On 1 April 1572 a group called the Watergeuzen or Gueux de mer (water-/sea-beggars, i.e. rebels) rebelled against the Spanish Habsburg crown which ruled the Low Countries, and conquered Brielle and later Vlissingen and other places. The town of Gorcum (also Gorkum or Gorinchem) fell into their hands in June, and they captured nine Franciscan friars and two lay brothers, as well as the parish priest, his assistant, and two others. These fifteen endured much abuse and suffering in prison and were then transported to Brielle, being exhibited for money to curious crowds on the way. At Brielle they were joined by four others. At the command of William de la Marck, Lord of Lumey, commander of the Gueux de mer, they were each interrogated and ordered to renounce their belief in the Blessed Sacrament and in papal supremacy. They all remained firm in their faith – even those who had been less than perfect Christians before their arrest. The prince of Orange, William the Silent, ordered those in authority to leave priests and religious unmolested, but Lumey ignored this command and had them all hanged, in a turf-shed on the night of 9 July.

Amabile Lucia Visintainer was born on 16 December 1865 in the town of Vigolo Vattaro (then in the Austro-Hungarian province of the Tyrol and now in Italy). When she was ten her family emigrated to Brazil, where she dedicated herself to good works, teaching children their catechism and visiting the sick.

The four French Jesuit priests commemorated today, Leo Ignatius Mangin, Paul Denn, Rémy Isoré and Modeste Andlauer, were martyred in China during the Boxer rebellion in 1900, together with a large number of Christian lay men and women. When the Boxers, a militant organization, attacked the mission at Wuxi, Mary Zhu-Wu, one of the faithful, stood in front of Fr Mangin with arms extended, and was shot dead.

Giovanna (Jane) Scopelli was born in 1439, in Reggio Emilia, Italy. She lived with her parents and cared for them into their old age, while leading a simple life of prayer. During this time she became a Carmelite “mantellata” (member of a Carmelite lay confraternity, wearing the white cloak or mantella). After the death of her parents in 1480, she joined a group of like-minded women to form a community of prayer. Five years later, she acquired for the community the house and church of St Bernard of the Humiliati, which she transformed into a monastery that became commonly known as the “White Nuns”. Two years later, in 1487, the community was affiliated to the Carmelite Mantuan Congregation. In that time, the community had grown to 20 members and Jane served as prioress. She is remembered as living out an intense Marian piety and spirit of penitence throughout her life as she cared for her aging parents and in her work establishing a Carmelite monastery. Jane died on 9 July 1491 in the same town she had been born. In 1797, the Carmelite Church and monastery Jane had founded was suppressed, and her relics were transferred to the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, Reggio Emilia.