I love this picture. What would normally be a sign of sadness and defeat, in this case is a wonderful picture of victory and beauty. A hangman's noose is usually either around the neck of someone who has given up on life and decided to end it, or around the neck of a criminal who has done something bad enough to warrant the death penalty.
In this case, it's around the blessed neck of St John Ogilvie. And the reason it's there is because he won. He refused to give up the information that his torturers asked for, and refused to recant his faith. He wears the noose as a sign of victory over temptation, sin, and ultimately death, just as Jesus transformed the cross from a device of hideous and embarrassing torture and death into a symbol of faith and hope.
John Ogilvie was raised a Calvinist, but after hearing debates between Calvinists and Catholics, decided to convert and to become a Jesuit. He then persuaded his superior to allow him to do mission work in protestant England, where being Catholic was a capital offense. He then lived in England under the name John Watson for many years, converting those who were interested, even reaching out to former Catholics to try to bring them back into the fold. Of course, he was inevitably caught. He was tried and tortured over and over, but didn't give up any information about the clandestine Catholics living all over England. His jailors eventually hanged him, and having died a martyr he went straight to heaven.
You can read about (and listen to) more here.
God, thank You for this Jesuit hero who laid down his life willingly to bring Your gospel and Your sacraments to the people of England. St John Ogilvie, pray for us.
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