Devotions & Services in Honor of St. Charles The King and Martyr

Mar 22

Hymns Composed in His Honor From The 1600’s

O Holy King, Whose Severed Head 1649

O holy King, whose severed head

The Martyr's Crown doth ray

With gems for every blood-drop shed,

Saint Charles! for England pray.

For England's Church, for England's realm
(Once thine in earthly sway,)
Lest storms our Ark should overwhelm,
Saint Charles of England, pray!

Thou for thy murderers didst plead
That January day;
O still, in this our hour of need,
Saint Charles! for England pray.

Let us with him whose Crown is won,
Meet adoration pay
To God the Father, God the Son,
And Paraclete alway.

King Charles the Martyr by John Keble 1827

Praise to our Pardoning God! though silent now
The thunders of the deep prophetic sky,
Though in our sight no powers of darkness bow
Before th’ Apostles’ glorious company;

The Martyrs’ noble army is still ours,
far in the North our fallen days have seen
How in her woe the tenderest spirit, towers
For Jesus’ sake in agony serene.

Praise to our God! not cottage hearths alone,
And shades imperious to the proud world’s glare,
Such witness yield: a monarch from his throne
Springs to his Cross and finds his glory there.

Yes: wheresoe’er one trace of thee is found,
As in the sacred land, the shadows fall:
With beating hearts we roam the haunted ground,
Lone battle-field, or crumbling prison hall.

And there are aching solitary breasts,
Whose widow’d walk with thought of thee is cheer’d,
Our own, our royal Saint: thy memory rests
On many a prayer, the more for thee endear’d.

True son of our dear Mother, early taught
With her to worship and for her to die,
Nurs’d in her aisles to more than kingly thought,
Oft in her solemn hours we dream thee nigh.

For thou didst love to trace her daily lore,
And where we look for comfort or for calm,
Over the self-same lines to bend, and pour
Thy heart with hers in some victorious psalm.

And well did she thy loyal love repay:
When all foresook, her Angel still was nigh,
Chain’d and bereft, and on thy funeral way,
Straight to the Cross she turn’d thy dying eye.

And yearly now, before the Martyrs’ King,
For thee she offers her maternal tears,
Calls us, like thee, to His dear feet to cling,
And bury in His wounds our earthly fears.

And Angels hear, and there is mirth in Heaven,
Fit prelude of the joy, when spirits won
Like thee to patient Faith, shall rise forgiven,
And at thy Saviour’s knees thy bright example own.

Royal Charles, Who Chose to Die

Royal Charles, who chose to die Rather than the Faith deny,

Forfeiting his kingly pride

For the sake of Jesu's Bride;

Lovingly his praise we sing,

England's martyr, England's King.

Mirror fair of courtesy,
Flower of wedded chastity,
Humble follower day by day,
Of the Church's holy way;
Lovingly his praise we sing,
England's martyr, England's King.

All the way of death he trod
For the glory of his God,
And his dying dignity
Made a bright Epiphany;
Lovingly his praise we sing
England's martyr, England's King.

Bless we God the Three in One,
For all faithful 'neath the sun,
For the faithful gone before,
And for those our country bore,
Chiefly him whose praise we sing,
England's martyr, England's King.

At Candlemass In White Array

At Candlemas in white arrayed

He stood, the newly crowned,

Where music murmured, banners swayed,

And Westminster its homage paid,

To blazoning trumpets' sound.

When home they bore his coffin slow,
The flaring torches' light
Revealed no sable pall, for lo!
Over its gloom the loyal snow
Had cast a covering white.
Had cast a covering white.

But whiter far than robe or pall,
He bore to tragic goal,
Through battle, prison, judgment-hall,
His one abiding coronal,
A white and Kingly soul.
A white and Kingly soul.

Rex Divine, Rector Regum

Heavenly King, of Kings the Pastor,
Giv'r of laws, of justice master,
Ruling all by Thy behest,
Unto Thee to-day we render
Praise for him, to memory tender,
Charles our King, of kings the best.

Traitors shedding blood like water
Filled the land with crime and slaughter,
Law was trampled in the mud,
Noble churches left forsaken
And the White Rose, overtaken
By the sword, was red with blood.

Thus the bardic verse fulfilling,
"There shall be a time of killing
When the ravens shall be fed,
And a King without pollution
Midst a realm in revolution
Shall be numbered with the dead."

Violent men without compassion
Proudly spurned the ancient fashion
Of the sacred right divine;
From his friends by madmen riven
Was our King to judgment driven
Stained with blood his Royal line.

Faithful son of Mother holy,
To the Church devoted solely,
He to keep her laws was fain.
He her champion ever glorious,
Was beaten still victorious,
Robbed of life, but conqueror slain.

"He nothing common did nor mean
Upon that memorable scene,"
When on the block he laid his head;
"Nor called the gods with vulgar spite
To vindicate his helpless right,"
But went to death as to his bed.

Fair exchange King Charles was making
When, the crown immortal taking
For the earthly crown he wore,
By the axe he followed faster
To the realm of Christ his master,
And the cross behind him bore.

Lo, the priest who shares his glory
(Laud his name and laud his story),
For his fellow-martyr waits
And the white-robed host upraising,
Heart and voice their Saviour praising,
Greets him at the heavenly gates.

He by dying brought salvation
To the torn and shattered nation,
Life restored and liberty;
For the Martyr's blood was sowing
Seed from which the Church is growing,
Seed of immortality.

Ere his death one word was spoken:
That "Remember" was the token
Of his coming victory.
So his blood brought life and healing,
And the Church's triumph sealing,
Never shall forgotten be.

Lord Let The Strain Arise

Lord, let the strain arise

For Britain's martyr blest;

He passes through the crimson tide

To Jesus, and to rest.

Brave King, with meekness dight

And Cross so gladly borne,

This day the shadows of the night

Melt into golden morn.

Hard was the cruel strife,
Long was the weary way,
And now, by death, thou findest life
And everlasting day.
No more the rebels jeer;
No more the tyrants chain;
Angelic welcomes, ringing clear,
Greet thee with loud acclaim.

See how the martyr's crown
Glitters on Charles's brow;
No rebel host can trample down
Thy ruby diadem now.
O Charles, our Royal Saint,
Pray for dear Britain's weal;
Our Fatherland and Church are faint;
Lo! there is none to heal.

A century before
Great Charles was called to die,
A sinful king laid waste the Church-
Angered our God on high.
The fire of Heaven's wrath
Waxed hotly more and more;
Until thy Royal blood, O Saint,
Cancelled the sin of yore.

And now before our God,
In joyous grief we bend,
And pray that England's Throne and Church
He ever will defend.
Jesus, be praise to thee,
Who reignest in the sky,
To Father and to Holy Ghost
Be praise eternally. Amen.

With Thankful Hearts Thy Glory

With thankful hearts thy glory,

O King of Saints, we sing,

Shown in the saintly story

Of Charles, the Martyr-King,

Who chose to die, obeying

The voice of conscience clear,

Not live on earth, betraying

All that he counted dear.

For long his foes assailed him
Till friends were overthrown,
And this world's weapons failed him,
And he was left alone.
No whit his foes relented,
Successful in the strife,
But to their king presented
The choice of death or life.

Shall, then, his memory perish?
His name we venerate,
The Faith he loved we cherish,
His spirit emulate,
That so by Christ-like living
With charity resigned,
Each other's faults forgiving,
We may enrich mankind.

For all lives lived sincerely
In Christ may God be blest,
To mortals thus most clearly
In mortals manifest--
The Father, who forgiveth
Man's failures in the strife,
The Son, in whom he liveth,
The Spirit, Source of Life! Amen.

The Office of Supplication to King Charles the Martyr

Composed and Compiled by Kyle Magri

O King Charles the Champion and Martyr of Christ, Courageous in thy faith. Preserve us from the spiteful assaults of our enemies and rescue us from every sickness, sorrow and adversity for we take refuge beneath the shelter of thy mighty intercession! Most Noble Saint Charles, entreat The Lord unceasingly, That He grant us great mercy. Amen!

Having upheld the True Faith, O righteous King Charles, thou wast found worthy to exchange thine earthly crown, for the crown of martyrdom at the hands of the godless. Inspired by thine example, we beseech thee to pray that we may have courage to fight against all evil, that we too may be counted worthy of the reward of eternal blessedness.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

The mystery hidden from eternity and unknown even to angels hath been revealed in thee to those who live on earth, O Mother of God: the Incarnation of God in the flesh without confusion, and the suffering of the Crucifixion for our sakes, that He might raise the first-created man and save our souls.

Ode 1