From "Fidei Defensor" to hater of Mary

                                                     King Henry VIII

In 1521 AD, Henry VIII, as putative author of "A Defense of the Seven Sacraments" was granted the title "Fidei Defensor" by a grateful Pope Leo X.   Later that same decade, Henry would break from Rome and set about dismantling many aspects of Catholic belief and practice in England.   The breech between England and Rome made by Henry is still not healed. 

Our Blessed Mother can protect us from imitating Henry's loss of faith and his lapse into depravity, but we must pray to her for these graces.   Henry, alas, was not devoted to Our Blessed Mother, and, indeed, as Henry proceeded along his destructive course he grew to hate her.

Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us.