Saints Adrian and James

Feastday: July 9

“If the world hates you, realize that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you… No slave is greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.”

(John 15:18-20)

James Lacoupe (or Lacops), born in 1542, became a Norbertine at the Abbey of Middleburg, where his brother Adrian was a canon. Intelligent and charming, the young James befriended certain Calvinists and fell into their errors. In 1566, Calvinists overran Middleburg, destroying holy images and burning churches. James and two other canons joined them, and James went so far as to preach and write against the Catholic Church. After several months, at the example and prayers of his brother and father, James received the grace of repentance and returned to the abbey, where he was received with joy. He prostrated himself before the community at Chapter, begging pardon and penance for his defection and scandal, retracting his errors and burning his anti-Catholic tract. After a prolonged period of penance at another abbey, James was assigned to assist his brother, Adrian, at the parish of Munster. Upon the death of his brother, another Norbertine canon from Middleberg, also named Adrian, was sent as pastor.

Adrian Jansen (also called Adrian Becan), was born in 1529, and entered the Norbertine Order when he was 15. He served as novice master as well as in various Norbertine parishes before being named pastor of Munster, where James was vicar. Three months after Adrian’s arrival in Munster, a man knocked on the rectory door, asking for a priest to assist a dying man. It was a trap. Calvinists rushed in and captured the two priests, taking them to a prison where 17 other priests and religious were held. They steadfastly refused to renounce the Faith, defending the doctrines of the papacy and the Holy Eucharist. Although Adrian was more experienced, it was James who led the defense, now employing all his eloquence to defend the Catholic Faith. Together with the others, Adrian and James were tortured, insulted, and condemned to death. On July 9, 1572, all were hung from the rafters of a barn. When there was no more room on the rafters, James was hung from a ladder. Their martyrdom was brutal, and many of them were hanged in such a way that they remained alive all the night. The next day, the soldiers killed those still alive and mutilated their bodies. The Martyrs of Gorcum were beatified on November 24, 1675, and canonized on June 29, 1877.

(Saint drawings courtesy of Saint Norbert Abbey, De Pere, Wisconsin.)