Page:The religious life of King Henry VI.djvu/160

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132
POPULAR DEVOTION

existing at Lambeth, Bodley, and two copies in the Cambridge University Library.[1]

The above noted instances of the devotions, prayers, hymns, and commemorations in honour of the saintly King Henry will be more than sufficient to show that his cultus was widely spread throughout England up to the very eve of the Reformation.

The Acta Sanctorum[2] says that the obitus of King Henry was entered in red letters in the Calendar of a Sarum Breviary printed in 1557. The old English Martyrology of Wilson, in great use by the Catholics in the days of persecution, has his name entered sub Nomine Sancti Regis Henrici. The constant tradition of Catholics in regard to the sanctity of this holy English King may best be summed up in the words of the authoritative Menology published by the authority of the English hierarchy in 1887:

Henry VI King A.D. 1471

"The calamities of a long reign on earth were the means by which God was pleased to prepare this saintly Prince for the inheritance

  1. Most of this information I owe to the kind interest of my friend, Mr. Falkner.
  2. Maii v, p. 127.