Only the Cross Stands

as the World Turns

From another account of the time:
However, in 1535 the Treason Act was passed, declaring any person guilty of treason who ‘denied or refused to acknowledge that the King was Supreme Head of the Church on earth in England’. Realising that this could never be accepted, Prior Houghton announced three days of special prayer. John Skinner, in his book Hear our Silence, describes the events of those three days: ‘On the first, each monk made general confession of all his past sins; on the second, each was reconciled with his brother in respect of all offences he had committed. On the third day, Prior Houghton celebrated a solemn votive Mass of the Holy Spirit. Dom Maurice Chauncy, a monk who in exile was later to chronicle these last days, recorded that at the elevation of the Host, “a gust of wind, an echoing deep harmony, a breath of the Spirit” was felt and heard by all in the church. The Prior, who was unable to continue for some moments, later spoke about his experience in chapter, saying that they must all continue to ask God’s grace in prayer for steadfast strength.’

There is a picture of this Mass in the Crypt of Tyburn Convent in London.

Comments