - he was at the same time capable of great gentleness and humility. A veteran soldier, who lived for nine years the rough life of the army camp, he kept through it all a strange innocence and holiness and goodness. A much-honoured officer, who had served under kings and generals, he was happy to kneel and scrub floors in honour of a greater king. In his life and in his death he remains one of the most attractive and lovable of all the Irish martyrs.
This is an edited version of the pamphlet written by Desmond Forristal and published by The Messenger in 1992.
~ Billy Graham ~
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Desmond Forristal tells his story.
Dominic was born into a leading Catholic family in Youghal, Co Cork in 1566. Both his father and his brother served as mayor in the town. Two friaries, Franciscans and Dominicans, flourished in the town beside the parish church. In 1577 two Irish Jesuits, Fathers Charles Lea and Robert Rochford, settled in the town, setting up a grammar school and organising classes in Christian doctrine for adults. Dominic may have attended this school. Later in life he said he learned some Latin as a boy, but admitted having forgotten it.Local people acknowledged the rule of Queen Elizabeth, but were reluctant to accept Anglicanism as the new religion. The pope, not the Queen, was the head of their Church. In 1579 the Catholic Earl of Desmond led a rebellion against the Queen. The people of Youghal, though sympathetic to his religious aims, did not join the rebellion, so he seized the town and destroyed many of its buildings. The Jesuit school closed.
Soldier of Fortune
When the Desmond Rebellion was crushed, there was little else for a young Catholic man with ambition like Collins but to seek a career on the continent. He had grown up tall, strong and handsome. Sailing to France, he enlisted in the army of the Duke of Mercoeur, fighting for the Catholic League against the Huguenots in Brittany. For nine years, he served with distinction and rose through the ranks. His greatest moment came when he captured a strategic castle at Lapena and was appointed military governor of the region.As governor he showed himself to be as honest as he was brave. When the Catholic League began to disintegrate, Henry IV of France offered him 2,000 ducats to hand over the castle, but he refused the bribe. Instead he gave the castle and its surrounding territory to the Spanish general, Don Juan del Aguila, who represented the devoutly Catholic King of Spain, Philip II. He then set out for Spain with a letter of recommendation from del Aguila, and was granted a pension of 25 crowns a month by the King.
Jesuit brother
Disenchanted with soldiering, even though King Philip II had placed him in the garrison at La Coruña on Spain’s Bay of Biscay, in 1598 he met a fellow Irishman, a Jesuit priest called Father Thomas White, to whom he confided his desire to join the Jesuits and serve as a brother.
Father White had come to Spain from Clonmel and in 1592 founded the Irish College at Salamanca for the education of young Irishmen, especially those who wanted to study for the priesthood. Soon afterwards he joined the Society of Jesus. There were many Catholic Irishmen living in Spain at the time, seeking the education and the careers that were no longer open to them at home. It was in his capacity as chaplain to the Irish community that Fr White met Dominic. He left this description of their first meeting which took place in the spring of 1598:
I went to the coast to hear the confessions of Irish soldiers in the fleet which was stationed there during Lent. Among them I met this officer, Dominic Collins. When I spoke to him he gave thanks to our Lord for meeting a priest who was a member of the Society of Jesus and a fellow countryman. He told me that for more than ten months he was unable to feel any joy or inward peace by reason of a struggle with our Lord who was urging him to choose a different walk in life and leave the world and its vanities. He told me he had said this to friars of different orders to whom he made his confession during this time, and that they had offered to give him the habit of their order and to make him a priest or religious, according as he might wish; that he had no inclination or desire for what the friars offered him, but that when he heard I was a member of the Society of Jesus he felt an inward joy which he could not account for or explain.
Fr White was impressed by Dominic's sincerity, but also pointed out some difficulties. Already in his thirties and with little formal education, he could not hope to become a Jesuit priest, and if he were accepted as a brother he would have to carry out the kind of duties he might think beneath his dignity as a high-ranking officer. Dominic was not in the least discouraged. He said he would do any work if only he were accepted by the Society. Fr White agreed to write about him to the Provincial.
The Jesuits were initially reluctant to accept him because they felt that a battle-hardened soldier would never be able to settle into religious life. Dominic bombarded the provincial with requests and was finally admitted to the novitiate in Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain.
At Santiago the Jesuit College was struck by a plague. Seven of the community were infected and many others fled for fear of catching the awful disease. Collins stayed on and tended the victims for two months, nursing some of them back to health and comforting the others in their last hours. He had proved his worth and completed his novitiate without further question. A report sent to Rome by his superiors states that he was a man of sound judgment and great physical strength, mature, prudent and sociable, though inclined to be hot-tempered and obstinate.
Return to Ireland: Kinsale 1601
At this time Ireland was in turmoil. In Ulster Hugh O'Neill and Red Hugh O'Donnell were defying the power of the English crown and trying to call all Ireland into revolt. In 1601 King Philip III of Spain decided to send an army to help the Irish rebels. A number of bishops and priests travelled with the expedition including an Irish Jesuit, Father James Archer, who asked that Brother Collins be sent as his companion for the journey even though the priest had never met Collins. The two set sail on different vessels, however, which became separated during a storm. Collins's ship had to return to La Coruña before finally reaching Ireland. He arrived on 1st December 1601 at Castlehaven, 30 miles from Kinsale, where the main part of the Spanish fleet was already ensconced.
A large English army under Lord Mountjoy had laid siege to Kinsale. Irish forces, including O'Neill and O'Donnell from the North and O'Sullivan Beare from West Cork, converged on the town. Dominic along with the Spanish soldiers in his ship travelled with O’Sullivan Beare, hoping to link up with Fr Archer there. The Irish army surrounded the English on the outside of the town while the Spanish faced the English from inside. The Irish attacked at dawn on Christmas Eve, but for reasons never fully understood, suffered a humiliating defeat, with no help from the Spaniards who remained within the town.
The Irish scattered. O'Neill and O'Donnell's armies marched back northward while O'Sullivan Beare led his men back to the Beara peninsula. Dominic Collins accompanied them to Bearhaven, a deep, safe harbour sheltered by Beare Island from the Atlantic. Dunboy Castle, a small square fortress on the mainland overlooking Beare Island, its guns commanding the strait leading to the harbour, was the spot that O'Sullivan chose to make a last-ditch stand against the English. Dominic was joined here by Fr Archer, who had escaped from Kinsale. It was the first time he and Dominic had met.
O’Sullivan’s strategy was to pin down for as long as possible the English army, now under the command of Sir George Carew, president of Munster. A picked garrison would hold the castle while O’Sullivan would attack the besiegers from the mountains on the mainland peninsula. This would give the other Irish chieftains time to regroup and keep resistance alive until the arrival of reinforcements which were expected to land shortly from Spain. The first part of the strategy worked, and the English forces were tied up there for six months after victory at Kinsale. They could not approach the castle by sea because of bad weather and O’Sullivan’s guerillas harassed them in the mountains. The second part failed because the Spaniards never came.
The Siege of Dunboy Castle
Eventually on 6th June 1602 Carew had 4,000 English troops make an unexpected landing on a sandy beach just below the castle. Some of the Irish crossed the mountains to join O’Sullivan Beare on the north side of the peninsula, about twenty miles away. With them was Father Archer who subsequently set out for Spain seeking more aid. O' Sullivan with his thousand men did not intervene and was later accused of callousness and cowardice. Possibly he still hoped for the Spanish troops which would have turned the balance in his favour.
Inside the castle were 143 soldiers under the command of Richard McGeoghegan. As a religious, Dominic could not take part in the fighting but as a veteran of so many battles he could give bodily and spiritual assistance to the wounded and the dying. As a Jesuit religious he could keep before their eyes the cause for which they were fighting, their lands and their faith.
For ten days the English dug in around the castle and attacked, but were beaten back. Eventually on 17th June when their guns were in position, they bombarded the castle unremittingly. When the tower eventually fell, they rushed the breach but were driven back. The defenders fought bravely and towards evening retreated down into the crypt of the castle. As night was drawing on, the English dared not press further. They simply placed their flags on the castle ruins and waited to see what the morning would bring. But just after sunset a tall figure emerged from the crypt and made its way through the smoking rubble and over the piled-up corpses. Dominic, knowing how anxious Carew was to capture a Jesuit, hoped that by handing himself over he could negotiate an honourable cease-fire. But Carew refused to consider the proposal and ordered Dominic to be held prisoner.
Next day The English started firing on the ruins and into the crypt. It was clear to the defenders that Dominic's peace attempt had failed. After a bitter siege, with huge casualties, the defenders surrendered. What was left of the castle was blown up. Of the seventy-three prisoners that survived Carew set aside three for questioning - Dominic Collins, Thomas Taylor, and an Irishman of noble birth, Turlough Roe MacSwiney. The rest were brought to the market-place and hanged, fifty-eight on that day, 18th June, and the remaining twelve four days later.
The ruins of Dunboy Castle can still be seen today on a small headland, facing Beare Island. Though grass has grown over the ruins and cows graze peacefully where so many men fought and died, three walls of the crypt survive and a part of the stone stairway. On one of the walls is a commemorative tablet with an inscription in Irish:
I gcuimhne na laoch do thuit i nDún Baoi
ar son tíre is creidimh Meitheamh 1602
Tógadh an leac so 22adh Meitheamh 1953.
Suaimhneas síorraí d'á nAnam.
In memory of the warriors who fell in Dunboy
for fatherland and faith in June 1602
This tablet was erected 22 June 1952.
Eternal rest to their souls.
Interrogation
The three surviving prisoners were brought to Cork for interrogation. Taylor and MacSwiney were soon executed, as they had little to reveal. Collins, a Jesuit lately come from Spain, was thought to be a more promising prospect. Carew interrogated him at length on 9th July, and sent a long report to London on the result of the interrogation, but was forced to admit that it contained little of value. Dominic answered questions about his years in France and Spain and his return to Ireland, but nothing he said was of any military importance. There seemed no reason to postpone his execution any longer.
But Carew had other plans. He thought if he could persuade the Jesuit to renounce his allegiance to the Pope and embrace the new religion it would be a resounding propaganda victory. No effort was spared in the attempt to break Dominic's resolution. We are told that he was savagely tortured, though the form of torture is not mentioned. He was promised rich rewards and high ecclesiastical office if he would accept the doctrines of Anglicanism. Ministers of religion were sent to persuade him of the error of his beliefs. Even some of his own family visited him, urging him to save his life by pretending a conversion which he could afterwards repudiate. He was in his middle thirties with much to live for. But he rejected all the offers, and chose a martyr's death.Execution
Taken to Youghal on 31st October 1602, he was marched by a troop of soldiers through the streets to the place of execution. It was the first time he had seen his home town in fifteen years. He wore the black gown of his order, which he had desired so long and loved so greatly. He knelt at the foot of the gallows and greeted it joyfully: “Hail, holy cross, so long desired by me!” Then he addressed the crowd in a mixture of Spanish, Irish and English, telling them that he had come to Ireland to defend the faith of the Holy Roman Church, which was the one true path to salvation and for which he was about to die. He was so cheerful that an English officer remarked, “He is going to his death as eagerly as I would go to a banquet”. Dominic overheard him and replied, “For this cause I would be willing to die not once but a thousand deaths”.His words and demeanour so touched the crowd that the hangman refused to do his work. The soldiers eventually seized on a passer-by, a poor fisherman, and forced him to accept the office. He asked the victim for forgiveness, which Dominic gladly granted before mounting the ladder with the rope around his neck. Reciting a psalm, he had just reached the words "Into your hands I commend my spirit", when the fisherman pulled away the ladder; and so he died.
Left hanging on the gallows for several hours, the rope eventually broke and his body fell to the ground. Under cover of darkness local Catholics took him away and buried him reverently in a secret place. From that day he was venerated as a martyr in Youghal and his fame quickly spread throughout Ireland and parts of Europe. In the Irish Colleges of Douai and Salamanca the Jesuits showed his portrait. Many favours and cures were attributed to his intercession.
A martyr
It might be suggested that Dominic Collins’s execution was for political rather than religious reasons. Had he been hanged with the rest of the Dunboy garrison immediately after the siege, there could be some room for doubt. But he was not executed until more than four months later, and it was made clear to him that he could save his life if he renounced his religion. It was his choice to die as a martyr.
Today we know Dominic Collins only through the words of others, some friends, others enemies. No letters or writings of his own survive. Yet we feel he is someone we know well. His personality is still vivid after almost four hundred years.
A big man in every way - in height, in strength, in heart, in mind - he was at the same time capable of great gentleness and humility. A veteran soldier, who lived for nine years the rough life of the army camp, he kept through it all a strange innocence and holiness and goodness. A much-honoured officer, who had served under kings and generals, he was happy to kneel and scrub floors in honour of a greater king. In his life and in his death he remains one of the most attractive and lovable of all the Irish martyrs.
This is an edited version of the pamphlet written by Desmond Forristal and published by The Messenger in 1992.
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Memorable Quote for Today
If you are ignorant of God's Word,
you will always be ignorant of God's will.
~ Billy Graham ~
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Liturgical Readings for: Saturday, 31st October, 2026
Saturday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2
The Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday
OCT 31 ( Blessed Dominic Collins, martyr, soldier, entered the Society of Jesus, captured and hanged for the faith in Youghal)
FIRST READING
A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Philippians 1:18-26
Life to me, of course, is Christ, but then death would bring me something more.
Christ is proclaimed; and that makes me happy; and I shall continue being happy,
because I know this will help to save me, thanks to your prayers and to the help which will be given to me by the Spirit of Jesus. My one hope and trust is that I shall never have to admit defeat, but that now as always I shall have the courage for Christ to be glorified in my body, whether by my life or by my death. Life to me, of course, is Christ, but then death would bring me something more; but then again, if living in this body means doing work which is having good results-I do not know what I should choose. I am caught in this dilemma:
I want to be gone and be with Christ, which would be very much the better, but for me to stay alive in this body is a more urgent need for your sake. This weighs with me so much that I feel sure I shall survive and stay with you all, and help you to progress in the faith and even increase your joy in it; and so you will have another reason to give praise to Christ Jesus on my account when I am with you again.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 41: 2-3. 5. R/v3
Response My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life.
1. Like the deer that yearns for running streams,
so my soul is yearning for you, my God. Response
2. My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life;
when can I enter and see the face of God? Response
3. I would lead the rejoicing crowd into the house of God,
amid cries of gladness and thanksgiving. Response
Gospel Acclamation Col 3: 16
Alleluia, alleluia!
Let the message of Christ, in all its richness,
find a home with you; through him give thanks to God the Father.
Alleluia!
Or Mt 11: 29
Alleluia, alleluia!
Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, says the Lord,
for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to Luke 14:1, 7-11 Glory to you, O Lord
Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the man who humbles himself will be exalted.
Now on a sabbath day Jesus had gone for a meal to the house of one of the leading Pharisees; and they watched him closely. He then told the guests a parable, because he had noticed how they picked the places of honour.
He said this,
'When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take your seat in the place of honour. A more distinguished person than you may have been invited, and the person who invited you both may come and say,"Give up your place to this man". And then, to your embarrassment, you would have to go and take the lowest place.
No; when you are a guest, make your way to the lowest place and sit there, so that, when your host comes, he may say,
"My friend, move up higher". In that way, everyone with you at the table will see you honoured.
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the man who humbles himself will be exalted.'
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Saturday, Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time Luke 14:1, 7-11
In today’s first reading, we are given a wonderful insight into a deeply personal struggle within Paul. Writing from prison with the prospect of death before him, he finds himself pulled in two directions, each of which is very praiseworthy. He feels a desire, a pull, towards death because it means being with Christ. He feels another desire or pull to stay alive in order to continue serving the church in Philippi by helping them to progress in the faith. We often find ourselves in a situation where we have a choice to make, not so much between what is good and what is not good, but between one good and another good. Whichever path we take will be a good path, but we try to discern which path would be better. For Paul, death leading to a deeper communion with Christ would, in some respects, be a much better path. Yet he eventually expresses his wish for the other path, staying alive and serving the Church, continuing his work which is bearing such good results in the lives of others.
In the end, the decisive question for Paul is, ‘What would best serve the well-being of others, especially their spiritual well-being?’ It is a good question to ponder when we are trying to discern between two paths, both of which are good.
In the gospel reading, Jesus witnesses people for whom a very different question is important. They are asking, ‘How can I receive the greatest honour?’ There is a competitive spirit among them to choose the places of greatest honour at table. Jesus makes clear that this is not a valid question for his followers. Rather, we are called to humble ourselves, to empty ourselves, in the loving service of others, as Jesus himself did. If we do so, we will go on to receive the only honour that is worth having, the honour that comes from God. Beyond this earthly life, we will be exalted, as Jesus was.
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The scripture readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and used with the permission of the publishers. http://dltbooks.com/The Gospel reflection comes from WEEKDAY REFLECTIONS : The Word of God is Living and Active by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/
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Summary: Blessed Dominic Collins, martyr
When the Desmond Rebellion was put down in Munster in 1583, Dominic Collins of Youghal, Ireland became a professional soldier in the Catholic armies of Europe. Ten years later he joined the Jesuits in Santiago de Compostela. He was sent back to Ireland in 1601 as a companion to Fr James Archer SJ with the Spaniards going to Kinsale, he was eventually captured and put to death for his faith.
Patrick Duffy tells his story.
Early Life: Soldier of Fortune
Dominic Collins was born into a leading Catholic family in Youghal, Co Cork, in 1566. Both his father and his brother served as mayor in the town and he may have attended the Jesuit school set up in the town in 1577.The local people recognised Elizabeth of England as Queen in Ireland, but did not want Anglicanism as the new religion. So when the Desmond Rebellion was crushed (1583), there was little else for a young Catholic man of ambition to do but to seek a career on the continent. Sailing to France, Dominic enlisted in the Catholic army of the Duke of Mercoeur and quickly became a military governor. He later transferred to the Spanish army and was in the garrison at La Coruña.
Joining the Jesuits
Here in 1598 he met the Jesuit priest, Father Thomas White from Clonmel, who had earlier founded the Irish College at Salamanca and had come to La Coruña to hear the confessions of Irish soldiers during Lent. Dominic confided in Fr White his intention of joining the Jesuits. Fr White explained the difficulties of studies for the priesthood. Dominic said was happy to be a Jesuit brother.
The Jesuits were reluctant to accept him, feeling that a battle-hardened soldier would not settle into religious life, but Dominic persevered and was admitted to the novitiate in Santiago de Compostela. Here he proved his mettle when the Jesuit College was struck by a plague. Dominic tended the victims, nursing some of them back to health and comforting the others in their last hours.
A report sent to Rome at this time describes him as a man of sound judgement and great physical strength, mature, prudent and sociable, though inclined to be hot-tempered and obstinate.
Battle of Kinsale
At this time Ireland was in turmoil. O'Neill and O'Donnell had revolted in Ulster and in 1601 King Philip III of Spain decided to send an army to help them. An Irish Jesuit, Father James Archer, who was acting as O’Neill’s envoy with Rome and Spain, asked that Dominic, who knew the needs of soldiers, be sent with him to Ireland.
Siege of Dunboy CastleAfter the shock defeat of the Irish and the Spanish at the Battle of Kinsale, Fr Archer went back to Spain. Dominic went with O'Sullivan Beare’s men to the Beara peninsula and was along with a group of 143 soldiers under the command of Richard McGeoghegan, who took refuge inside Dunboy Castle. This was a small square fortress on the mainland overlooking Beare Island. Here Lord Carew, the president of Munster and an army of 4,000 soldiers besieged them for several months.
During the siege, Dominic, though a veteran of many battles, could not as a religious take part in the fighting, but he could and did give bodily and spiritual assistance to the wounded and the dying. Knowing too how keen Carew would be to capture a Jesuit, he thought that by handing himself over as a hostage he could negotiate an honourable cease-fire. But Carew refused any negotiations and the besieged surrendered. Carew ordered Dominic and two others to be kept prisoners while the rest were hanged in the market-place, fifty-eight on that day, and the remaining twelve four days later. A plaque on the ruins of Dunboy Castle today commemorates their brave struggle.
Interrogation Torture
The three surviving prisoners were brought to Cork for interrogation. As the other two had little to reveal, they were soon executed. But Carew interrogated Collins, hoping he could persuade him to become a Protestant and thus gain a propaganda victory. He alternately tortured Dominic and made him promises of preferment to high ecclesiastical office. Some of Dominic’s own family visited him, urging him to save his life by pretending a conversion which he could afterwards repudiate. But Dominic would have none of it, and clearly made a choice of a martyr's death.
Martyrdom Taken to Youghal on 31st October 1602, he was marched by a troop of soldiers through the streets to the place of execution - the first time he had seen his home town in fifteen years. He wore his black Jesuit gown and addressed the crowd in Spanish, Irish and English, cheerfully telling them that he had come to Ireland to defend the faith of the Holy Roman Church, the one true path to salvation. So moved were the crowd that the hangman fled and a passing fisherman was forced to do the job.
Influence
Left hanging on the gallows, the rope eventually broke and Dominic’s body fell to the ground. Under cover of darkness, local Catholics took his body away and buried him with respect in a secret place. From that day he
was venerated as a martyr in Youghal and his fame quickly spread throughout Ireland and Europe. In the Irish Colleges of Douai and Salamanca the Jesuits showed his portrait and many favours and cures were attributed to his intercession. Although used to the rough life of the army camp, Dominic always kept a strange innocence and gentleness. He is one of the most attractive of all the Irish martyrs.____________________________________
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Memorable Saying for Today
If you feel like you're losing everything,
remember that trees lose their leaves every year
that they still stand tall
and wait for better times to come.
..Author unknown
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Liturgical Readings for: Saturday, 31st October, 2026
CÉAD LÉACHTSliocht as an Litir Naomh Pól chuig na Filipigh 1:18-26
Mar is é Críost is beatha domsa agus ba shochar dom an bás.
A bhráithre, is é Críost atá á fhógairt ar aon chuma agus sin é an rud a chuireann áthas orm; agus
leanfaidh mé ag déanamh áthais mar gheall air mar go bhfuil a fhios agam go rachaidh sé chun mo shlánaithe le cabhair bhur n-urnaithese agus le cúnamh ó Spiorad Íosa Críost. Mar tá súil agus dóchas láidir agam nach gcuirfear aon náire ar aon chor orm ach le gach muinín anois mar ba ghnáth go nglóireofar Críost i mo chorp, cibé acu beatha nó bás atá i ndán dom. Mar is é Críost is beatha domsa agus ba shochar dom an bás. Ar an taobh eile, áfach, má bhíonn rath ar mo shaothar fad a mhairim sa cholainn, ní fheadar cé acu rogha a dhéanfaidh mé.
Táim i gcás idir dhá chomhairle: tá fonn orm síothlú liom agus bheith fara Críost, mar ba é ba fhearr go mór. Ach is riachtanaí go bhfanfainn sa cholainn ar mhaithe libhse. Ós deimhin liom sin, tá a fhios agam go bhfanfaidh mé ann go fóill chun cuidiú libhse uile d’fhonn bhur gcreideamh a chur chun cinn agus bhur lúcháir ann a mhéadú, i dtreo nuair a thiocfaidh mé arís chugaibh go mbeidh sibh níos bródúla ná riamh asam in Íosa Críost.
Briathar an Tiarna Buíochas le Dia
Salm le freagra Sm 41:2-3. 5. R/v. 3
Freagra Tá cíocras chun Dé ar m’anam chun Dé bheo.
1. Faoi mar a shantaíonn an eilit na sruthanna uisce
is amhlaidh a shantaíonn m’anam thusa, a Dhia. Freagra
2. Tá cíocras chun Dé ar m’anam chun Dé bheo;
cá huair a thiocfaidh mé go bhfeicfidh mé gnúis mo Dhé. Freagra
3. Ghluaisinn i dtosach an tslua ag triall ar theach Dé dom,
le gártha gairdis agus molta i ndáil fleá agus féile. Freagra
SOISCÉAL
Go raibh an Tiarna libh. Agus le do spiorad féin
Sliocht as an Soiscéal naofa de réir Naomh Lúcás 14:1, 7-11 Glóir duit, a Thiarna.
Gach aon duine a ardaíonn é féin, ísleofar é, agus an té a íslíonn é féin, ardófar é.
San am sin nuair a chuaigh Íosa ag caitheamh a choda lá sabóide i dteach dhuine de chinn urra na bhFairísineach, iad seo a bhí ann, bhí siad ag faire go géar air. Dúirt sé parabal leo siúd a fuair an cuireadh, ar a shonrú dó mar a thoghaidís na chéad
áiteanna;
dúirt sé leo: “Nuair a thabharfaidh duine éigin cuireadh chun bainise duit, ná téigh i do luí sa chéad áit, le heagla go mbeadh cuireadh ag duine eile uaidh ba mhó le rá ná thú, agus go dtiocfaidh an té a thug an cuireadh duit féin agus dó sin, á rá leat: ‘Tabhair áit dó seo,’ agus go gcaithfeá ansin agus ceann faoi ort an áit is ísle a ghabháil.
Ach nuair a gheobhaidh tú cuireadh, tar agus lig fút san áit is ísle, sa chaoi, nuair a thiocfaidh an té a thug an cuireadh duit, go ndéarfaidh sé leat: ‘A chara, gabh níos faide suas’; ansin beidh onóir ann duit i láthair chách a bhíonn ag bord leat.
Óir gach aon duine a ardaíonn é féin, ísleofar é, agus an té a íslíonn é féin, ardófar é.”
Soiscéal an Tiarna. Moladh duit, a Chriost
AN BÍOBLA NAOFA
© An Sagart
Liturgical Readings for: Sunday, 1st November, 2026
Saturday, Nov. 1 - Solemnity of All Saints
Disciples of the Lord sanctified by the Lord, now and in glory
Feast of the Day; Nov 1 ; All Saints; All those people who who have gone before us, or are still with us on our journey of faith.
C/f A short history of today’s Feast can be found below today’s Readings and Reflection.
FIRST READING
A reading from the book of the Apocalypse 7:2-4. 9-14
I saw a huge number, impossible to count, of people of every nation, race, tribe and language.
I, John saw another angel rising where the sun rises, carrying the seal of the living God;he called in a powerful voice to the four angels whose duty was to devastate land and sea,
'Wait before you do any damage on land or at sea or to the trees,
until we have put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.'
Then I heard how many were sealed:
a hundred and forty four thousand, out of all the tribes of Israel.
After that I saw a huge number, impossible to count, of people from every nation, race, tribe and language; they were standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands. They shouted aloud,
'Victory to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'
And all the angels who were standing in a circle round the throne, surrounding the elders and the four animals, prostrated themselves before the throne, and touched the ground with their foreheads, worshipping God with these words,
'Amen.
Praise and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen.'
One of the elders then spoke, and asked me,
'Do you know who these people are, dressed in white robes, and where they have come from?'
I answered him, 'You can tell me, my Lord.'
Then he said, 'These are the people who have been through the great persecution, and they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb'.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 23: 1-6. R/v v6
Response Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord
1.The Lord's is the earth and its fullness, the world and all its peoples.
It is he who set it on the seas; on the waters he made it firm. Response
2. Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place?
The man with clean hands and pure heart, who desires not worthless things. Response
3. He shall receive blessings from the Lord and reward from the God who saves him.
Such are the men who seek him, seek the face of the God of Jacob. Response
SECOND READING
A reading from the first letter of St John 3:1-3
We shall see God as he really is.
Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us,
by letting us be called God's children; and that is what we are.
Because the world refused to acknowledge him, therefore it does not acknowledge us.
My dear people, we are already the children of God
but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed;
all we know is, that when it is revealed we shall be like him because we shall see him as he really is. Surely everyone who entertains this hope must purify himself,
must try to be as pure as Christ.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Gospel Acclamation Mt 11: 28
Alleluia, alleluia!
Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened,
and I will give you rest, says the Lord.
Alleluia
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew 5:1-12 Glory to you, O Lord.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.
Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up the hill. There he sat down and was joined by his disciples.
Then he began to speak, this is what he taught them:
How happy are the poor in spirit; theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Happy the gentle: they shall have the earth for their heritage.
Happy those who mourn: they shall be comforted.
Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right: they shall be satisfied.
Happy the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them.
Happy the pure in heart: they shall see God.
Happy the peacemakers: they shall be called sons of God.
Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right: theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
'Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven;
this is how they persecuted the prophets before you.'
The Gospel of the Lord Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection November 1 Feast of All Saints Matthew 5:1-12
The feast of All Saints begins the month of November. It is a month when we remember in a special way our loved ones who have died. Whenever we have a brush with death, either because of some serious illness in ourselves or because of the death of a loved one, important questions are often raised for us. We may find ourselves asking,
What is beyond this earthly life?’ ‘What is our ultimate destination?’,
‘What is the path that leads to this final goal of our journey?’
‘In what way should our ultimate destination impact on the way I live my life here and now?’
This feast of All Saints invites us to engage with these questions.
The ‘Saints’ referred to in the title of today’s feast are all those women and men who have reached that ultimate goal of eternal life for which God has created us. They are those who have lived in a way that was in keeping with that final destiny.
These ‘Saints’ are also those who are still with us in this earthly life and who are now living in the way that leads to life eternal. In that sense, the group we call ‘all Saints’ embraces both those who are with God in heaven, the ‘huge number’ spoken of in the first reading, and people who are all around us now. All three of the readings for this feast speak of our ultimate destiny in different ways. Saint John in the second reading declares, ‘what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed’. In other words, there is a necessary ‘not knowing’ when it comes to life beyond this earthly life. Saint Paul is of this same view. In his first letter to the Corinthians, he writes, ‘no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him’ (1 Cor 2:9). Yet, this healthy agnosticism about life beyond this earthly life does not stop the writers of the New Testament from speaking about it.
In that second reading, having declared what we 'don’t' know about this life beyond earthly life, Saint John states what we do know, ‘all we know is, that… we shall be like God, for we shall see him as he really is’. Elsewhere in his letter, Saint John tells us who God really is. In one of the most profound statements about God, he declares ‘God is Love’. Beyond this earthly life, according to Saint John, we shall see God as Love. The verb ‘to see’ there is obviously being used in a different way to how we see in our earthly, physical body. When the writers of the New Testament speak about what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, they have to use language drawn from this earthly life, as it is the only language they have. Saint John is expressing his conviction that beyond this earthly life, we will come to experience God as Love.
It will be an encounter with Love at its most complete. Furthermore, John declares, this encounter with God as Love will have a transforming effect on us. ‘We shall be like God, because we shall see him as he is’. There is a sense in which, even in this earthly life, we become what we observe. Saint John is suggesting that in seeing God as Love beyond this earthly life, we will become loving in the way God is loving. It could be said that our ultimate destiny is to become fully alive with the life of God, which is a life of Love.
If that is our ultimate destiny, then the path to that destiny is to grow more and more into the loving person we are destined to become. Such growth in love is not just 'our' work. It is ultimately God’s work in our lives, the work of the Holy Spirit, with which we co-operate. At the beginning of that second reading, Saint John calls on us to ‘think of the love that the Father has lavished on us, by letting us be called God’s children’. As we think of God the Father’s lavish love for us, as we open our hearts to that love, we are empowered to become more loving, more alive with God’s life of love, the life of the Spirit. The beatitudes which Jesus speaks in the gospel reading are his portrait of this loving person, the disciple who is on the way to becoming as loving as God. Such a person will have something of the gentleness of Christ, will reflect his merciful love to others, will mourn over our broken world and will work to bring God’s justice and peace to that world, even if it means being persecuted in the process. Such a person will do all this out of a poverty of spirit and a purity of heart, recognizing their dependence on God for everything, and seeking God’s glory in all things rather than their own glory. This is Jesus’ portrait of the living saint.
We might recognize such saints among us; we might even occasionally catch a glimpse of such a one when we look into the mirror! To those who are seeking to grow into this portrait of the saint, Jesus promises the gift of the kingdom of heaven, which he variously describes in those beatitudes as being comforted, being satisfied, experiencing God’s mercy and seeing God.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and used with the permission of the publishers. http://dltbooks.com/
The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from his book Reflections on the Weekday Readings : The Word is near to you, on your lips and in your heart by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications , c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/
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Feast of the Day: November 1; All Saints of the World
Today is the 'Solemnity of All Saints' or 'All Saint's Day'. It commemorates all those who have gone before us and are now with God in heaven. 'The ultimate object of veneration of the Saints is the glory of God and the sanctification of people by conforming their lives fully to the divine will and by imitating the virtues of those who were pre-eminently disciples of the Lord.' ....(Directory on Popular piety and the Liturgy, n. 212. ,)
Patrick Duffy
The Solemnity of All Saints is probably of Eastern origin. In the early centuries Christians celebrated the anniversary of a martyr's death for Christ at the place of martyrdom. In the early fourth century, following the persecution of Diocletian, martyrs became so many that a separate day could not be assigned to each and the Church assigned a common day for all, celebrated in the East on the first Sunday after Pentecost: there are homilies for this feast by St Ephrem the Syrian (373) and St John Chrysostom (407).
Developments in Rome
In the West the Byzantine Emperor Phocas (602-610) handed over to Pope Boniface IV (608-615) the Pantheon in Rome, originally built as a temple to all the Roman gods. On 13 May 610, Pope Boniface dedicated it as a church to St Mary and all the martyrs. But the anniversary was fixed for 1st November by Pope Gregory III (731-741) who consecrated a chapel to all the saints in St Peter's Basilica.
In Ireland and England
The 9th century Irish Martyrology of Aengus (828-833) has a feast for All Saints on 1 November. The feast became known in England and Ireland as All Hallows, from which we get Hallowe'en (the evening before All Hallows Day). It also took on some of the characteristics of the Celtic feast of Samhain. (c/f Féile na Samhna: an bhunchiall.)
Who is Included?
The scope of the feast includes all those officially recognised as saints,
and those whose cause for canonisation has not yet been completed.
It includes those whose holy lives were known only to their family, friends or religious communities.
Chapter V of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium of Vatican II is entitled "The Call to Holiness" and insists that the "(LG 40). All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of love."
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Fr Martin Hogan writes this reflection of the day in The Word of God is Living and Active published by Messenger Publications, www.messenger.ie/bookshop/
A lot of people do not like large gatherings. They find big crowds exhausting. Today’s feast, however, is precisely about crowds of people. The first reading expresses it well, ‘a huge number, impossible to count, of people from every nation, race, tribe and language’. Today is the feast not just of a few chosen saints, but of all saints. Today we honour all the saints, those who are formally canonised and those who are not.
If our vision of humanity is shaped exclusively by the media we might be tempted to think that there are a lot more villains out there than saints. It is reassuring to be reminded by today’s feast that there exists a huge number of saints, impossible to count. In the words of the letter to the Hebrews, we are surrounded by a ‘great cloud of witnesses’. None of us can live as the Lord wants us to live purely on our own. We need the good example of others to inspire us and to show us what is possible.
Today’s feast declares that we are surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses, if only we could recognise them. Some of these people have already passed beyond us and are now ‘standing in front of the throne of the Lamb’, in the words of today’s first reading. Many of them, however, are our companions on the journey of life. They do not look at all like the statues in our churches. They are very ordinary, yet they are also very special. These are the people we are grateful to have met and to have around.
The feast of All Saints encourages us to believe that any one of us could be part of that huge number, impossible to count. In that sense, today’s feast is about every one of us. John, in today’s second reading, is speaking about all of us when he declares that ‘We are already the children of God’, and that, in the future, ‘we shall be like’ God. We are all destined for sainthood. God intends that all of us would be conformed to the image of God’s Son. For most of us, that will only come to pass fully beyond this life. Yet, because we are already sons and daughters of God through Baptism, we are called to grow now towards that wonderful transformation that awaits us.
The road to sainthood begins here, wherever we happen to find ourselves.
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus shows us what that road to sainthood looks like.
In the Beatitudes, Jesus painted a portrait of himself, the living saint par excellence. He was also painting a portrait of the person that we are all called to become. The Beatitudes give us different facets of the person of Jesus, while at the same time showing us different ways in which we might reflect the person of Jesus.
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Memorable Saying for Today
“We are all called to live our lives with love and by bearing witness in everything we do.
“Do not be afraid of this holiness.
It will take away none of your energy, vitality or joy.” - Rather it will add to them.
~ unknown author ~
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Liturgical Readings for: Sunday, 1st November, 2026
CÉAD LÉACHT Sliocht as leabhar An Apacailipsis 7:2-4. 9-14
Chonaic mé mathshlua mór nárbh fhéidir d’aon duine a chomhaireamh as gach cine agus treibh agus pobal agus teanga
Ansin chonaic mé aingeal eile ag gabháil suas ó éirí gréine agus séala le Dia beo aige, agus ghlaoigh sé in ard a ghutha ar na ceithre aingeal ar ar cuireadh de chúram dochar a dhéanamh do thalamh agus do mhuir, agus dúirt sé:“Ná déanaigí dochar do thalamh ná do mhuir ná do na crainn nó go gcuirfimid séala ar chláréadan sheirbhísigh Dé.”
Agus chuala mé líon na ndaoine ar cuireadh an séala orthu, céad agus daichead a ceathair míle agus iad as gach treibh de chlann Iosrael.
Ina dhiaidh sin b’shiúd an mathshlua mór nárbh fhéidir le haon duine a chomhaireamh as gach cine agus treibh agus pobal agus teanga; bhí siad ina seasamh os comhair na ríchathaoireach agus os comhair an Uain, iad gléasta in éidí geala agus craobhacha pailme acu ina lámha. Agus bhí siad ag glaoch de ghlór ard:
“Slánú dár nDia a shuíonn sa ríchathaoir agus don Uan!”
Bhí na haingil go léir ina seasamh mórthimpeall na ríchathaoireach agus na seanóirí agus na gceithre dhúil, agus chaith siad iad féin ar a n-aghaidh os comhair na ríchathaoireach ag adhradh Dé á rá: “Amen. Beannacht agus glóir agus eagna agus buíochas agus onóir agus cumhacht agus neart dár nDia go deo deo. Amen.”
Ansin labhair duine de na seanóirí agus dúirt sé liom: “Iad seo atá gléasta in éidí geala, cé hiad féin agus cad as ar tháinig siad?”
Dúirt mé mar fhreagra air: “A Thiarna liom, tá fhios agat.”
Agus dúirt sé liom: “Is iadsan an dream atá gafa tríd an duainéis mhór; nigh siad agus gheal siad a n-éidí i bhfuil an Uain.
Briathar an Tiarna Buíochas le Dia.
Salm le Freagra Sm 23: 1-6. R/v v6
Freagra A leithéid siúd a bhíonn ar do thóir, a Thiarna.
I. Leis an Tiarna an chruinne agus a bhfuil inti; an domhan go léir agus a maireann ann.
Is é fein a bhunaigh ar an aigéan é, agus a dhaingnigh ar an bhfarraige íochtarach é. Freagra
2. Cé a rachaidh suas ar chnoc an Tiarna? Cé a bheidh ina sheasamh ar a láthair naofa?
An té a bhfuil lámha gan smál agus croí glan aige, an té ar beag air nithe gan tairbhe. Freagra
3. Beidh beannacht an Tiarna ar an té sin agus luahh saothair ó Dhia a shlánaitheoir.
A leitheid siúd a bhíonn á lorg, a bhíonn ar thóir Dhia Iácób. Freagra
Sliocht as an céad Litir Naomh Eoin 3:1-3
Feicimid Dia mar a tá sé.
A clann ionúin, breathnaígí cad é mar ghrá a thug an tAthair dúinn! go nglaofaí clann Dé orainn, agus is amhlaidh sinn.
Sé an fáth nach n-aithníonn an saol sinne mar nár aithin sé eisean. chairde cléibh, is clann Dé cheana féin sinn, agus níor foilsíodh fós cé mar a bheimid; ach nuair a fhoilseofar é, is feasach sinn go mbeimid ina chosúlachtsan, mar go bhfeicfimid é mar atá sé. Agus gach duine a chothaíonn an dóchas diaga seo ann féin naomhaíonn é féin faoi mar atá seisean naofa.
Briathar an Tiarna Buíochas le Dia.
Alleluia Véarsa Mth 11: 28
Alleluia, alleluia!
Tagaigí chugam, sibhse uile a bhfuil saothar agus tromualach oraibh,
agus tabharfaidh mé faoiseamh daoibh
Alleluia!
SOISCÉAL
Go raibh an Tiarna libh. Agus le do spiorad féin
Sliocht as an Soiscéal naofa de réir Naomh Matha 5:1-12 Glóir duit, a Thiarna.
Bíodh áthas oraibh agus gairdeas, mar is mór é bhur dtuarastal ar neamh.
San am sin nuair a chonaic Íosa na sluaite, chuaigh sé an sliabh suas. Shuigh sé síos agus tháinig a dheisceabail chuige.
Thosaigh sé ag caint leo á dteagasc agus dúirt:
“Is méanar dóibh seo atá bocht ó spiorad, óir is leo ríocht na bhflaitheas.
“Is méanar do lucht an dobróin, óir sólásófar iad.
“Is méanar dóibh seo atá ceansa, óir gheobhaidh siad an talamh mar oidhreacht.
“Is méanar dóibh seo a bhfuil ocras agus tart chun na fíréantachta orthu, óir sásófar iad.
“Is méanar do lucht na trócaire, óir déanfar trócaire orthu.
“Is méanar dóibh seo atá glan ó chroí, óir feicfidh siad Dia.
“Is méanar do lucht síochána a dhéanamh, óir glaofar clann Dé orthu.
“Is méanar dóibh seo a d’fhulaing géarleanúint mar gheall ar an bhfíréantacht, óir is leo ríocht na bhflaitheas.
“Is méanar daoibh féin nuair a thabharfar aithis daoibh agus a ghéarleanfar sibh, agus nuair a chuirfear gach sórt drochrud in bhur leith go bréagach mar gheall ormsa. 'Bíodh áthas oraibh agus gairdeas, mar is mór é bhur dtuarastal ar neamh'.
Soiscéal an Tiarna. Moladh duit, a Chriost
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Machtnamh ar Bhriathar Dé ; Cé h’iad an dream glórmhar seo?
Cad atá ag feitheamh le dhaoine thar éis an saol domhanda seo againn, anseo agus anois. Aithníonn Naomh Pól é mar rúndiamhar nuair a deir sé "Ní fhaca aon súl, níor chuala aon chluas ná níor chuaigh sé isteach sa chroí daonna chun a shamhlú a bhfuil ullmhaithe ag Dia dóibh siúd a bhfuil grá acu leis." [1 Cor 2: 9]. Mar sin féin, cuireann na Scrioptúirí naofa saibhreas d'íomhánna dóchasacha chun tuiscint a thabhairt faoin cinniúint atá ullmhaithe thar an saol seo, dóibh siúd a bhfuil grá acu le Dia. Níl na naoimh ar neamh déanta as plástair, ach dream beó glórmhar de dhaoine macánta a chleachtaigh an grá san bheatha deo, and mar sin, chuaigh siad díreach ar ais go dtí tobair agus foinnse an grá, Dia na glóire. Chuaigh siad "ag máirseáil isteach" - sásta a bheith ag teacht i ngleic leis an Athair síorraí. Is laochra agus gnáth-dhaoine iad. Roinnt dóibh naoimh canóinithe a spreag an t-eaglais ar feadh na gcéadta bliain, agus an móchuid laochra gan clú, a chaith a mbeatha go ciúin de réir cháilíocht agus dhualgas, glan de chroí agus séimh sa spiorad.
Pádraig Ó Rúairí, cp,
Sliabh Argus, Átha Cliath.
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AN BÍOBLA NAOFA
© An Sagart
