MAEYKEN WENS was an Anabaptist belonging to the group that would later be recognized as Mennonites. Her husband worked as a stonemason and served as the pastor for a congregation of these Anabaptists. Wens was the mother of nine children, one of whom would witness her tragic death.

In the spring of 1573, Roman Catholic officials in Antwerp detained Wens along with several other women who had been worshipping with her. They subjected the women to torture in an effort to force them to abandon their beliefs, which were at odds with Catholic doctrine regarding baptism and the Lord’s Supper, among other issues. However, none of the women renounced their faith. On 5 October 1573, the authorities condemned Wens to death alongside her loyal friends, whose names have been lost to history. All were sentenced to have their tongues tightly bound so they could not speak to onlookers about Christ or repentance.

Her captors permitted Wens to write letters. In a letter to her husband, she expressed, “I should never have thought that parting should come so hard to me as it does,” and asked for his prayers that she would be able to let him go willingly, quoting Christ’s words, “He who does not forsake everything is not worthy of me.” In the same letter, she remarked, “Oh, how easy it is to be a Christian, so long as the flesh is not put to the trial, or nothing has to be relinquished; then it is an easy thing to be a Christian.”

After her sentence was pronounced, she wrote to her fifteen-year-old son, Adriaen, saying, “My dear son, be not afraid of this suffering; it is nothing compared to that which shall endure forever. The Lord takes away all fear; I did not know what to do for joy when I was sentenced. Hence cease not to fear God because of this temporal death; I cannot fully thank my God for the great grace which He has shown me.”

Adriaen courageously went to the execution site, but when his mother was brought out to the stake, he was so overwhelmed with emotion that he fainted. When he regained consciousness after the fire had died down, he searched through the ashes for her tongue-screw, which he found and kept in her memory.

Also On this Day

1535: StudyLight.org reports that London printer Miles Coverdale published the first complete English Bible. A talented translator, Coverdale later participated in two other Bible translation projects and was known as a popular Lutheran preacher. 

1669: The renowned Dutch painter Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, known for his profound religious art, passed away. 

1858: Dorothy Frances Gurney, an English devotional writer and author of verses and devotional works, was born. 

1867: The Rhenish Missionary Church in Southwest Africa officially formed itself as the Evangelical Lutheran Church. 

1890: Catherine Booth, wife of Salvation Army founder William Booth, died at the age of 61. Her final words were, “The waters are rising, but so am I”.