Martyrs

My gloom was temporarily lifted yesterday at the wedding of Jacob Rees-Mogg and Helena de Chair at Canterbury Cathedral. Jacob, a staunch Roman Catholic, had insisted that the Abbot of Downside should conduct a Communion Mass in Latin for the bride and bridegroom, after the Dean of Canterbury had officiated during the first part of the service. In the Mass he remembered the martyrs: John, Stephen, Matthias, Barnabas, Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicitas, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia and Anastasia. I remarked to the Abbot at the reception that I (an ignorant Anglican) had not heard of many of these martyrs and asked him if he'd also prayed for Thomas a Becket in the cathedral. He replied yes, indeed he had.