Would you be drawn and quartered for your faith?

Life often involves tough choices. Usually, these choices are not matters of life or death. But for the martyrs, they were.

One of those martyrs was St. Margaret Ward. She was an English Roman Catholic during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603), who made the Church of England a Protestant denomination.

St. Margaret was born in Congleton, Cheshire, England, and was a gentlewoman in London. She and her Irish servant, John Roche (he also used the alias Neale), were arrested in 1588 for helping Fr. Richard Watson escape from Bridewell prison.

It was a particularly tense time because England had just defeated the Armada King Philip of Spain had sent to England in hopes of conquering the country and reestablishing the Catholic Church there. Even though Catholics were persecuted by the Queen, they were still English and were opposed to Spanish rule.

But after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in July 1588, the level of persecution increased with the setting up of six new gallows in various parts of London.

Fr. Watson was one of several priests sent from Europe to England. Because he was being treated brutally in Bridewell prison, Margaret helped him escape - something he did at least three times.

Fr. Watson was described by Dominican Fr. Godfrey Anstruthers as having "a vivid imagination, a facile pen and little regard for the truth ... a great eccentric if not actually mad."

But no matter, he was a persecuted priest. Margaret smuggled a rope into the prison, which she hid in a basket of food under a clean shirt. Early the next morning, Fr. Watson escaped. But in the process, he made a great deal of noise, falling and breaking an arm and a leg.

John Roche, who helped by finding him a boat and exchanging clothes with Fr. Watson, was arrested, as was Margaret when the authorities traced the rope back to her. In prison, she was strung up by the wrists so that only the tips of her toes touched the ground, causing her to become paralyzed.

Both Margaret and John refused to tell where Fr. Watson was. At their trial on Aug. 26, they were told if they would ask the queen for forgiveness and go to a Protestant church, they would be pardoned. Both said they had done nothing to apologize for and that it was against their conscience to go to a Protestant church. They were hanged, drawn and quartered in 1588 on Aug. 30, the day we celebrate her feast. She was canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI and is a patron of victims of torture.

While most of us will never have to make such life and death decisions, the life of St. Margaret Ward should inspire us to consider how our daily decisions affect our lives as a whole.

Sources: Butler's Lives of the Saints, Dictionary of Saints and Patron Saints.