The faith of our fathers - Carmel Apologetics

"RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION. 3011. Mary reigned only five years and four months.Elizabeth s reign lasted forty-four years and fourmonths, The younger sister, therefore, swayed theeceptre of authority nearly nine times longer thanthe elder; and the number of Catholics who sufferedfor their faith during the long administration ofElizabeth may be safely said to exceed in the sameproportion the victims of Mary s reign.Hallamasserts that the rack seldom stood idle in the towerand itsfor all the latter part of Elizabeth s "lreign ;very first mouth was stained by an intolerant statute."2. The most unpardonable act of Mary s life, inthe judgment of her critics, was the execution ofLady Jane Grey. But Lady Jane was guilty of hightreason, having usurped the throne of Eugland,which she occupied for nine days.Elizabeth put to death her cousin Mary, Queenof Scots, after a long imprisonment, on the unsustainedcharge of aspiring to the English throne.3. Marys zeal was exercised in behalf of the religion of her forefathers, and of the faith establishedin England for nearly a thousand years.Elizabeth s zeal was employed in extending the newcreed introduced by her father in a moment of passion,and modified by herself. Surely, the coercive enforcement of a new creed is more odious than the rigorouamaintenance of the time-honored faith of a nation.Mary, therefore, insisted on perpetuatingthe established order of things ; Elizabeth, on subvertingit.1 Constitutional History : Elizabeth, Chap. IIL1See Lingard, Vol. VII., pp. 244-5.26