Encountering the Tyburn Martys -A conversation with Mother Marilla,Superior General @ Tyburn Convent

About this sermon

Please consider subscribing to my Substack:- https://drgavinashenden.substack.com Today, on the very site where the gallows once stood, the Tyburn Convent keeps a continuous witness to those martyrs. Founded in 1903 by Mother Marie Adèle Garnier, it is home to a community of Benedictine nuns — the Benedictine Adorers of the Sacred Heart — whose life is centred on prayer, adoration, and remembrance. The community had its origins at Montmartre in Paris, where Mother Garnier established a house of adoration in 1898. But in 1901, during a period of state persecution in France, the Sisters were expelled under the anti-religious laws of the time and forced to seek refuge elsewhere. They found their new home at Tyburn, where, on ground once marked by execution, they established a life of perpetual Eucharistic adoration — a profound act of reparation and remembrance. Here, where so many suffered and died, the Sisters continue their hidden work of prayer, linking the sacrifice of the martyrs with the living prayer of the Church today. During the Reformation, the English state executed Catholics simply for being Catholic. The main place of execution was Tyburn (now Marble Arch) in London, where the gallows stood, and between 1535 and 1681at least 108 Catholic martyrs are known to have been executed there, many of them hung first, then drawn and quartered. Their crime was remaining faithful to the Mass, or offering shelter to a priest. Yet in the face of state persecution and torture, they bore witness with extraordinary courage, turning a place of death into a lasting sign of faith and fidelity. Today, Tyburn stands not only as a reminder of suffering, but as a testament to the enduring power of conscience, conviction, and the cost of discipleship. The community today is led by the Mother General, Mother Marilla, who carries forward the charism first entrusted to Mother Marie Adèle Garnier: a life of hidden prayer, perpetual adoration, and fidelity to the memory of the martyrs. From its beginnings at Tyburn, the order has grown quietly but steadily. Today, the Benedictine Adorers of the Sacred Heart have established around a dozen houses across the world, including foundations in Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. Each of these communities remains united in the same vocation: to maintain perpetual Eucharistic adoration and to offer prayer in reparation, continuing the spiritual legacy of Tyburn far beyond London. In this way, what began as a small exiled community has become an international network of prayer — a hidden but enduring presence of faith, rooted in sacrifice and sustained in silence.

Topics

• Parenting