In 1536, Sir John Gage, a loyal servant of King Henry VIII, played a role in the dissolution of religious houses across England. During this time, he secretly kept a Catholic manuscript at home, a possession that would have been dangerous under Henry VIII's rule, which targeted Catholic practices. Recently, six pages that had been separated from the manuscript for centuries have been reattached to the original copy, now preserved at Yale University. A study published by the University of Cambridge on 17 September 2026 highlights the unusual situation of Gage, whose actions reveal a complex relationship between his royal duties and his private beliefs. The story of these pages began in 1929, when the Gage family donated 46 boxes of documents to the Sussex Archaeological Society. Among these was a set of six parchment pages that were not listed in the inventory. Nearly a century later, researchers Katie Walter from the University of Sussex and James Wade from Girton College, Cambridge, discovered that the pages belonged to a medieval manuscript preserved at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale, located more than 5,600 kilometers away. Their findings were published in Notes and Queries on 17 September 2026. The manuscript is a copy of The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ, a Middle English translation of a Latin text devoted to the life of Christ, written by Nicholas Love around 1409. This work was widely circulated, with 65 known copies still existing today. Although the text was once acceptable, its content—such as the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and the importance of confessing to a priest—became controversial during the Reformation. The six pages from the Brighton fragment fit perfectly into the manuscript, just before a section that discusses oral confession to a priest. This section also marks a change in the manuscript's color, suggesting a possible shift in its history or ownership. Sir John Gage, born in 1479, rose to prominence at the court of Henry VIII. His role in the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536 involved overseeing the inventory and redistribution of religious property. Despite his position, Gage remained Catholic, which made him an unusual figure in the era. The manuscript, bearing Gage's name on its last page, may have passed through several hands before ending up in the Gage family. The six pages were detached before a new binding made in the 19th century and were later included in the family archives. Meanwhile, the rest of the manuscript took a different path, ending up in the Yale collection after being sold at Christie's in 1976. The digitization of the manuscript allowed the two parts to be reunited virtually, revealing a hidden story of preservation and concealment during a time of religious upheaval.