Dear Editor: Many years ago, while a guest at the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Conn., I found myself seated at the dining table next to a Japanese man who was on his way to Rome in order to renew contact with the Vatican relating to the “hidden or secret Catholics” of Japan.

I was thinking of that as I watched Martin Scorsese’s masterful film “Silence” and the ordeals the Japanese Christians endured. It appears that Christianity has been under attack since “day one,” right down to our present day.

England, once known as “The Dowry of Mary,” underwent a huge transformation beginning with Henry VIII, who was at one time given the title “Defender of the Faith” by the Pope, but who in a vindictive response to being denied an annulment, set in motion a horrendous persecution of the Catholics of his realm. That was the beginning of the Protestant faith and the persecution of Catholics in Britain. Margaret Clitherow, a Catholic convert, was crushed to death with stones for hiding priests in her house. She is now Saint Margaret!

Hanging was the main method of execution in Britain, and depending on the charge, the condemned could be drawn, hanged, and quartered – the law until 1870. Thomas More was given a “more merciful” form of execution: beheading, as he was from an upper class of society.

Over a hundred Catholic executions took place in what is now the most famous shopping district in the world, Oxford Street, London, where the Tyburn gallows were located. Oliver Plunkett, now Saint Oliver, an Irish Bishop, was hanged there – the British felt they could not get a “conviction” in Ireland. In Britain, the jury took less than 15 minutes to reach their verdict. He was “drawn, hanged, and quartered” as prescribed by the law for treason – preaching the Catholic faith in that case.

The TV series and movie “The Fugitive” was based on what was originally about a fugitive priest in Mexico – another country where Catholics endured great persecution.

Regardless, the inspiring part of all of this is that so many people held onto the truth. In modern society, the Church continues to endure attack, but in different forms. Whereas in the Middle East, it is direct, while in the U.S., it’s actually more insidious, in many cases led by people who profess being Christian.

Ignorance, of course, is a major cause, for many of those same people are not even aware that the Judeo-Christian philosophy is the very foundation of western civilization.

Martin Scorsese has done a magnificent job in making “Silence,” a film that shows the cost of faith for so many, and our need to maintain and practice it if we are to preserve a viable society.

I hope his efforts will be recognized, not just by the film industry, but by the Church as well. The Church has recognized the Martyrs of Japan; it is only right and fair to also recognize the person who has done so much to have made known in graphic, visual detail the type of ordeals they had to endure.

Thanks very much, Martin Scorsese, you have made an outstanding movie.

THOMAS C. CULLINANE

Bayside