The persecution of the Christians began very early in the life of the Church. The first martyr, Stephen, was killed by the Jewish authorities because of his adherence to the belief in the Risen Christ (see Acts 7 and 8). Thus, began the first general persecution against the Christians by the Jewish authorities. Not long after, the Roman persecution also began but this was much more selective and by the end had killed all of the Apostles (except St. John). The Jewish conflict ended at the time of the fall of Jerusalem and the Diaspora of the Jews beginning around 70 AD.
This Diaspora, in fact, helped spread Christianity beyond the Middle East as Christians began to preach and teach throughout the Empire. This brought them in contact with Roman authorities which saw a threat to the state religion of worshipping the Emperors and gods. But under the Emperor Trajan (98-117 AD) the persecutions were localized and not with much zeal. Many misunderstandings about Christians were cleared. However, this short period of toleration was followed by periods of harsh persecution.
From 185 to 249, under the rule of Marcus Aurelius there was a period of peace not only in the Empire but towards the Christians. However, the when the Emperor Decius came to power, he inaugurated a universal persecution against the Christians. These were continued by his successor Valerian until 260 AD. His son Gallienus stopped the persecutions and the Church experienced its largest growth to date, reaching up to 10 percent of the population of the Empire.
The final great persecution against the Christians was initiated in 303 by the Emperor Diocletian. The largest group of martyrs in the Church comes from this period as many met their death. The Emperor's own wife was converted and martyred for the Faith. This persecution stopped when Constantine took the throne in 312 AD and not only recognized the Christians (his own mother Helen was a Christian) but he himself became a Christian and made it the official religion of the Empire.
Martyrdom was seen by the early Christians as a way of participation in the death of Christ. But they never went and looked to be put to death, but rather accepted it when it came to them. In reading the lives of the martyrs, one thing is clear (from the Protomartyr Stephen to the last of the martyrs) that it was a reflection of Christ's own death and thus a hope in the Resurrection.
The lives of the martyrs became a great source of inspiration for the Christians and their lives and relics were greatly revered. Even to this day, relics of the saints are given great reverence in the Church. It also helped develop some of the liturgical worship such as having relics in altars, and the architecture of the buildings built for worship.
The age of martyrs also produced a great number of writers who wrote about Christianity and what they believe in order to dispel some of the myths about Christians (some said they were cannibals because they ate the “body and blood”) These writers became known as “The Apologists” and they were able to help clarify Christian theology to the pagans, leaving us with some of the greatest explanations of the Christian faith.
There were also theological issues in reference to Church order that developed. For example, what should happen to those who “lapsed” and renounced the Christian faith to save their lives….are they allowed back into the Church? Some felt they should not while others said they could. It was agreed to allow them in after a period of penance. Some people left the Church to form more rigorous forms of Christianity. Such examples as this was the Novatian Schism in the 3rd century and the Donatist Schism in North Africa in the 4th century.
While many of the decisions were local, they were soon tested by the universal Church. What became clear was a separation of Christianity from Judaism by the early Second century. The canon of the New Testament was established (which we use today) and early theological issues were being tested and Orthodoxy prevailing. The re-admittance of the “lapsed” became a defining moment in the Church because it allowed the sacrament of repentance and readmission to the Church despite issues of sin. Groups that left to find a “purer” Christianity were marginalized and rejected by the Church as a whole. Ultimately, the Church was able to develop a clear theology and explanation of the Faith which eventually lead to its acceptance and adoption as the Faith in the Empire.
Though there are many people who suffered during this period, there is comparatively little written. There are many lives of Saints compiled which tell the story of many of the martyrs. St. Justin Martyr is one of the most influential apologists of the period as is Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp of Smyrna. Other writers of note are Irenaeus of Lyons, Athenagoras of Athens, Melitio of Sardis and Clement of Rome. Other theological writers such as Cyprian of Carthage, Tertullian and Origen are important. (The last two having left the Church to find a “purer form” are not considered canonized).
The source material for this is many. Any lives of the Saints (St. Nicholas of South Canaan's Prologue from Ochrid) are helpful and varying in their degree of completeness The Apology of Justin Martyr, The Letter to Diogentus, Letter to Barnabas as well as all of the works of Polycarp and Ignatius are very insightful and inspiring. The writings of Cyprian and Clement also have great theological elements on what constitute the Church and believers. Outside sources such as Josephus and Pliny the Younger help put the period in context.
Saturday 27 December 2008
Christian Martyrs in the Colosseum
As for the martyrdom of Christians it has to be remembered that history is often written by the victors and that the persecution of Christians was limited to a number of particular periods and circumstances. Clearly this doesn't mean that atrociously gory persecutions and martyrdoms didn't happen, they did, but in the midst of a huge number of other gory executions. The Jews were also persecuted for example, in fact for a long time the Christians were simply regarded as a Jewish sect.
We simply have to consider some of the antics displayed in the Colosseum to imagine the variety of attractions which were dreamt up to keep the plebs distracted whilst at the same time minimising anti Imperial sentiments amongst the wider population.
Although historically Christian martyrdom has been closely associated with the Amphitheatre the execution of Christians was more likely to be held in the Circus of chariot races . It was usual for the executions to take on other forms such as crucifixion, for example rather than Gladiatorial fight or "damnatio ad bestia" (thrown to the wild beasts).
The Catholic church of the Middle Ages and Renaissance maintained and strengthened this view of the Colosseum. Various crosses in the middle of the arena and the twelve stages of the Crucifixion were regularly used for religious displays and processions. The Colosseum became closely associated with Christian martyrdom, providing a useful counterpoise and memorial to the Christian religion's belief in life.
The first Christian martyred in the Coliseum is said to have been St Ignatius who was thrown to the lions and (aparently) exclaimed "I am as the grain of the field and must be ground by the teeth of the lions, that I may become fit for His table."
Although some Christians certainly died in the Colosseum there seems to be little reference to the supposed rivers of (Christian) blood which were supposed to have flowed out of that building in particular during Domitian's notorious "Second Persecution".
Nevertheless we do know that 115 Christians were executed with arrows, shortly after Ignatius. At the beginning of the third century a family of Christians, who also happened to be Roman Patricians, were reputedly roasted (in a bull) and that four Christians called Sempronius, Olympius, Theodolus and Exuperia were burned alive in front of Nero's colossal statue, which had been stood by the Colosseum: Jews and Christians were often given a last chance of respite by paying their respects to the Emperor-Divinity's image, which of course monotheism doesn't allow.
This refusal to join in any of the state's religious practices was the really irreconcilable problem: on one occasion during the reign of the benevolent Emperor Marcus Aurelius the Christians gave rise to a new wave of hate against them as they refused to participate in the religious rites aimed at checking an epidemic of plague which was decimating the population. The Emperor had little choice but to persecute thousands of them to a hideous death in the Amphitheatre and for as much as he hated the gladiator shows he attended out of a sense of duty.
As for Nero's persecution of the Christians, this could not have had any episodes in the Colosseum, given that the Flavian Amphitheatre as it was then known, was not yet constructed. This of course doesn't mean that Nero didn't persecute the Christians: he did. Quite awful things too, like dousing them with oil and setting them alight for example or dressing them up in animal skins and setting dogs onto them.
All this sounds like an excuse for the various Christian persecutions which certainly did happen and often they were quite forceful and brutal, especially since the Christians were increasingly viewed as subversive traitors by both the authorities and the non Christian population. Truth of the matter is they were subversive traitors who were trying to change the system and, true to its nature, the system reacted against them in a brutal way.
We simply have to consider some of the antics displayed in the Colosseum to imagine the variety of attractions which were dreamt up to keep the plebs distracted whilst at the same time minimising anti Imperial sentiments amongst the wider population.
Although historically Christian martyrdom has been closely associated with the Amphitheatre the execution of Christians was more likely to be held in the Circus of chariot races . It was usual for the executions to take on other forms such as crucifixion, for example rather than Gladiatorial fight or "damnatio ad bestia" (thrown to the wild beasts).
The Catholic church of the Middle Ages and Renaissance maintained and strengthened this view of the Colosseum. Various crosses in the middle of the arena and the twelve stages of the Crucifixion were regularly used for religious displays and processions. The Colosseum became closely associated with Christian martyrdom, providing a useful counterpoise and memorial to the Christian religion's belief in life.
The first Christian martyred in the Coliseum is said to have been St Ignatius who was thrown to the lions and (aparently) exclaimed "I am as the grain of the field and must be ground by the teeth of the lions, that I may become fit for His table."
Although some Christians certainly died in the Colosseum there seems to be little reference to the supposed rivers of (Christian) blood which were supposed to have flowed out of that building in particular during Domitian's notorious "Second Persecution".
Nevertheless we do know that 115 Christians were executed with arrows, shortly after Ignatius. At the beginning of the third century a family of Christians, who also happened to be Roman Patricians, were reputedly roasted (in a bull) and that four Christians called Sempronius, Olympius, Theodolus and Exuperia were burned alive in front of Nero's colossal statue, which had been stood by the Colosseum: Jews and Christians were often given a last chance of respite by paying their respects to the Emperor-Divinity's image, which of course monotheism doesn't allow.
This refusal to join in any of the state's religious practices was the really irreconcilable problem: on one occasion during the reign of the benevolent Emperor Marcus Aurelius the Christians gave rise to a new wave of hate against them as they refused to participate in the religious rites aimed at checking an epidemic of plague which was decimating the population. The Emperor had little choice but to persecute thousands of them to a hideous death in the Amphitheatre and for as much as he hated the gladiator shows he attended out of a sense of duty.
As for Nero's persecution of the Christians, this could not have had any episodes in the Colosseum, given that the Flavian Amphitheatre as it was then known, was not yet constructed. This of course doesn't mean that Nero didn't persecute the Christians: he did. Quite awful things too, like dousing them with oil and setting them alight for example or dressing them up in animal skins and setting dogs onto them.
All this sounds like an excuse for the various Christian persecutions which certainly did happen and often they were quite forceful and brutal, especially since the Christians were increasingly viewed as subversive traitors by both the authorities and the non Christian population. Truth of the matter is they were subversive traitors who were trying to change the system and, true to its nature, the system reacted against them in a brutal way.
Somali Christian Murdered for Asking for Translation
October 21, 2008 Somalia (International Christian Concern)- Islamic extremists shot and killed a Muslim convert to Christianity on September 14, 2008 in Afgoye, a town 18 miles away from Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. His name was Ahmadey Osman Nur, and he was 22 years old.
On September 14, Nur had been invited to attend a Muslim wedding in his neighborhood. The wedding ceremony was conducted in the Arabic language, a language no one among the attendants of the ceremony understood except the Sheik who conducted the ceremony.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, Nur requested the Sheik to summarize the message in the Somali language, the mother tongue of all the people present at the wedding. Almost all the guests verbally agreed with Nur’s request. But the Sheik, who was a recent recruit of the Muslim militant group Al Shabab, was offended and asked one of his armed body guards “to silence the apostate.” As a Christian who converted from Islam, Nur was considered by the Sheik to be an apostate. Muslims consider Arabic to be ‘holy’ language; a language they claim to be spoken in Paradise.
Some of Nur’s Muslim friends advised him to leave immediately, fearing for his life, but the bodyguard, who was armed with a handgun, shot and killed Nur as he exited the house.
According to the Muslim groom who invited Nur to the wedding, Nur will be most remembered for his compassion to the elderly in the neighborhood where he lived.
Nur’s pastor said that the martyr will also be remembered as the first Somali Christian in Afgoye district to memorize the entire book of the Acts of the Apostles—a book he loved more than any other.
Recently, Islamic extremists have intensified their attacks against Christians in Somalia. In the past nine months alone, six Christians, including Nur, have been martyred for their faith. The other five martyrs are: Sayid Ali Sheik Luqman Hussein, David Abdulwahab Mohamed Ali, Da’ud Ali, Mohamed Yusuf and Hassan Mo’alim.
Please pray for Christians in Somalia as they go through this difficult time
On September 14, Nur had been invited to attend a Muslim wedding in his neighborhood. The wedding ceremony was conducted in the Arabic language, a language no one among the attendants of the ceremony understood except the Sheik who conducted the ceremony.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, Nur requested the Sheik to summarize the message in the Somali language, the mother tongue of all the people present at the wedding. Almost all the guests verbally agreed with Nur’s request. But the Sheik, who was a recent recruit of the Muslim militant group Al Shabab, was offended and asked one of his armed body guards “to silence the apostate.” As a Christian who converted from Islam, Nur was considered by the Sheik to be an apostate. Muslims consider Arabic to be ‘holy’ language; a language they claim to be spoken in Paradise.
Some of Nur’s Muslim friends advised him to leave immediately, fearing for his life, but the bodyguard, who was armed with a handgun, shot and killed Nur as he exited the house.
According to the Muslim groom who invited Nur to the wedding, Nur will be most remembered for his compassion to the elderly in the neighborhood where he lived.
Nur’s pastor said that the martyr will also be remembered as the first Somali Christian in Afgoye district to memorize the entire book of the Acts of the Apostles—a book he loved more than any other.
Recently, Islamic extremists have intensified their attacks against Christians in Somalia. In the past nine months alone, six Christians, including Nur, have been martyred for their faith. The other five martyrs are: Sayid Ali Sheik Luqman Hussein, David Abdulwahab Mohamed Ali, Da’ud Ali, Mohamed Yusuf and Hassan Mo’alim.
Please pray for Christians in Somalia as they go through this difficult time
Friday 26 December 2008
20TH CENTURY SAW 65% OF CHRISTIAN MARTYRS
Conclusions of New Study Published in Italy
ROME, (Zenit.org).- The 20th century may have been the most striking in the annals of Christian martyrdom, and a new book shows it with numbers.
In two millennia of Christian history, about 70 million faithful have given their lives for the faith, and of these, 45.5 million -- fully 65% -- were in the last century, according to "The New Persecuted" ("I Nuovi Perseguitati").
Italian journalist Antonio Socci presented his work today during a conference on "Anti-Christian Persecution in the 20th Century" held at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical Athenaeum.
"I handed in the draft of the book in January; since then the martyrdom of Christians has had no letup," the author noted. "Suffice it to think of what is happening in Colombia and Indonesia."
In the journalist´s analysis, the term "Christian martyrs" is not understood in the specific sense of the word (with the recognition of the Church´s processes of canonization), but according to the common assessment of scholars who have compiled statistics on religious persecutions.
Socci´s map of the current persecution highlights countries where Christians are dying for their faith.
It includes the Molucca Islands of Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Nigeria, East Timor, Cuba, the former Soviet republics, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries, Vietnam, China and others.
According to the author, the two currents that fuel the persecution of Christians today are Communism and Muslim fundamentalism.
Socci said that persecution of Christians is currently most severe in Sudan.
ROME, (Zenit.org).- The 20th century may have been the most striking in the annals of Christian martyrdom, and a new book shows it with numbers.
In two millennia of Christian history, about 70 million faithful have given their lives for the faith, and of these, 45.5 million -- fully 65% -- were in the last century, according to "The New Persecuted" ("I Nuovi Perseguitati").
Italian journalist Antonio Socci presented his work today during a conference on "Anti-Christian Persecution in the 20th Century" held at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical Athenaeum.
"I handed in the draft of the book in January; since then the martyrdom of Christians has had no letup," the author noted. "Suffice it to think of what is happening in Colombia and Indonesia."
In the journalist´s analysis, the term "Christian martyrs" is not understood in the specific sense of the word (with the recognition of the Church´s processes of canonization), but according to the common assessment of scholars who have compiled statistics on religious persecutions.
Socci´s map of the current persecution highlights countries where Christians are dying for their faith.
It includes the Molucca Islands of Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Nigeria, East Timor, Cuba, the former Soviet republics, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries, Vietnam, China and others.
According to the author, the two currents that fuel the persecution of Christians today are Communism and Muslim fundamentalism.
Socci said that persecution of Christians is currently most severe in Sudan.
the Christian Martyrs of North Korea
Korea has the fourth-highest number of Catholic saints in the world. Why? Because present-day Christianity in Korea – particularly the Catholic stream – was moulded from the blood of its martyrs, thousands and thousands of them. Probably more so than just about anywhere else.
Christians were also at the forefront of the resistance against the Japanese occupation, that ended in 1945, and they helped lead the fight in the 1980s for democracy in their country. Today, Christians comprise about 30% of the South Korean population, and a vibrant Christian expression is everywhere
As many as 100,000 Christians are in concentration camps, enduring regular torture. Executions are common.
Prisoners unable to contain their horror at executions are deemed disloyal to the party and are punished with electrical shock, often to death. Others are sent into solitary confinement in containers so cramped that their legs become permanently paralysed. Eight Christians working in a prison smelting factory died instantly when molten iron was poured onto them, one by one, for refusing to deny their faith.
Yet something remarkable is happening. A growing number of North Koreans are escaping, to China or South Korea, and many of them are turning to Christianity. There at last they find hope.
So while no decent person in a million years would wish on North Korean Christians their present sufferings, it is possible to see in them the seed of a future renaissance.
German doctor Norbert Vollertsen was stationed in North Korea in 1999-2000 for the relief agency German Emergency Doctors. Later he interviewed hundreds of North Korean refugees in China and South Korea. His message: what has been going on in North Korea for more than half a century bears a strong resemblance to the World War II Nazi genocide against Jews.
“Like the Jews then, Christians in North Korea face their executioners praying and singing hymns," he related. But as the church father Tertullian…said at the dawn of Christianity: "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." Vollertsen, whose reports have made him a legendary figure in Japan and South Korea, found out that as a result of this Communist campaign of persecution an underground church was growing rapidly. "I am sure that once North Korea is free, Christianity will boom there in a way that will even dwarf its growth in the South."
Christians were also at the forefront of the resistance against the Japanese occupation, that ended in 1945, and they helped lead the fight in the 1980s for democracy in their country. Today, Christians comprise about 30% of the South Korean population, and a vibrant Christian expression is everywhere
As many as 100,000 Christians are in concentration camps, enduring regular torture. Executions are common.
Prisoners unable to contain their horror at executions are deemed disloyal to the party and are punished with electrical shock, often to death. Others are sent into solitary confinement in containers so cramped that their legs become permanently paralysed. Eight Christians working in a prison smelting factory died instantly when molten iron was poured onto them, one by one, for refusing to deny their faith.
Yet something remarkable is happening. A growing number of North Koreans are escaping, to China or South Korea, and many of them are turning to Christianity. There at last they find hope.
So while no decent person in a million years would wish on North Korean Christians their present sufferings, it is possible to see in them the seed of a future renaissance.
German doctor Norbert Vollertsen was stationed in North Korea in 1999-2000 for the relief agency German Emergency Doctors. Later he interviewed hundreds of North Korean refugees in China and South Korea. His message: what has been going on in North Korea for more than half a century bears a strong resemblance to the World War II Nazi genocide against Jews.
“Like the Jews then, Christians in North Korea face their executioners praying and singing hymns," he related. But as the church father Tertullian…said at the dawn of Christianity: "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." Vollertsen, whose reports have made him a legendary figure in Japan and South Korea, found out that as a result of this Communist campaign of persecution an underground church was growing rapidly. "I am sure that once North Korea is free, Christianity will boom there in a way that will even dwarf its growth in the South."
The Christian Martyrs of Uganda
The arrival of the Christian missionaries, Anglican and Catholic, set the stage for new developments, and marked a turning point in the religious life of the people of Buganda; as well as the political structure of the kingdom and the region at large. The history of Buganda from this point on took a different turn. A social revolution that was to transform all aspects of people's lives had set in, and the events that followed, unpredictable as they were, added to the discomfort the new changes had brought about. The untimely death of Mutesa I in 1884 just a few years after the arrival of the missionaries, left the kingdom in the hands of Mwanga II, a youth whose ruling style fell far short of the charisma and political astuteness his late father had demonstrated in dealing with the foreigners.
Mutesa had the astuteness and maturity of dealing with conflicting forces that struggled to influence his court. The Arabs (the Moslems), the Catholics (the French or Bafaransa as they were locally called) or the Protestants (the English or Bangereza) operated, of course not without constraint, with some minimal success during his reign. He let his subjects of all ranks to join any creed of their choice. The Arabs also having seen the Christian missionaries' efforts to convert the local people also diligently started to teach Islam. There was a competitive struggle among the preachers of the new creeds each attempting to assert more influence and recognition among the most influential officials in the inner circle of the king's court. The king himself never committed to any single creed. The Moslems denounced him for his refusal to be circumcised, and he could not be baptized in the Christian denominations because he did not want to give up polygamy. He died still a traditionalist.
It was hardly a year after Mwanga's assumption of the throne that he ordered the execution of Yusufu (Joseph) Rugarama, Makko (Mark) Kakumba, and Nuwa (Noah) Serwanga the first three Christian martyrs, who were killed at Busega Natete on January 31, 1885. In October of 1885 the Anglican Bishop James Hannington recently dispatched to head the Eastern Equatorial Africa, headquartered in Buganda, was murdered in Busoga on his way to Buganda. Mwanga had ordered his death. Hannington's crime was to attempt to come to Buganda through Busoga, a shorter route than that employed by earlier visitors who took the route from south of lake Victoria. Buganda's kings regarded Busoga as a backdoor to Buganda and thought that any one coming through the backdoor must have evil intentions towards the kingdom.
On Nov. 15 1885; Mukasa became the first Catholic martyr, when he was beheaded at Nakivubo. Between December of 1885 and May of 1886 many more converts were wantonly murdered. Mwanga precipitated a showdown in May by ordering the converts to choose between their new faith, and complete obedience to his orders. Those unwilling to renounce their new faith would be subject to death. Courageously, the neophytes chose their faith. The execution of twenty six Christians at Namugongo on June 3, 1886; was the climax of the campaign against the converts. The last person killed in this crusade, was Jean-Marie Muzeeyi, who was beheaded at Mengo on Jan 27, 1887. The complete list of the known martyrs is given below. The list of forty five known Catholic and Protestant martyrs includes only those who could be formally accounted for, many more murders went unreported and without a record.
Uganda's Christian MartyrsMartyr's Name Birthplace Clan Religion M A R T Y R E D
Date Place Manner
1 Kakumba, Makko Buganda Ffumbe Anglican Jan 31, 1885 Busega Dismembered and Burned
2 Rugarama, Yusuf Ankole Anglican Jan 31, 1885 Busega Dismembered and Burned
3 Sserwanga, Nuwa Buganda Ngeye Anglican Jan 31, 1885 Busega Dismembered and Burned
4 Balikuddembe, Yosefu Mukasa Buganda Kayozi Catholic Nov 15, 1885 Nakivubo Beheaded and Burned
5 Mukasa, Musa Buganda Ffumbe Anglican May 25, 1886 Munyonyo Speared
6 Kaggwa, Anderea Bunyoro Catholic May 26, 1886 Munyonyo Beheaded
7 Ngondwe, Ponsiano Buganda Nnyonyi Nnyange Catholic May 26, 1886 Ttakajjunge Beheaded and Dismembered
8 Ssebuggwawo, Denis Buganda Musu Catholic May 26, 1886 Munyonyo Beheaded
9 Bazzekuketta, Antanansio Buganda Nkima Catholic May 27, 1886 Nakivubo Dismembered
10 Gonza, Gonzaga Busoga Mpologoma Catholic May 27, 1886 Lubowa Beheaded
11 Mbwa, Eriya Buganda Ndiga Anglican May 27, 1886 Mengo Castrated
12 Muddu-aguma Anglican May 27, 1886 Mengo Castrated
13 Mulumba, Matiya Busoga Lugave Catholic May 27, 1886 Old Kampala Dismembered
14 Muwanga, Daudi Buganda Ngonge Anglican Namanve Castrated
15 Kayizzi, Kibuuka Buganda Mmamba Anglican May 31, 1886 Mityana Castrated
16 Mawaggali, Nowa Buganda Ngabi Catholic May 31, 1886 Mityana Speared, Ravaged by wild dogs
17 Mayanja, Kitoogo Buganda Ffumbe Anglican May 31, 1886 Mityana Castrated
18 Muwanga Buganda Nvuma Anglican May 31, 1886 Mityana Castrated
19 Lwanga, Karoli Buganda Ngabi Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
20 Baanabakintu, Lukka Buganda Mmamba Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
21 Buuzabalyawo, Yakobo Buganda Ngeye Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
22 Gyaviira Buganda Mmamba Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
23 Kibuuka, Ambrosio Buganda Lugave Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
24 Kiriggwajjo, Anatoli Bunyoro Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
25 Kiriwawanvu, Mukasa Buganda Ndiga Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
26 Kiwanuka, Achileo Buganda Lugave Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
27 Kizito Buganda Mmamba Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
28 Ludigo, Mukasa Adolofu Toro Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
29 Mugagga Buganda Ngo Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
30 Sserunkuuma, Bruno Buganda Ndiga Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
31 Tuzinde, Mbaga Buganda Mmamba Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
32 Kadoko, Alexanda Buganda Ndiga Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
33 Kifamunnyanja Buganda Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
34 Kiwanuka, Giyaza Buganda Mpeewo Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
35 Kizza, Frederick Buganda Ngabi Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
36 Kwabafu Buganda Mmamba Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
37 Lwakisiga, Mukasa Buganda Ngabi Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
38 Lwanga Buganda Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
39 Mubi-azaalwa Buganda Mbwa Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
40 Munyagabyangu, Robert Buganda Mmamba Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
41 Muwanga, Njigija Buganda Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
42 Nakabandwa, Danieri Buganda Mmamba Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
43 Walukagga, Nuwa Buganda Kasimba Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
44 Wasswa Buganda Mmamba Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
45 Muzeeyi, Jean-Marie Buganda Mbogo Catholic Jan 27, 1887 Mengo Beheaded
Rather than deter the growth of Christianity, the martyrdom of these early believers seems to have sparked its growth instead. As has been observed in many other instances, the blood of the martyrs proved to be the seed of faith. Christianity (in its various flavours) is now the dominant faith in Buganda and Uganda as a whole. The 22 known Catholic martyrs were declared "Blessed" by Pope Benedict XV in 1920. This is one of the key steps in the catholic tradition that eventually leads to canonization. The 22 Catholic martyrs were indeed canonized by Pope Paul VI on October 18, 1964; during the Vatican II conference. Thus these martyrs were now recognised by the universal church as being worthy of being honored as Saints.
To honor these modern saints, Paul VI became the first reigning pope to visit sub-saharan Africa when he visited Uganda in July 1969; a visit which included a pilgrimage to the site of the martyrdom at Namugongo. He also dedicated a site for the building of a shrine church in honor of the martyrs, at the spot where Charles Lwanga was killed. The shrine church itself , was dedicated in 1975 and it was subsequently named a basilica church, a high honor in Catholicism. Archbishop Robert Runcie of Canterbury, and head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, also came on pilgrimage in January 1984. Pope John Paul II in turn honored the martyrs with his own pilgrimage in February 1993. Every year, June 3rd, when most of the martyrs were killed, is marked as a national holiday in Uganda. It is also marked worldwide on the church calender as a day to honor the Uganda Martyrs.
Mutesa had the astuteness and maturity of dealing with conflicting forces that struggled to influence his court. The Arabs (the Moslems), the Catholics (the French or Bafaransa as they were locally called) or the Protestants (the English or Bangereza) operated, of course not without constraint, with some minimal success during his reign. He let his subjects of all ranks to join any creed of their choice. The Arabs also having seen the Christian missionaries' efforts to convert the local people also diligently started to teach Islam. There was a competitive struggle among the preachers of the new creeds each attempting to assert more influence and recognition among the most influential officials in the inner circle of the king's court. The king himself never committed to any single creed. The Moslems denounced him for his refusal to be circumcised, and he could not be baptized in the Christian denominations because he did not want to give up polygamy. He died still a traditionalist.
It was hardly a year after Mwanga's assumption of the throne that he ordered the execution of Yusufu (Joseph) Rugarama, Makko (Mark) Kakumba, and Nuwa (Noah) Serwanga the first three Christian martyrs, who were killed at Busega Natete on January 31, 1885. In October of 1885 the Anglican Bishop James Hannington recently dispatched to head the Eastern Equatorial Africa, headquartered in Buganda, was murdered in Busoga on his way to Buganda. Mwanga had ordered his death. Hannington's crime was to attempt to come to Buganda through Busoga, a shorter route than that employed by earlier visitors who took the route from south of lake Victoria. Buganda's kings regarded Busoga as a backdoor to Buganda and thought that any one coming through the backdoor must have evil intentions towards the kingdom.
On Nov. 15 1885; Mukasa became the first Catholic martyr, when he was beheaded at Nakivubo. Between December of 1885 and May of 1886 many more converts were wantonly murdered. Mwanga precipitated a showdown in May by ordering the converts to choose between their new faith, and complete obedience to his orders. Those unwilling to renounce their new faith would be subject to death. Courageously, the neophytes chose their faith. The execution of twenty six Christians at Namugongo on June 3, 1886; was the climax of the campaign against the converts. The last person killed in this crusade, was Jean-Marie Muzeeyi, who was beheaded at Mengo on Jan 27, 1887. The complete list of the known martyrs is given below. The list of forty five known Catholic and Protestant martyrs includes only those who could be formally accounted for, many more murders went unreported and without a record.
Uganda's Christian MartyrsMartyr's Name Birthplace Clan Religion M A R T Y R E D
Date Place Manner
1 Kakumba, Makko Buganda Ffumbe Anglican Jan 31, 1885 Busega Dismembered and Burned
2 Rugarama, Yusuf Ankole Anglican Jan 31, 1885 Busega Dismembered and Burned
3 Sserwanga, Nuwa Buganda Ngeye Anglican Jan 31, 1885 Busega Dismembered and Burned
4 Balikuddembe, Yosefu Mukasa Buganda Kayozi Catholic Nov 15, 1885 Nakivubo Beheaded and Burned
5 Mukasa, Musa Buganda Ffumbe Anglican May 25, 1886 Munyonyo Speared
6 Kaggwa, Anderea Bunyoro Catholic May 26, 1886 Munyonyo Beheaded
7 Ngondwe, Ponsiano Buganda Nnyonyi Nnyange Catholic May 26, 1886 Ttakajjunge Beheaded and Dismembered
8 Ssebuggwawo, Denis Buganda Musu Catholic May 26, 1886 Munyonyo Beheaded
9 Bazzekuketta, Antanansio Buganda Nkima Catholic May 27, 1886 Nakivubo Dismembered
10 Gonza, Gonzaga Busoga Mpologoma Catholic May 27, 1886 Lubowa Beheaded
11 Mbwa, Eriya Buganda Ndiga Anglican May 27, 1886 Mengo Castrated
12 Muddu-aguma Anglican May 27, 1886 Mengo Castrated
13 Mulumba, Matiya Busoga Lugave Catholic May 27, 1886 Old Kampala Dismembered
14 Muwanga, Daudi Buganda Ngonge Anglican Namanve Castrated
15 Kayizzi, Kibuuka Buganda Mmamba Anglican May 31, 1886 Mityana Castrated
16 Mawaggali, Nowa Buganda Ngabi Catholic May 31, 1886 Mityana Speared, Ravaged by wild dogs
17 Mayanja, Kitoogo Buganda Ffumbe Anglican May 31, 1886 Mityana Castrated
18 Muwanga Buganda Nvuma Anglican May 31, 1886 Mityana Castrated
19 Lwanga, Karoli Buganda Ngabi Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
20 Baanabakintu, Lukka Buganda Mmamba Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
21 Buuzabalyawo, Yakobo Buganda Ngeye Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
22 Gyaviira Buganda Mmamba Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
23 Kibuuka, Ambrosio Buganda Lugave Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
24 Kiriggwajjo, Anatoli Bunyoro Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
25 Kiriwawanvu, Mukasa Buganda Ndiga Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
26 Kiwanuka, Achileo Buganda Lugave Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
27 Kizito Buganda Mmamba Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
28 Ludigo, Mukasa Adolofu Toro Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
29 Mugagga Buganda Ngo Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
30 Sserunkuuma, Bruno Buganda Ndiga Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
31 Tuzinde, Mbaga Buganda Mmamba Catholic June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
32 Kadoko, Alexanda Buganda Ndiga Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
33 Kifamunnyanja Buganda Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
34 Kiwanuka, Giyaza Buganda Mpeewo Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
35 Kizza, Frederick Buganda Ngabi Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
36 Kwabafu Buganda Mmamba Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
37 Lwakisiga, Mukasa Buganda Ngabi Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
38 Lwanga Buganda Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
39 Mubi-azaalwa Buganda Mbwa Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
40 Munyagabyangu, Robert Buganda Mmamba Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
41 Muwanga, Njigija Buganda Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
42 Nakabandwa, Danieri Buganda Mmamba Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
43 Walukagga, Nuwa Buganda Kasimba Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
44 Wasswa Buganda Mmamba Anglican June 3, 1886 Namugongo Burned
45 Muzeeyi, Jean-Marie Buganda Mbogo Catholic Jan 27, 1887 Mengo Beheaded
Rather than deter the growth of Christianity, the martyrdom of these early believers seems to have sparked its growth instead. As has been observed in many other instances, the blood of the martyrs proved to be the seed of faith. Christianity (in its various flavours) is now the dominant faith in Buganda and Uganda as a whole. The 22 known Catholic martyrs were declared "Blessed" by Pope Benedict XV in 1920. This is one of the key steps in the catholic tradition that eventually leads to canonization. The 22 Catholic martyrs were indeed canonized by Pope Paul VI on October 18, 1964; during the Vatican II conference. Thus these martyrs were now recognised by the universal church as being worthy of being honored as Saints.
To honor these modern saints, Paul VI became the first reigning pope to visit sub-saharan Africa when he visited Uganda in July 1969; a visit which included a pilgrimage to the site of the martyrdom at Namugongo. He also dedicated a site for the building of a shrine church in honor of the martyrs, at the spot where Charles Lwanga was killed. The shrine church itself , was dedicated in 1975 and it was subsequently named a basilica church, a high honor in Catholicism. Archbishop Robert Runcie of Canterbury, and head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, also came on pilgrimage in January 1984. Pope John Paul II in turn honored the martyrs with his own pilgrimage in February 1993. Every year, June 3rd, when most of the martyrs were killed, is marked as a national holiday in Uganda. It is also marked worldwide on the church calender as a day to honor the Uganda Martyrs.
THE HOLOCAUST
The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. "Holocaust" is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire." The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community.
During the era of the Holocaust, German authorities also targeted other groups because of their perceived "racial inferiority": Roma (Gypsies), the disabled, and some of the Slavic peoples (Poles, Russians, and others). Other groups were persecuted on political, ideological, and behavioral grounds, among them Communists, Socialists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and homosexuals.
In 1933, the Jewish population of Europe stood at over nine million. Most European Jews lived in countries that Nazi Germany would occupy or influence during World War II. By 1945, the Germans and their collaborators killed nearly two out of every three European Jews as part of the "Final Solution," the Nazi policy to murder the Jews of Europe. Although Jews, whom the Nazis deemed a priority danger to Germany, were the primary victims of Nazi racism, other victims included some 200,000 Roma (Gypsies). At least 200,000 mentally or physically disabled patients, mainly Germans, living in institutional settings, were murdered in the so-called Euthanasia Program.
In the early years of the Nazi regime, the National Socialist government established concentration camps to detain real and imagined political and ideological opponents. Increasingly in the years before the outbreak of war, SS and police officials incarcerated Jews, Roma, and other victims of ethnic and racial hatred in these camps. To concentrate and monitor the Jewish population as well as to facilitate later deportation of the Jews, the Germans and their collaborators created ghettos, transit camps, and forced-labor camps for Jews during the war years. The German authorities also established numerous forced-labor camps, both in the so-called Greater German Reich and in German-occupied territory, for non-Jews whose labor the Germans sought to exploit.
Following the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) and, later, militarized battalions of Order Police officials, moved behind German lines to carry out mass-murder operations against Jews, Roma, and Soviet state and Communist Party officials. German SS and police units, supported by units of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen SS, murdered more than a million Jewish men, women, and children, and hundreds of thousands of others. Between 1941 and 1944, Nazi German authorities deported millions of Jews from Germany, from occupied territories, and from the countries of many of its Axis allies to ghettos and to killing centers, often called extermination camps, where they were murdered in specially developed gassing facilities.
In the final months of the war, SS guards moved camp inmates by train or on forced marches, often called “death marches,” in an attempt to prevent the Allied liberation of large numbers of prisoners. As Allied forces moved across Europe in a series of offensives against Germany, they began to encounter and liberate concentration camp prisoners, as well as prisoners en route by forced march from one camp to another. The marches continued until May 7, 1945, the day the German armed forces surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. For the western Allies, World War II officially ended in Europe on the next day, May 8 (V-E Day), while Soviet forces announced their “Victory Day” on May 9, 1945.
In the aftermath of the Holocaust, many of the survivors found shelter in displaced persons (DP) camps administered by the Allied powers. Between 1948 and 1951, almost 700,000 Jews emigrated to Israel, including 136,000 Jewish displaced persons from Europe. Other Jewish DPs emigrated to the United States and other nations. The last DP camp closed in 1957. The crimes committed during the Holocaust devastated most European Jewish communities and eliminated hundreds of Jewish communities in occupied eastern Europe entirely.
The Martyrs of Spain's Civil War
Fifty thousand Spanish people attended the beatification ceremony of 498 martyrs, victims of religious persecution in 1930's Spain. These 498 people were killed only for their faith in Jesus Christ and their ideals, their killing being part of the anti-Catholic plan of the Republican government in power since 1931. The figures of this persecution are impressive: 13 bishops, 4,154 priests and seminarians, 2,365 religious, 283 nuns and about 4,000 laymen killed for helping or hiding nuns or priests.
As Monsignor Vicente Carcel Orti, the Spanish historian who has been living in Rome for forty years and who worked for the Curia, points out, the Spanish Church did not seek any confrontation with the Republic, but was persecuted in spite of her neutrality. The government persecuted the Church in legislative terms, while Republican extremists used violence against people and things. Anti-clerical violence was unleashed by Freemasons and Communists. Persecution started long before the civil war. According to Monsignor Carcel Orti, the shameful history of the Spanish Republic, a puppet in the hands of the Stalinist regime, has been concealed on account of its follow-up: the long winter of Franco's dictatorship has, in a way, justified a distorted and mythicized reading of those tragic years.
This long interview with the Spanish historian is meant to throw light on this dramatic period in the history of the Spanish Church in order to achieve a better understanding of what is going on in present-day Spain.
Twentieth-century Spain was a nation of martyrs. What was the political and ideological context in which the persecution of the Church and the martyrdom of believers occurred?
MONSIGNOR VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: It was a slow process which began with a great anticlerical movement in the 19th century. In 19th century Spain the Church was closely linked to the monarchy by means of concordats. Catholicism was, in practice, the state religion, like the Orthodox religion in Greece and Romania and Anglicanism in England. In the 1920's King Alphonse XIII handed power over to Primo de Rivera, who set up a military dictatorship (we are talking about the age of dictatorships: there was Mussolini in Italy, Stalin in Russia and Hitler in Germany). The military regime, on the one hand, dissolved parliament, trade unions and political parties; on the other hand it ushered in a period of security and economic growth, through public works amongst other things. Unfortunately economic growth came to a sudden halt with the 1929 world crisis. The following year the Republicans won the municipal elections. Thus General Primo de Rivera relinquished his power while the king left the country, though without abdicating. It was under these circumstances that the Republicans seized power on April 14th, 1931, and proclaimed the Republic.
Why did the Republic persecute the Church and Catholic believers?
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: The Republicans had built up so much hatred for the monarchy and everything relating to it, the Church included, that, once they seized power, they began to hit their enemies. Their first and easiest target was the Church, being defenseless. The new regime made laws against the Church; in the meantime anarchists, socialists and Communists began to use violence against people and things.
What was the role of Freemasonry in this anti-Catholic campaign?
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: Freemasonry played a key role in the anti-Catholic campaign since Freemasons were present in political institutions, in the government and the "Cortes" (the Spanish parliament), where they had at least 183 deputies. Spanish Freemasonry therefore played a major role in the making of anti-Catholic laws and in the defamatory campaign against the Church.
What kind of persecution was the Church faced with from 1931 to 1936?
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: As historians have ascertained, a growing number of measures against the Catholic Church and religious practice were taken between 1931 and 1936. These oppressive laws aimed at a radical and antidemocratic conception of the separation between Church and State. Numberless examples could be quoted: the Jesuits were dissolved in January 1932; in May 1933 a law against ecclesiastical property deprived the Church of all her possessions, which were handed over to civil authorities; a law was passed against the teaching of religion in schools, and the clergy was forbidden to teach. Violent persecution proper began in 1934 with the "Turon martyrs," who have already been canonized, and many other believers murdered during the Communist Revolution of the Asturias, when priests, religious and seminarians, 37 in all, were killed and 58 churches were burned. After 1936 in all the main cities, cathedrals, religious communities and parish churches were attacked, ransacked and burned. These persecutions aimed at erasing all traces of Catholic tradition in Spain. Hatred for the faith went even beyond murders and found expression in thousands of sacrilegious acts: tabernacles were emptied, consecrated particles were eaten, shot at, strewn in the streets and trodden on; churches were used as stables, altars were demolished, priests and nuns were held at gunpoint in the attempt to force them to recant their faith. Let us remember that persecutions started years before the beginning of the civil war, and the Church could be accused of supporting Franco's Falangists, referred to as "rebels."
But wasn't the Church hostile to the Republican government?
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: Spanish bishops recognized the legitimate Republican government from the start. The problem, however, was that the Republican authorities had always been openly hostile to Catholics. After the events of the Asturias, in the summer of 1936, socialists, Communists and anarchists started the most violent persecution in the history of Spain, aimed at the physical elimination of the Church, of both people and things; this persecution lasted until 1939.
Could you quote any figures?
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: Albeit incomplete, the figures are impressive: 18 bishops, 4,184 between priests and seminarians, 283 nuns and about 4,000 laymen were killed for helping or hiding priests or nuns. It must be emphasized that in the part of the country occupied by Franco's troops, no harm was done to the clergy nor were the churches destroyed.
Some critics of Franco say that he had 16 Basque priests executed.
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: It is true that when the nationalist troops entered Bilbao, 16 priests were shot, not because they were priests, but for political reasons with other people. I have found the documentary evidence of this along with the witness of the bishop who had asked those priests to refrain from being involved in political activities. Such political activities triggered off Franco's repression, which also involved 16 priests. When the Pope learned about this, he immediately sent a telegram to Franco, who promised that events like that would never happen again. The martyrdom of priests, however, only occurred in the "red" areas. In addition, the Republicans destroyed churches and monasteries (in my diocese, the diocese of Valencia, over 1000 churches and other sacred buildings were destroyed).
When did the beatification causes of the Spanish martyrs begin?
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: At the end of the civil war in 1939, the Holy See demanded that all information about the persecution available to parishes and dioceses be collected. Once all the necessary material had been collected, bishops gradually started the diocesan phase of the beatification cases. These cases began in the 1940's and continued into the 1950's. At the end of the diocesan phase, all documents were sent to Rome for the "Roman" phase, to be held by the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. Yet Paul VI stopped the cases, as he thought it would be best to wait until fifty years had passed from those dramatic events. Also, he posed a condition: Spain was to have a democratic government (the military regime was still in power in 1960's Spain). At the beginning of John Paul II's pontificate Spain was already a democracy; the Spaniards therefore asked the Pope to proceed with the beatification cases, but he did not comply with their request, since fewer than fifty years had passed since the end of the civil war. John Paul II waited until 1987 to celebrate the first beatification case of martyrs who were victims of religious persecution (three Carmelite nuns from Guadalajara). This marked the beginning of the beatifications of our martyrs. On October 18th we celebrated sixteen beatifications, raising 979 martyrs to the altars. As far as I know, the Congregation is now examining another 2000 cases so that 2000 martyrs will probably be beatified in six or seven years' time.
The Church has sometimes been accused of opening up an old sore with the beatification of the martyrs of the civil war.
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: It is a specious dispute with a strong ideological and political orientation. The victims beatified and canonized have never been referred to as "martyrs of the civil war," but victims of religious persecution; the Church has always paid tribute to martyrs of faith and always will. Civil and military institutions commemorate "soldiers killed in war" or "victims of political repression," both on the Republican and on the Nationalist sides, but this doesn't mean opening up an old sore, even though political parties sometimes clearly exploit past events.
How can these martyrs become a mark of reconciliation?
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: Nowadays the word "martyr" is abused; in common speech it is used in several senses, but its original and most proper use refers to someone suffering or dying for God's sake, bearing witness to their faith, forgiving and praying for their executioners, as Jesus Christ did on the cross. Others can be called "heroes" or "victims" for various causes, sometimes questionable, but are referred to as "martyrs," since this word is abused, being extended to those suffering for somebody or something.
"Christian martyrs" have no ideological or political motivation except their faith in God and love of their neighbors. These martyrs never waged or fomented any war; they were never involved in party strife. They brought an everlasting message of peace and love, which lightens our faith and feeds our hope.
The beatification of these martyrs coincides with the Spanish Parliament's decision to commemorate the victims of Franco's regime. Who were they?
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: They were people killed in the civil war and in the ensuing wave of repression. This involved the winners' ideological enemies. Franco's reaction was violent, but did not last too long. Republicans were tried, though by court-martials, and documents of these trials have come down to us.
A point must be made: those who fought for the Republic at that time did not fight for freedom or democracy, but to set up a regime like the one in power in the Soviet Union. Franco was therefore right when he said that he was making war on Communism. If he had not won, there would have been the Spanish Soviet Union.
All over the world left-wing parties have always idealized the Spanish Republicans and depicted Franco as the incarnation of evil.
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: Franco saved the Church from total destruction. Without his intervention the Church would probably have been blotted out. Yet no one knew at the time that he would become a dictator.
Franco also saved Spain from the Second World War.
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: This is another very important element. At the end of the civil war, Hitler paid a visit to Franco and asked his permission for the German army to cross Spain as far as Gibraltar (he intended to conquer North Africa and occupy the whole Mediterranean). Franco did not give his consent on the grounds that the country had been devastated by the civil war and could not afford to be involved in another conflict.
Pius XI, who was in contact with Franco, warned him against Hitler (Franco declared himself a Catholic, Hitler was a pagan).
At the end of the Second World War Franco established relations with the U.S.A. and brought his country into the U.N. Spain was recognized by all states. When certain circles demand that the Spanish Church apologize for her relations with Franco's regime, I therefore ask myself: "What do we have to apologize for? For having ten thousand martyrs?"
Such requests are made by the ideological heirs of those who persecuted the Church. They do everything to erase all memories of her martyrdom.
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: These requests are only demagogical. In addition, the Spanish Church produced a document many years ago, recognizing that mistakes had been made and forgiving her persecutors. In this document it was also pointed out that no other course of action was possible under those circumstances.
Why is the struggle against Franco still a myth to the whole of the Left, a symbol of the fight for democracy against dictatorship?
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: Most of the European Left was and is Communist. Since Franco was the only one to defeat Communists on the battlefield, these have reacted by presenting the fight of the International Brigades as the fight for freedom against dictatorship. Unfortunately Communist organizations are the most backward and the most conservative ones nowadays; they are unable to revise their past or make any self-criticism.
Socialist, Communist and Masonic parties are in power in Spain nowadays. They see the Church in the same way as the Republicans who tried to destroy her 70 years ago. Needless to say, nobody kills priests and nuns or burns religious buildings, but the Church is perceived as a hindrance to the real progress of Spain and the whole of mankind, as an institution to marginalize and reduce to silence, being the holder of a conservative vision of man, an ideological adversary. Zapatero seems to be willing to create a new world, a new man in Spain.
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: This is typical of all left-wing totalitarian regimes. Stalin too intended to create a new man; so did Pol Pot. Freedom is at risk in Spain, as the state is trying to interfere with people's private lives, to impose a given way of life, to decide how they must bring up their children, etc. It is not enough for laws to be passed by a parliament to be right. As there is only one voice to defend man's good, attempts are being made to hush it. Yet, whilst politicians are voted into and out of power, the Church remains.
As Monsignor Vicente Carcel Orti, the Spanish historian who has been living in Rome for forty years and who worked for the Curia, points out, the Spanish Church did not seek any confrontation with the Republic, but was persecuted in spite of her neutrality. The government persecuted the Church in legislative terms, while Republican extremists used violence against people and things. Anti-clerical violence was unleashed by Freemasons and Communists. Persecution started long before the civil war. According to Monsignor Carcel Orti, the shameful history of the Spanish Republic, a puppet in the hands of the Stalinist regime, has been concealed on account of its follow-up: the long winter of Franco's dictatorship has, in a way, justified a distorted and mythicized reading of those tragic years.
This long interview with the Spanish historian is meant to throw light on this dramatic period in the history of the Spanish Church in order to achieve a better understanding of what is going on in present-day Spain.
Twentieth-century Spain was a nation of martyrs. What was the political and ideological context in which the persecution of the Church and the martyrdom of believers occurred?
MONSIGNOR VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: It was a slow process which began with a great anticlerical movement in the 19th century. In 19th century Spain the Church was closely linked to the monarchy by means of concordats. Catholicism was, in practice, the state religion, like the Orthodox religion in Greece and Romania and Anglicanism in England. In the 1920's King Alphonse XIII handed power over to Primo de Rivera, who set up a military dictatorship (we are talking about the age of dictatorships: there was Mussolini in Italy, Stalin in Russia and Hitler in Germany). The military regime, on the one hand, dissolved parliament, trade unions and political parties; on the other hand it ushered in a period of security and economic growth, through public works amongst other things. Unfortunately economic growth came to a sudden halt with the 1929 world crisis. The following year the Republicans won the municipal elections. Thus General Primo de Rivera relinquished his power while the king left the country, though without abdicating. It was under these circumstances that the Republicans seized power on April 14th, 1931, and proclaimed the Republic.
Why did the Republic persecute the Church and Catholic believers?
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: The Republicans had built up so much hatred for the monarchy and everything relating to it, the Church included, that, once they seized power, they began to hit their enemies. Their first and easiest target was the Church, being defenseless. The new regime made laws against the Church; in the meantime anarchists, socialists and Communists began to use violence against people and things.
What was the role of Freemasonry in this anti-Catholic campaign?
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: Freemasonry played a key role in the anti-Catholic campaign since Freemasons were present in political institutions, in the government and the "Cortes" (the Spanish parliament), where they had at least 183 deputies. Spanish Freemasonry therefore played a major role in the making of anti-Catholic laws and in the defamatory campaign against the Church.
What kind of persecution was the Church faced with from 1931 to 1936?
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: As historians have ascertained, a growing number of measures against the Catholic Church and religious practice were taken between 1931 and 1936. These oppressive laws aimed at a radical and antidemocratic conception of the separation between Church and State. Numberless examples could be quoted: the Jesuits were dissolved in January 1932; in May 1933 a law against ecclesiastical property deprived the Church of all her possessions, which were handed over to civil authorities; a law was passed against the teaching of religion in schools, and the clergy was forbidden to teach. Violent persecution proper began in 1934 with the "Turon martyrs," who have already been canonized, and many other believers murdered during the Communist Revolution of the Asturias, when priests, religious and seminarians, 37 in all, were killed and 58 churches were burned. After 1936 in all the main cities, cathedrals, religious communities and parish churches were attacked, ransacked and burned. These persecutions aimed at erasing all traces of Catholic tradition in Spain. Hatred for the faith went even beyond murders and found expression in thousands of sacrilegious acts: tabernacles were emptied, consecrated particles were eaten, shot at, strewn in the streets and trodden on; churches were used as stables, altars were demolished, priests and nuns were held at gunpoint in the attempt to force them to recant their faith. Let us remember that persecutions started years before the beginning of the civil war, and the Church could be accused of supporting Franco's Falangists, referred to as "rebels."
But wasn't the Church hostile to the Republican government?
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: Spanish bishops recognized the legitimate Republican government from the start. The problem, however, was that the Republican authorities had always been openly hostile to Catholics. After the events of the Asturias, in the summer of 1936, socialists, Communists and anarchists started the most violent persecution in the history of Spain, aimed at the physical elimination of the Church, of both people and things; this persecution lasted until 1939.
Could you quote any figures?
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: Albeit incomplete, the figures are impressive: 18 bishops, 4,184 between priests and seminarians, 283 nuns and about 4,000 laymen were killed for helping or hiding priests or nuns. It must be emphasized that in the part of the country occupied by Franco's troops, no harm was done to the clergy nor were the churches destroyed.
Some critics of Franco say that he had 16 Basque priests executed.
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: It is true that when the nationalist troops entered Bilbao, 16 priests were shot, not because they were priests, but for political reasons with other people. I have found the documentary evidence of this along with the witness of the bishop who had asked those priests to refrain from being involved in political activities. Such political activities triggered off Franco's repression, which also involved 16 priests. When the Pope learned about this, he immediately sent a telegram to Franco, who promised that events like that would never happen again. The martyrdom of priests, however, only occurred in the "red" areas. In addition, the Republicans destroyed churches and monasteries (in my diocese, the diocese of Valencia, over 1000 churches and other sacred buildings were destroyed).
When did the beatification causes of the Spanish martyrs begin?
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: At the end of the civil war in 1939, the Holy See demanded that all information about the persecution available to parishes and dioceses be collected. Once all the necessary material had been collected, bishops gradually started the diocesan phase of the beatification cases. These cases began in the 1940's and continued into the 1950's. At the end of the diocesan phase, all documents were sent to Rome for the "Roman" phase, to be held by the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. Yet Paul VI stopped the cases, as he thought it would be best to wait until fifty years had passed from those dramatic events. Also, he posed a condition: Spain was to have a democratic government (the military regime was still in power in 1960's Spain). At the beginning of John Paul II's pontificate Spain was already a democracy; the Spaniards therefore asked the Pope to proceed with the beatification cases, but he did not comply with their request, since fewer than fifty years had passed since the end of the civil war. John Paul II waited until 1987 to celebrate the first beatification case of martyrs who were victims of religious persecution (three Carmelite nuns from Guadalajara). This marked the beginning of the beatifications of our martyrs. On October 18th we celebrated sixteen beatifications, raising 979 martyrs to the altars. As far as I know, the Congregation is now examining another 2000 cases so that 2000 martyrs will probably be beatified in six or seven years' time.
The Church has sometimes been accused of opening up an old sore with the beatification of the martyrs of the civil war.
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: It is a specious dispute with a strong ideological and political orientation. The victims beatified and canonized have never been referred to as "martyrs of the civil war," but victims of religious persecution; the Church has always paid tribute to martyrs of faith and always will. Civil and military institutions commemorate "soldiers killed in war" or "victims of political repression," both on the Republican and on the Nationalist sides, but this doesn't mean opening up an old sore, even though political parties sometimes clearly exploit past events.
How can these martyrs become a mark of reconciliation?
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: Nowadays the word "martyr" is abused; in common speech it is used in several senses, but its original and most proper use refers to someone suffering or dying for God's sake, bearing witness to their faith, forgiving and praying for their executioners, as Jesus Christ did on the cross. Others can be called "heroes" or "victims" for various causes, sometimes questionable, but are referred to as "martyrs," since this word is abused, being extended to those suffering for somebody or something.
"Christian martyrs" have no ideological or political motivation except their faith in God and love of their neighbors. These martyrs never waged or fomented any war; they were never involved in party strife. They brought an everlasting message of peace and love, which lightens our faith and feeds our hope.
The beatification of these martyrs coincides with the Spanish Parliament's decision to commemorate the victims of Franco's regime. Who were they?
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: They were people killed in the civil war and in the ensuing wave of repression. This involved the winners' ideological enemies. Franco's reaction was violent, but did not last too long. Republicans were tried, though by court-martials, and documents of these trials have come down to us.
A point must be made: those who fought for the Republic at that time did not fight for freedom or democracy, but to set up a regime like the one in power in the Soviet Union. Franco was therefore right when he said that he was making war on Communism. If he had not won, there would have been the Spanish Soviet Union.
All over the world left-wing parties have always idealized the Spanish Republicans and depicted Franco as the incarnation of evil.
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: Franco saved the Church from total destruction. Without his intervention the Church would probably have been blotted out. Yet no one knew at the time that he would become a dictator.
Franco also saved Spain from the Second World War.
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: This is another very important element. At the end of the civil war, Hitler paid a visit to Franco and asked his permission for the German army to cross Spain as far as Gibraltar (he intended to conquer North Africa and occupy the whole Mediterranean). Franco did not give his consent on the grounds that the country had been devastated by the civil war and could not afford to be involved in another conflict.
Pius XI, who was in contact with Franco, warned him against Hitler (Franco declared himself a Catholic, Hitler was a pagan).
At the end of the Second World War Franco established relations with the U.S.A. and brought his country into the U.N. Spain was recognized by all states. When certain circles demand that the Spanish Church apologize for her relations with Franco's regime, I therefore ask myself: "What do we have to apologize for? For having ten thousand martyrs?"
Such requests are made by the ideological heirs of those who persecuted the Church. They do everything to erase all memories of her martyrdom.
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: These requests are only demagogical. In addition, the Spanish Church produced a document many years ago, recognizing that mistakes had been made and forgiving her persecutors. In this document it was also pointed out that no other course of action was possible under those circumstances.
Why is the struggle against Franco still a myth to the whole of the Left, a symbol of the fight for democracy against dictatorship?
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: Most of the European Left was and is Communist. Since Franco was the only one to defeat Communists on the battlefield, these have reacted by presenting the fight of the International Brigades as the fight for freedom against dictatorship. Unfortunately Communist organizations are the most backward and the most conservative ones nowadays; they are unable to revise their past or make any self-criticism.
Socialist, Communist and Masonic parties are in power in Spain nowadays. They see the Church in the same way as the Republicans who tried to destroy her 70 years ago. Needless to say, nobody kills priests and nuns or burns religious buildings, but the Church is perceived as a hindrance to the real progress of Spain and the whole of mankind, as an institution to marginalize and reduce to silence, being the holder of a conservative vision of man, an ideological adversary. Zapatero seems to be willing to create a new world, a new man in Spain.
VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: This is typical of all left-wing totalitarian regimes. Stalin too intended to create a new man; so did Pol Pot. Freedom is at risk in Spain, as the state is trying to interfere with people's private lives, to impose a given way of life, to decide how they must bring up their children, etc. It is not enough for laws to be passed by a parliament to be right. As there is only one voice to defend man's good, attempts are being made to hush it. Yet, whilst politicians are voted into and out of power, the Church remains.
Lance Gersbach
An Australian Seventh-day Adventist Church missionary has been beheaded in the volatile Solomon Islands, according to the Adventist News Network (ANN).
The ANN said Lance Gersbach (60), business manager at Atoifi Adventist Hospital, "was murdered (Sunday) May 18" in Atoifi, located on Malaita, 130 kilometres (80 miles) east of the Solomon Islands' capital Honiara.
Police investigators said the attack took place not far from the hospital but down a steep slope hidden from view. "Information we have is that he was beheaded with a sharp bush knife," said a police spokesman quoted by Reuters news agency.
No one has claimed responsibility for the murder of Gersbach who reportedly was to find a way for the mission station to do more to support itself since he arrived there in February this year with his family.
Gersbach moved to Atoifi, home to about 3,000 Seventh Day Adventists, for a year with his wife and two young daughters. One of the first steps was to build a new mission shop, a trade store stocking the basic necessities for life in the villages of Malaita, The New Zealand Herald newspaper reported.
However the tribe and traditional custodians of the land did not feel the arrangements made by the Church for leasing were adequate or fair, the newspaper said.
It quoted police and church officials in the islands as being "almost certain that this was behind the beheading of the softly- spoken Australian," who had also worked for three years at the Sopas Hospital in Papua New Guinea.
However local tribal chiefs have pledged full support for the investigation, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said.
This is the second time a Seventh Day Adventist Church worker has been beheaded in the Solomon Islands in less than a year, The New Zealand Herald reported. Last September, a deacon in his early 40s, Martin Reuben, was reportedly found by his wife decapitated on a beach.
"The church is in a state of shock," said Barry Oliver, general secretary for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific. "To family, colleagues and staff at Atoifi Hospital, we pledge ourselves at this time to give all that is needed. They are in our prayers," he told ANN.
The church, in cooperation with the Australian High Commission in the Solomons, has charted a plane to bring Lance's wife, Jean, a nurse their two daughters Louise, aged 11, and Anita, 8, to the capital, Honiara, ANN said.
In addition the church was also sending a counselor to Honiara, while police detectives were on their way to investigate the scene.
"We're doing all we can to support Lance's family and the staff members at Atoifi," said Bronwyn Mison, communication director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific.
"Lance had a keen interest in helping others," she told ANN. "He served at our former Sopas Adventist Hospital in Papua New Guinea for three years."
"The murder has again focused attention on the Solomons, where the Government is bankrupt, many services have collapsed and whole areas are considered lawless," the New Zealand Herald observed referring to ethnic strife and other conflicts.
Yet politicians made clear they were they were shocked and outraged about the killing. "The whole thing is horrific and completely baffling," the BBC quoted East Kwaio member of parliament Alfred Sasako as saying.
"It has taken the whole lot of us by shock and surprise. "He was a man of very few words, you would have to be straight out of a psychiatric hospital to attack him in the way he was." Meanwhile Gersbach's death has also shocked New Zealand, where he had a successful accounting practice in Newcastle, New South Wales and worked at the Auckland Adventist Hospital in St Heliers from 1992 to 1994.
Friends and former neighbors told New Zealand media that he was a man who loved sport, especially cricket and running, was willing to help the neighborhood and was deeply committed to his Christian faith.
The ANN said Lance Gersbach (60), business manager at Atoifi Adventist Hospital, "was murdered (Sunday) May 18" in Atoifi, located on Malaita, 130 kilometres (80 miles) east of the Solomon Islands' capital Honiara.
Police investigators said the attack took place not far from the hospital but down a steep slope hidden from view. "Information we have is that he was beheaded with a sharp bush knife," said a police spokesman quoted by Reuters news agency.
No one has claimed responsibility for the murder of Gersbach who reportedly was to find a way for the mission station to do more to support itself since he arrived there in February this year with his family.
Gersbach moved to Atoifi, home to about 3,000 Seventh Day Adventists, for a year with his wife and two young daughters. One of the first steps was to build a new mission shop, a trade store stocking the basic necessities for life in the villages of Malaita, The New Zealand Herald newspaper reported.
However the tribe and traditional custodians of the land did not feel the arrangements made by the Church for leasing were adequate or fair, the newspaper said.
It quoted police and church officials in the islands as being "almost certain that this was behind the beheading of the softly- spoken Australian," who had also worked for three years at the Sopas Hospital in Papua New Guinea.
However local tribal chiefs have pledged full support for the investigation, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said.
This is the second time a Seventh Day Adventist Church worker has been beheaded in the Solomon Islands in less than a year, The New Zealand Herald reported. Last September, a deacon in his early 40s, Martin Reuben, was reportedly found by his wife decapitated on a beach.
"The church is in a state of shock," said Barry Oliver, general secretary for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific. "To family, colleagues and staff at Atoifi Hospital, we pledge ourselves at this time to give all that is needed. They are in our prayers," he told ANN.
The church, in cooperation with the Australian High Commission in the Solomons, has charted a plane to bring Lance's wife, Jean, a nurse their two daughters Louise, aged 11, and Anita, 8, to the capital, Honiara, ANN said.
In addition the church was also sending a counselor to Honiara, while police detectives were on their way to investigate the scene.
"We're doing all we can to support Lance's family and the staff members at Atoifi," said Bronwyn Mison, communication director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific.
"Lance had a keen interest in helping others," she told ANN. "He served at our former Sopas Adventist Hospital in Papua New Guinea for three years."
"The murder has again focused attention on the Solomons, where the Government is bankrupt, many services have collapsed and whole areas are considered lawless," the New Zealand Herald observed referring to ethnic strife and other conflicts.
Yet politicians made clear they were they were shocked and outraged about the killing. "The whole thing is horrific and completely baffling," the BBC quoted East Kwaio member of parliament Alfred Sasako as saying.
"It has taken the whole lot of us by shock and surprise. "He was a man of very few words, you would have to be straight out of a psychiatric hospital to attack him in the way he was." Meanwhile Gersbach's death has also shocked New Zealand, where he had a successful accounting practice in Newcastle, New South Wales and worked at the Auckland Adventist Hospital in St Heliers from 1992 to 1994.
Friends and former neighbors told New Zealand media that he was a man who loved sport, especially cricket and running, was willing to help the neighborhood and was deeply committed to his Christian faith.
Graham Staines
Graham Stuart Staines (1941-January 1999) was an Australian missionary who was burnt to death along with his two sons Philip (aged 9) and Timothy (aged 7) while sleeping in his station wagon at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district in Orissa, India in January 1999. In 2003, the Hindu activist Dara Singh was convicted of leading the gang.
Graham Staines had been working in Orissa among the tribal poor and especially with leprosy patients since 1965.
He has been accused by Hindus of the Sangh Parivar of being a zealous evangelical. While there is a perception that he converted many tribals to Christianity, the rise in Christian population in the district claimed by opponents is very slight.
Graham Staines was born in 1941 at Palmwoods, Queensland, Australia. He visited India in 1965 for the first time and joined Evangelical Missionary Society of Mayurbhanj (EMSM), working in this remote tribal area, with a long history of missionary activity.
Staines took over the management of the Mission at Baripada in 1983. He also played a role in the establishment of the Mayurbhanj Leprosy Home as a registered society in 1982[1]. He met Gladys June in 1981 while working for leprosy patients, and they married in 1983, and have been working together since then. They had three children, daughter Esther and two sons Philip and Timothy. Staines assisted in translating a part of the Bible into the Ho language of India, including proofreading the entire New Testament manuscript, though his focus was on a ministry to lepers.
He spoke fluent Oriya and was very popular among the patients whom he used to help after they were cured. He used to teach how to make mats out of rope and basket from Saboigrass and hand weaving.
On the night of 22 January 1999, Graham Staines had attended a jungle camp, an annual gathering of Christians of the area to strengthen fellowship and for teaching. In the night he was sleeping in his station wagon when it was set afire by a mob. Graham and his two minor sons were burnt alive.
Graham Staines had been working in Orissa among the tribal poor and especially with leprosy patients since 1965.
He has been accused by Hindus of the Sangh Parivar of being a zealous evangelical. While there is a perception that he converted many tribals to Christianity, the rise in Christian population in the district claimed by opponents is very slight.
Graham Staines was born in 1941 at Palmwoods, Queensland, Australia. He visited India in 1965 for the first time and joined Evangelical Missionary Society of Mayurbhanj (EMSM), working in this remote tribal area, with a long history of missionary activity.
Staines took over the management of the Mission at Baripada in 1983. He also played a role in the establishment of the Mayurbhanj Leprosy Home as a registered society in 1982[1]. He met Gladys June in 1981 while working for leprosy patients, and they married in 1983, and have been working together since then. They had three children, daughter Esther and two sons Philip and Timothy. Staines assisted in translating a part of the Bible into the Ho language of India, including proofreading the entire New Testament manuscript, though his focus was on a ministry to lepers.
He spoke fluent Oriya and was very popular among the patients whom he used to help after they were cured. He used to teach how to make mats out of rope and basket from Saboigrass and hand weaving.
On the night of 22 January 1999, Graham Staines had attended a jungle camp, an annual gathering of Christians of the area to strengthen fellowship and for teaching. In the night he was sleeping in his station wagon when it was set afire by a mob. Graham and his two minor sons were burnt alive.
Rachel Scott
Rachel Joy Scott (August 5, 1981 – April 20, 1999) was the first victim of the Columbine High School massacre, which claimed the lives of 12 students and a teacher, along with the two perpetrators, in one of the deadliest school shootings in United States history.
Scott has since been the subject of several books and is the inspiration for Rachel’s Challenge, a nationwide school outreach program for the prevention of teen violence
Rachel Scott lived near Littleton, Colorado, where she attended Columbine High School along with her younger brother, Craig. At the time of her death, the 17-year old junior was an aspiring writer and actress and had played the lead in a student-written play. Described as a devout Christian by her mother, Beth Nimmo, she was active as a youth group leader at Orchard Road Christian Center church near the Littleton area and was said to be known for her friendliness and compassionate nature. Rachel left behind six diaries and several essays about her belief in God and how she wanted to change the world through small acts of kindness. Shortly before her death, she wrote an essay for school stating, “I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion then it will start a chain reaction of the same.”
Rachel Scott was shot while eating lunch with a friend, Richard Castaldo, on the lawn outside of the school's library. She was killed by multiple gunshot wounds to the head, chest, arm, and leg. Afterwards, her car was turned into an impromptu flower-bedecked memorial in the school's parking lot by grieving students.
Early news reports said that one of the gunmen, after having first shot Rachel in her leg, asked the wounded girl if she still believed in God, and that she had simply answered "You know I do", provoking a second, fatal shot to her head at point-blank range.Some accounts attributed this version of events to Castaldo, though he later denied telling this story. Despite the controversy surrounding this issue, Rachel’s parents contend in their book, Rachel’s Tears: the Spiritual Journey of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott, that their daughter was targeted by the killers and died as a martyr for her Christian faith, based on videotapes made by the teenage perpetrators in which they are said to mock Rachel for her beliefs.
Scott has since been the subject of several books and is the inspiration for Rachel’s Challenge, a nationwide school outreach program for the prevention of teen violence
Rachel Scott lived near Littleton, Colorado, where she attended Columbine High School along with her younger brother, Craig. At the time of her death, the 17-year old junior was an aspiring writer and actress and had played the lead in a student-written play. Described as a devout Christian by her mother, Beth Nimmo, she was active as a youth group leader at Orchard Road Christian Center church near the Littleton area and was said to be known for her friendliness and compassionate nature. Rachel left behind six diaries and several essays about her belief in God and how she wanted to change the world through small acts of kindness. Shortly before her death, she wrote an essay for school stating, “I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion then it will start a chain reaction of the same.”
Rachel Scott was shot while eating lunch with a friend, Richard Castaldo, on the lawn outside of the school's library. She was killed by multiple gunshot wounds to the head, chest, arm, and leg. Afterwards, her car was turned into an impromptu flower-bedecked memorial in the school's parking lot by grieving students.
Early news reports said that one of the gunmen, after having first shot Rachel in her leg, asked the wounded girl if she still believed in God, and that she had simply answered "You know I do", provoking a second, fatal shot to her head at point-blank range.Some accounts attributed this version of events to Castaldo, though he later denied telling this story. Despite the controversy surrounding this issue, Rachel’s parents contend in their book, Rachel’s Tears: the Spiritual Journey of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott, that their daughter was targeted by the killers and died as a martyr for her Christian faith, based on videotapes made by the teenage perpetrators in which they are said to mock Rachel for her beliefs.
Wang Zhiming
Wang Zhiming (1907 - December 29, 1973) was a Miao pastor little known outside his home in Wuding County, Yunnan, China at the time of his execution on December 29, 1973. Since then, he has received two unique honors. In 1981, he became the only Christian martyr of the Cultural Revolution to have a monument erected at his gravesite. Then in 1998, he was one of ten 20th century Christian martyrs memorialized above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey with a statue. These statues represent those who died for Christ in the century marked by the greatest number of martyrdoms in the history of the church.
Wang Zhiming was born in Wuding in 1907, the year after Christian missionaries first began work there. Their work among minority people, especially the Miao in Wuding, saw much fruit. By 1949, 130,000 Protestants, nearly 20% of the total for China, were found among Yunnan's minorities. Five years later half of the Christians in Yunnan reportedly lived in the prefecture which included Wuding.
Wang was educated in Christian schools and later taught in one for ten years. In 1944 he was elected chairman of the church council in Wuding, and he was ordained in 1951 at the age of 44. During the 1950s Wang was one of six Miao Christian leaders who accommodated some of the demands of the new government by signing the Three Self Manifesto. Still, he refused to participate in denunciation meetings held to humiliate landlords, saying, "My hands have baptized many converts, and should not be used for sinfulness". This was undoubtedly one of the reasons that, even before the Cultural Revolution, Wang was declared a counter-revolutionary.
During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), at least twenty-one Christian leaders in Wuding were imprisoned, and many others were sent to camps, denounced or beaten. One later stated, "I cannot recall how many time I was made to kneel on the rubble and how much blood flowed from my knees due to their sharp edges. When I could not hold out and fell to the ground, merciless beatings followed. Then I was pulled up and forced to salute the portrait of Chairman Mao. My refusal to do so resulted in another round of beating up. Vicious cycles went on and on. This only paused for a little while when I almost lost consciousness."
In 1969, Wang Zhiming and his wife and sons were arrested. On December 29, 1973, Wang was executed in a stadium in front of more than 10,000 people. The largely Christian crowd was not cowed into submission by the spectacle, but rather many rushed the stand where they berated the prosecuting official.
Wang Zhiming was born in Wuding in 1907, the year after Christian missionaries first began work there. Their work among minority people, especially the Miao in Wuding, saw much fruit. By 1949, 130,000 Protestants, nearly 20% of the total for China, were found among Yunnan's minorities. Five years later half of the Christians in Yunnan reportedly lived in the prefecture which included Wuding.
Wang was educated in Christian schools and later taught in one for ten years. In 1944 he was elected chairman of the church council in Wuding, and he was ordained in 1951 at the age of 44. During the 1950s Wang was one of six Miao Christian leaders who accommodated some of the demands of the new government by signing the Three Self Manifesto. Still, he refused to participate in denunciation meetings held to humiliate landlords, saying, "My hands have baptized many converts, and should not be used for sinfulness". This was undoubtedly one of the reasons that, even before the Cultural Revolution, Wang was declared a counter-revolutionary.
During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), at least twenty-one Christian leaders in Wuding were imprisoned, and many others were sent to camps, denounced or beaten. One later stated, "I cannot recall how many time I was made to kneel on the rubble and how much blood flowed from my knees due to their sharp edges. When I could not hold out and fell to the ground, merciless beatings followed. Then I was pulled up and forced to salute the portrait of Chairman Mao. My refusal to do so resulted in another round of beating up. Vicious cycles went on and on. This only paused for a little while when I almost lost consciousness."
In 1969, Wang Zhiming and his wife and sons were arrested. On December 29, 1973, Wang was executed in a stadium in front of more than 10,000 people. The largely Christian crowd was not cowed into submission by the spectacle, but rather many rushed the stand where they berated the prosecuting official.
The Forty Holy Martyrs of Sebaste
At the Wedding Service, the presbyter (priest) prays these words: REMEMBER THEM, O LORD, AS YOU REMEMBERED YOUR FORTY HOLY MARTYRS, SENDING THEM CROWNS FROM HEAVEN. Just who were these forty martyrs, and what is their connection with the Sacrament of Matrimony?
The story of these mysterious martyrs unfolds in the city of Sebaste during the reign of Emperor Licinius in 320 A.D. A garrison of Roman soldiers-- 40 in number -- were stationed in this remote Armenian town. While they were bold, courageous soldiers, they were also devout Christians. Upon hearing of this in Rome, the infuriated Emperor issued an edict, stating that those throughout the Empire who would not worship pagan gods would be tortured and put to death. An additional contingent of soldiers was sent to Sebaste to see exactly where the loyalties of these 40 Christians actually stood.
We are told that to a man, all forty soldiers refused to reject Christ. A cruel death was planned for them. It was bitterly cold in Sebaste at this time of the year, and they were forced to remove their clothes and stand along the shores of a frozen lake, looking across the waters at the glowing fires of the pagans -- where they could go if they would renounce the Lord. Still they refused! As death approached, a band of angels came down from heaven and placed crowns on the heads of these dying saints. It is said that one of the Roman guards was so moved by this glorious sight that he removed his own garments and rushed to die himself at the side of these Christian warriors.
The prayer mentioning the Forty Holy Martyrs of Sebaste is placed in the Wedding Service to remind the bride and groom that crowns await them in Heaven also if they remain as faithful to Christ as these saints of long ago.
Simon the Zealot
The apostle called Simon Zelotes, Simon the Zealot, in Luke 6:15 and Acts 1:13; and Simon Kananaios ("Simon" signifying שמעון "hearkening; listening", Standard Hebrew Šimʿon, Tiberian Hebrew Šimʿôn), was one of the most obscure among the apostles of Jesus. Little is recorded of him aside from his name, few pseudepigraphical writings were connected to him (but see below), and Jerome does not include him in De viris illustribus.
The name of Simon occurs in all the passages of the synoptic gospels and Acts that give a list of apostles, without further details.
Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, and Judas ["the son" is interpolated] of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. (Luke 6:12-16, RSV)
To distinguish him from Simon Peter, he is called Kananaios, or Kananites (Matthew 10:4; Mark 3:18), and in the list of apostles in Luke 6:15, repeated in Acts 1:13, Zelotes, the "Zealot". Both titles derive from the Hebrew word qana, meaning The Zealous, though Jerome and others mistook the word to signify the apostle was from the town of Cana (in which case his epithet would have been "Kanaios") or even from the region of Canaan. As such, the translation of the word as "the Cananite" or "the Canaanite" is purely traditional and without contemporary extra-canonic parallel.
Simon Zelotes, called the Zealot was one of the twelve disciples. Simon had the words "the Zealot" added to his name. It helped to distinguish him from Simon Peter and showed that he was a member of an organization called the "Zealots". The Zealots were the political, violently anti-Roman, wing of the Pharisees.
Simon may have been 40 years old when he became a disciple. At first he may have thought that Jesus would lead an uprising to get rid of the Romans ruling their land. It turned out that Jesus changed him. He had been a man of violence and he became a man of peace. Jesus knew that the Zealots and Publicans were bitter enemies. One group worked against the Romans, the other for them. Even so, Jesus chose a disciple from both groups. They became friends in His work.
Simon was the co-worker of Jude, or Thaddeus. They traveled together in Mesopotamia which both were martyred. Variously conjectured to have preached and to have been crucified while preaching at Ostrakine in Lower Egypt. He was also said to have preached the gospel in Mauritania, Africa, and even in Britain, in which latter country he was crucified, AD 74.
Luke the Evangelist
Luke the Evangelist (Ancient Greek: Λουκᾶς Loukas) was an early Christian leader who is said by tradition to be the author of both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.The Roman Catholic Church venerates him as patron saint of physicians and surgeons.
Saint Luke was born of Greek origin in the city of Antioch.
His earliest notice is in Paul's Epistle to Philemon, verse 24. He is also mentioned in Colossians 4:14 and 2 Timothy 4:11, two works commonly ascribed to Paul. The next earliest account of Luke is in the Anti-Marcionite Prologue to the Gospel of Luke, a document once thought to date to the 2nd century AD, but which has more recently been dated to the later 4th century. Helmut Koester, however, claims that the following part – the only part preserved in the original Greek – may have been composed in the late 2nd century:“ Luke, a native of Antioch, by profession a physician. He had become a disciple of the apostle Paul and later followed Paul until his [Paul's] martyrdom. Having served the Lord continuously, unmarried and without children, filled with the Holy Spirit he died at the age of 84 years.
Luke the Evangelist was hung.
St. Thomas the Apostle
St. Thomas (the name means "Twin")
Was out when the others were in.
It would have been best
If he'd stayed with the rest.
He appears only as a name on a list of apostles in the Synoptic Gospels, but he is mentioned in a few memorable passages in the Gospel of St. John.
Following the death of Lazarus, Jesus prepares to go to him in Bethany, a few miles from Jerusalem -- dangerously close for someone as unpopular with the religious leaders as He is. Thomas, in a moment of bravery not often expressed or acted upon by the Apostles before Pentecost, rallies the others to stay by their Master come what may:
Then therefore Jesus said to them plainly: Lazarus is dead. And I am glad, for your sakes, that I was not there, that you may believe: but let us go to him. Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples: Let us also go, that we may die with him. (John 11:14-16)
Later, with the acuity typical of the Twelve in the Gospels, Thomas misconstrues Jesus' reference to His death and resurrection. Thomas's question, easy to smile at in hindsight, provides Jesus an opportunity to teach one of the most profound and difficult truths of His ministry:
And if I shall go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to myself; that where I am, you also may be. And whither I go you know, and the way you know. Thomas saith to him: Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me. If you had known me, you would without doubt have known my Father also: and from henceforth you shall know him, and you have seen him. (John 14:3-7)
Of course, St. Thomas is best remembered for being absent from the Upper Room the first time Jesus appeared to His disciples after His Resurrection.
Now Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him: We have seen the Lord. But he said to them: Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said: Peace be to you. Then he saith to Thomas: Put in thy finger hither, and see my hands; and bring hither thy hand, and put it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing. Thomas answered, and said to him: My Lord, and my God. Jesus saith to him: Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed. (John 20:24-29)
This Gospel passage is read during Mass every year on the Second Sunday of Easter
St. Thomas is believed to have gone to India to preach the Gospel. Christians who trace their faith back to his mission live in Malabar, on the western coast of India, to this day. (See the Catholic Encyclopedia for an article on the St. Thomas Christians for more information.) There are reports that St. Thomas was slain by a spear while praying on a hill in Mylapur, near Madras on the east coast of India. His remains are said to have been buried there, and afterwards transported to the city of Edessa, in Mesopotamia, where confirmed reports of relics claimed to be his exist from the Fourth Century. (July 3, St. Thomas's feast in the Roman Calendar, is the date on which the Edessans celebrated the translation of the relics with "a great festival.") After eight hundred years, the relics were transported to the West, and now rest in Ortona, Italy.
I've heard two stories to explain St. Thomas as patron saint of builders. According to the first, he built a church with his own hands. According to the second, and more colorful, he offered to build a palace for an Indian king that would last forever. The king gave him money, which he gave to the poor. Asked to show his progress, St. Thomas explained that the palace he was building was in heaven, not on earth.
Saint Bartholomew
Bartholomew is listed in the Bible as being one of the twelve apostles (see quotations below). He was with the other apostles after Jesus ascended into heaven, but we know little more about him.
It is possible that he was the same person as Nathaniel, the man whom Philip brought to Jesus as mentioned in St. John's Gospel, whom Jesus described as "an Israelite, in whom there is no guile."
Later traditions suggest that he preached in Asia Minor, northern India, and in Armenia, where he was flayed alive and then beheaded — the basis for his patronage of tanners.
Biblical references to Bartholomew:
Matthew 10:1 - 4
Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Acts 1:13, 14
When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
St. Jude
St. Jude was one of the Twelve Apostles and the brother of St. James, who was also one of the twelve. Jude was described by St. Mathew (13:55) as being one of the "brethren" of Jesus, probably meaning a cousin since the Hebrew word for "brethren" indicates a blood relationship. Elsewhere, Jude's mother, Mary, was referred to as a cousin of Jesus' mother.
St Luke's Gospel includes Jude in the list of the 12 Apostles (6:16) and St. John mentions him (14:22). St. Mathew (10:3) and St. Mark (3:18) use the name Thaddeus without Jude. Catholic scripture scholars have long held that Jude and Thaddeus are the same person, and that is why the Church speaks of St. Jude Thaddeus.
It is uncertain how the devotion to St. Jude as the patron of difficult or hopeless cases began.Confusion between St. Jude and the apostle who betrayed Jesus, Judas Iscariot, may have discouraged devotion to the former for many centuries. Although there seems to have been devotion to him in the Middle Ages, it was not until more recent times that the devotion became widely popular.
St. Jude is traditionally depicted carrying the image of Jesus in his hand. This idea comes from a popular story in which king bagar of Edessa asked Jesus to cure him of leprosy and sent an artist to bring him a drawing of Jesus. Impressed with Abagar's great faith, Jesus pressed his face into a cloth and gave it to St. Jude to take to Abagar. Upon seeing Jesus' image, The King was cured and he converted to Christianity along with most of the people under his rule. St. Jude is shown very often with a flame around his head. This represents his presence at Pentecost, when he received the Holy Spirit with the other Apostles.
After the death of Jesus, St. Jude traveled throughout Mesopotamia, Libya, and Persia with St. Simon preaching and converting many people to Christianity. He is believed to have been martyred in Persia or Syria. The axe that he is often shown holding in pictures symbolizes the way in which he was killed -- truly, he paid the ultimate price for his faith.After his death his body was brought back to Rome and was placed in a crypt beneath St. Peter's Basilica.
Saint Paul
Saint Paul (also called Paul the Apostle, The Apostle Paul or Paul of Tarsus) (Ancient Greek: Σαούλ Saul and Σαῦλος Saulos and Παῦλος Paulos, Hebrew: שאול התרסיŠaʾul HaTarsi ("Saul of Tarsus")) (ca 5 - 67 AD), was a Hellenistic Jew, who called himself the "Apostle to the Gentiles", and was, together with Saint Peter and James the Just, the most notable of early Christian missionaries. Unlike the Twelve Apostles, there is no indication that Paul ever met Jesus before the latter's crucifixion. According to the Acts of the Apostles, his conversion took place as he was traveling the road to Damascus. He experienced a vision of the resurrected Jesus after which he was temporarily blinded. Paul asserts that he received the Gospel not from man, but by "the revelation of Jesus Christ".
Fourteen epistles in the New Testament are traditionally attributed to Paul, though in some cases the authorship is disputed. Paul had often employed an amanuensis, only occasionally writing himself. As a sign of authenticity, the writers of these epistles sometimes employ a passage presented as being in Paul's own handwriting. These epistles were circulated within the Christian community. They were prominent in the first New Testament canon ever proposed (by Marcion), and they were eventually included in the orthodox Christian canon of Scripture. They are believed to be the earliest-written books of the New Testament.
Paul's influence on Christian thinking arguably has been more significant than any other New Testament author. His influence on the main strands of Christian thought has been demonstrable: from St. Augustine of Hippo to the controversies between Gottschalk and Hincmar of Reims; between Thomism and Molinism; Martin Luther, John Calvin and the Arminians; to Jansenism and the Jesuit theologians, and even to the German church of the twentieth century through the writings of the scholar Karl Barth, whose commentary on the Letter to the Romans had a political as well as theological impact.
Following his stay in Damascus after his conversion, where he was cured and baptized by Ananias of Damascus, Paul says that he first went to Arabia, and then came back to Damascus (Galatians 1:17). According to Acts, his preaching in the local synagogues got him into trouble there with the Jews, and he was forced to escape, being let down over the wall in a basket (Acts 9:23-25). He describes in Galatians, how three years after his conversion, he went to Jerusalem, where he met James, and stayed with Simon Peter for 15 days (Galatians 1:13–24). According to Acts, he apparently attempted to join the disciples and was accepted only after the intercession of Barnabas — they were all understandably afraid of him as one who had been a persecutor of the Church (Acts 9:26–27). Again, according to Acts, he got into trouble, this time for disputing with "Hellenists" (Koine Greek speaking Jews and Gentile "God-fearers", see also Hellenistic Judaism) and so he was sent back to Tarsus.
Paul's narrative in Galatians states that 14 years after his conversion he went again to Jerusalem (Galatians 2:1–10). It is not known exactly what happened during these so-called "unknown years," but both Acts and Galatians provide some details.[18] At the end of this time, Barnabas went to find Paul and brought him back to Antioch (Acts 11:26).
When a famine happened in Judaea, around 45–46,Paul and Barnabas journeyed to Jerusalem to deliver financial support from the Antioch community. According to Acts, Antioch had become an alternative centre for Christians, following the dispersion after the death of Stephen. It was in Antioch, Acts reports, that the followers of Jesus were first called "Christians" (Acts 11:26).
First missionary journey — "Antioch Phase"
Paul’s first missionary journey is claimed to have begun in Acts 13 in Antioch in approximately 47 CE. During this period the Christian church here grew in prominence partially owing to Jewish Christians fleeing from Jerusalem.The Holy Spirit, speaking through one of the prophets listed in Acts 13:1, identifies Barnabas and Saul to be appointed “for the work which I have called them to.” The group then releases the pair from the church to spread the Gospel into the predominantly Gentile mission field. The significance of the Holy Spirit selecting him as an apostle, unlike a disciple, can be seen in Galatians 1:1when Paul states that he is made an apostle “not through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father.”
Traveling via the port of Seleucia Pieria, Barnabas and Saul’s initial destination is the island of Cyprus of which Barnabas had intimate knowledge, as he grew up there Acts 4:36. Preaching throughout the island, it is not until reaching the city of Paphos that they meet the magician and false prophet Bar-Jesus, described by Luke as “full of deceit and all fraud”. The two rebuke the magician, causing him to go blind and, upon seeing this Sergius Paulus, is astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
After describing his departure from Cyprus, Luke mentions that Saul was also known by the Greco-Roman name of Paul, a name Paul uses for ministering to the Gentiles (Paulus was a Roman surname, Paul was the first to use it as a first name; see Acts 13:9). It is also here that their helper John Mark departs from them - an act which later becomes a source of much tension between Paul and Barnabas and ultimately leading to their split in Acts 15:36-41. The two then set about strategically preaching to major cities as they make their way across the provinces of Asia Minor.
Traveling on to Lystra where no mention is made of any God-fearing gentiles, it has been assumed there was most likely no synagogue in this city. Finding no formal place to preach, they nonetheless came across a man who has been lame since birth. Paul, seeing that the man has faith enough to be healed, commands him to stand and the cripple is miraculously healed. The Lystrians take Barnabas and Paul to be incarnations of Zeus and Hermes and proceed to sacrifice oxen before them. Paul and Barnabas are so distraught at this that they tear their clothes and cry out to the people. Pleading with the crowd, the style of preaching becomes more basic as Lystra has no knowledge of God. Paul starts from the basics by stating that God is a living God who made the heavens, earth and seas (Acts 14:15).
Paul is then hunted by disgruntled Jews from Antioch and Iconium and is stoned to the point where he is thought to be dead. Amazingly he gets to his feet and flees to Derbe and preaches there. He then opts to return to the cities he visited to encourage disciples, establish churches and appoint elders. This emphasis on the role of the whole church is strengthened once at home in Antioch where he finally gathers together the unified church to report to them on all his experiences. Here he summarises the aim of his journey well, to “give God the honor and the glory” (Acts 15:4).
Council of Jerusalem
Main article: Council of Jerusalem
Icon of James the Just, whose judgment was adopted in the Apostolic Decree of Acts 15:19-29, c. 50 AD.
According to Acts 15, Paul attended a meeting of the apostles and elders held in Jerusalem where they discussed the question of circumcision of Gentile Christians and whether Christians should follow the Mosaic law. Traditionally, this meeting is called the Council of Jerusalem, though nowhere is it called so in the text of the New Testament. Paul and the apostles apparently met at Jerusalem several times. Unfortunately, there is some difficulty in determining the sequence of the meetings and exact course of events. Some Jerusalem meetings are mentioned in Acts, some meetings are mentioned in Paul's letters, and some appear to be mentioned in both. For example, it has been suggested that the Jerusalem visit for famine relief implied in Acts 11:27–30 corresponds to the "first visit" (to Cephas and James only) narrated in Galatians 1:18–20 In Galatians 2:1, Paul describes a "second visit" to Jerusalem as a private occasion, whereas Acts 15 describes a public meeting in Jerusalem addressed by James at its conclusion. Thus, while most think that Galatians 2:1 corresponds to the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15, others[who?] think that Paul is referring here to the meeting in Acts 11 (the "famine visit"). Other conjectures have been offered: the "fourteen years" could be from Paul's conversion rather than the first visit If there was a public rather than a private meeting, it seems likely that it took place after Galatians was written.
According to Acts, Paul and Barnabas were appointed to go to Jerusalem to speak with the apostles and elders and were welcomed by them. The key question raised (in both Acts and Galatians and which is not in dispute) was whether Gentile converts needed to be circumcised (Acts 15:2ff; Galatians 2:1ff). Paul states that he had attended "in response to a revelation and to lay before them the gospel that I preached among the Gentiles" (Galatians 2:2). Peter publicly reaffirmed a decision he had made previously (Acts 10-11), proclaiming: "[God] put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith" (Acts 15:9), echoing an earlier statement: "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons" (Acts 10:34).
James concurred: "We should not trouble those of the Gentiles who are turning to God" (Acts 15:19–21), and a letter (later known as the Apostolic Decree) was sent back with Paul to the Gentiles who Honoured God's name enjoining them from idolatry, from blood, and from sexual immorality (Acts 15:29), which some consider related to Noahide Law while others instead see a connection to Leviticus 17 and 18
The incident at Antioch
Despite the agreement achieved at the Council of Jerusalem as understood by Paul, Paul recounts how he later publicly confronted Peter, also called the "Incident at Antioch" over his reluctance to share a meal with Gentile Christians in Antioch.
Writing later of the incident, Paul recounts: "I opposed [Peter] to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong". Paul reports that he told Peter: "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?" Paul also mentions that even Barnabas sided with Peter.
The final outcome of the incident remains uncertain. The Catholic Encyclopedia states: "St. Paul's account of the incident leaves no doubt that St. Peter saw the justice of the rebuke." In contrast, L. Michael White's From Jesus to Christianity states: "The blowup with Peter was a total failure of political bravado, and Paul soon left Antioch as persona non grata, never again to return."
The source for the Incident at Antioch is Paul's letter to the Galatians. Acts does not record this event, saying only that "some time later," Paul decided to leave Antioch (without Barnabas).
Second missionary journey— "Aegean Phase"
Saint Paul, Byzantine ivory relief, 6th–early 7th century (Musée de Cluny)
And following a dispute between Paul and Barnabas over whether they should take John Mark with them, they go on separate journeys (Acts 15:36–41) — Barnabas with John Mark, and Paul with Silas.
Following Acts 16:1–18:22, Paul and Silas go to Derbe and then Lystra. They are joined by Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman and a Greek man. According to Acts 16:3, Paul circumcises Timothy before leaving
They continue to Phrygia and northern Galatia to Troas, when, inspired by a vision they set off for Macedonia. At Philippi they meet and bring to faith a wealthy woman named Lydia of Thyatira, they then baptize her and her household; there Paul is also arrested and badly beaten. According to Acts, Paul then sets off for Thessalonica.This accords with Paul's own account (1 Thessalonians 2:2), though, given that he had been in Philippi only "some days," the church must have been founded by someone other than Paul. According to Acts, Paul then comes to Athens where he gives his speech in the Areopagus; in this speech, he tells Athenians that the "Unknown God" to whom they had a shrine is in fact known, as the God who had raised Jesus from the dead. (Acts 17:16–34)
Thereafter Paul travelled to Corinth, where he settled for three years and where he may have written 1 Thessalonians which is estimated to have been written in 50 or 51. At Corinth, (Acts 18:12–17) the "Jews united" and charged Paul with "persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law"; the proconsul Gallio then judged that it was an internal religious dispute and dismissed the charges. "Then all of them (Other ancient authorities read all the Greeks) seized Sosthenes, the official of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of these things." From an inscription in Delphi that mentions Gallio held office from 51–52 or 52–53, the year of the hearing must have been in this time period, which is the only fixed date in the chronology of Paul's life.
Third missionary journey
Following this hearing, Paul continued his preaching, usually called his "third missionary journey" (Acts 18:23–21:26), traveling again through Asia Minor and Macedonia, to Antioch and back. He caused a great uproar in the theatre in Ephesus, where local silversmiths feared loss of income as a result of Paul's activities. Their income relied on the sale of silver statues (idols) of the goddess Artemis, whom they worshipped; the resulting mob almost killed Paul (Acts 19:21–41) and his companions. Later, as Paul was passing near Ephesus on his way to Jerusalem, Paul chose not to stop, since he was in haste to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost.[44] The church here, however, was so highly regarded by Paul that he called the elders to Miletus to meet with him (Acts 20:16–38).
According to Acts 21:17–26, upon his arrival in Jerusalem, the Apostle Paul provided a detailed account to James regarding his ministry among the Gentiles, it states further that all the Elders were present. James and the Elders praised God for the report which they received. Afterward the elders informed him of rumors that had been circulating, which stated that he was teaching Jews to forsake observance of the Mosaic law, and the customs of the Jews; including circumcision. To rebut these rumors, the elders asked Paul to join with four other men in performing the vow of purification according to Mosaic law, in order to disprove the accusations of the Jews. Paul agreed, and proceeded to perform the vow.
Some of the Jews had seen Paul accompanied by a Gentile, and assumed that he had brought the Gentile into the temple, which if he had been found guilty of such, would have carried the death penalty. The Jews were on the verge of killing Paul when Roman soldiers intervened. The Roman commander took Paul into custody to be scourged and questioned, and imprisoned him, first in Jerusalem, and then in Caesarea.
Paul claimed his right as a Roman citizen to be tried in Rome, but owing to the inaction of the governor Antonius Felix, Paul languished in confinement at Caesarea for two years. When a new governor (Porcius Festus) took office, Paul was sent by sea to Rome. During this journey to Rome, Paul was shipwrecked n Malta, where Acts states that he preached the Gospel, and the people converted to Christianity, though some historians doubt whether it was the current Republic of Malta, or some other island bearing the same name. A lot of legends are told regarding Paul's evangelical work on the island, though these are totally fantastic. Archeological evidence suggests that the large scale
Christianisati on of the islands occurred much later than the supposed shipwreck. The Roman Catholic church has named the Apostle Paul as the patron saint of Malta in observance of his work there. Yet, the belief that Malta has been primarily Christian since Saint Paul is blatantly false; for centuries during the Middle Ages Islam had been the predominant, if not the exclusive, religion of the islanders.
It is thought that Paul continued his journey by sea to Syracuse, on the Italian island of Sicily before eventually going to Rome. According to Acts 28:30–31, Paul spent another two years in Rome under house arrest, where he continued to preach the gospel and teach about Jesus being the Christ.
Of his detention in Rome, Philippians provides some additional support. It was clearly written from prison and references to the "praetorian guard" and "Caesar's household," which may suggest that it was written from Rome.
Whether Paul died in Rome, or was able to go to Spain as he had hoped, as noted in his letter to the Romans (Romans 15:22–27), is uncertain.
Eusebius of Caesarea, who wrote in the fourth century, states that Paul was beheaded in the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero. This event has been dated either to the year 64, when Rome was devastated by a fire, or a few years later, to 67. A Roman Catholic liturgical solemnity of Peter and Paul, celebrated on June 29, may reflect the day of his martyrdom, other sources have articulated the tradition that Peter and Paul died on the same day (and possibly the same year).[50] Some hold the view that he could have revisited Greece and Asia Minor after his trip to Spain, and might then have been arrested in Troas, and taken to Rome and executed (2 Timothy 4:13). A Roman Catholic tradition holds that Paul was interred with Saint Peter ad Catacumbas by the via Appia until moved to what is now the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome (now in the process of being excavated). Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History, writes that Pope Vitalian in 665 gave Paul's relics (including a cross made from his prison chains) from the crypts of Lucina to King Oswy of Northumbria, northern Britain. However, Bede's use of the word "relic" was not limited to corporal remains.
Saint Peter
Saint Peter (Greek: Πετρος, Rock)[1] (c.1–64 AD) was one of the Twelve Apostles, chosen by Jesus as one of his first disciples. He is prominently featured in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Peter was a Galilean fisherman assigned a leadership role by Jesus. (Matthew 16:18) He was with Jesus during events witnessed by only a few apostles, such as the Transfiguration.[2] Early Christian writers provided more details about his life. Tradition describes him as the first bishop of Rome, author of two canonical epistles, and a martyr under Nero, crucified head down and buried in Rome.[2] His memoirs are traditionally cited as the source of the Gospel of Mark.
The Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Anglican Communion consider Simon Peter a saint. According to Catholic and Orthodox tradition, Peter was the first bishop of Rome and Catholics argue that the Pope is Peter's successor and therefore the rightful superior of all other bishops. Eastern and Oriental Orthodox also recognize the Bishop of Rome as the successor of Saint Peter and the Ecumenical Patriarch sends a delegation each year to Rome to participate in the celebration of his feast. In the "Ravenna Document" of 13 October 2007, the representatives of the Eastern Orthodox Church agreed that "Rome, as the Church that 'presides in love' according to the phrase of St Ignatius of Antioch (To the Romans, Prologue), occupied the first place in the taxis, and that the bishop of Rome was therefore the protos among the patriarchs. They disagree, however, on the interpretation of the historical evidence from this era regarding the prerogatives of the bishop of Rome as protos, a matter that was already understood in different ways in the first millennium."
In art, he is often depicted holding the keys to the kingdom of heaven (interpreted by Roman Catholics as the sign of his primacy over the Church), a reference to Matthew 16:19.
Peter was born in Bethsaida (John 1:44), named Simon, son of Jonah or John.[3] The synoptic gospels all recount how Peter's mother-in-law was healed by Jesus at their home in Capernaum (Matthew 8:14–17; Mark 1:29–31; Luke 4:38) which, coupled with 1 Corinthians 9:5, implies that Peter was married.
In the synoptics, Peter (then Simon) was a fisherman along with his brother Andrew. The Gospel of John also depicts Peter fishing, but only after the resurrection in the story of the Catch of 153 fish.
In Matthew and Mark, Jesus called Simon and his brother Andrew to be "fishers of men" (Matthew 4:18–19; Mark 1:16–17).
In Luke, Simon owns the boat that Jesus uses to preach to the multitudes who were pressing on him at the shore of Lake Gennesaret (Luke 5:3). Jesus then amazes Simon and his companions James and John (Andrew is not mentioned) by telling them to lower their nets, whereupon they catch a huge number of fish. Immediately after this, they follow him (Luke 5:4–11).
The Gospel of John gives a slightly different, though compatible account (John 1:35–42). Andrew, we are told, was originally a disciple of John the Baptist. Along with one other disciple, Andrew heard John the Baptist describe Jesus as the "Lamb of God," whereupon he followed Jesus. He then went and fetched his brother Simon, said, "We have found the Messiah," and brought him to Jesus. Jesus then gave Simon the name "Cephas," meaning 'rock', in Aramaic. 'Petros', a masculine form of the feminine 'petra' (rock) is the Greek equivalent of this. It had not previously been used as a name, but in the Greek-speaking world it became a popular Christian name after the tradition of Peter's prominence in the early Christian church had been established.
Peter is always mentioned first in the lists of the Twelve. He is also frequently mentioned in the Gospels as forming with James the Elder and John a special group within the Twelve Apostles, present at incidents to which the others were not party, such as at the Transfiguration of Jesus. He confesses his faith in Jesus as the Messiah.
Peter is also often depicted in the Gospels as spokesman of all the apostles. Catholics refer to him as chief of the Apostles,[4][5] as do the Eastern Orthodox[6] and the Oriental Orthodox.[7][8] (This is not the same as saying that the other Apostles were under Peter's orders.) In contrast, Jewish Christians are said to have argued that James the Just was the leader of the group.[9] Some argue James was the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and that this position at times gave him privilege in some (but not all) situations. The early Church historian Eusebius (c AD 325) records Clement of Alexandria (c AD 190) as saying,
"For they say that Peter and James and John after the ascension of our Saviour, as if also preferred by our Lord, strove not after honor, but chose James the Just bishop of Jerusalem."[10]
Paul affirms that Peter had the special charge of being apostle to the Jews, just as he, Paul, was apostle to the Gentiles.
Walking on water
All four canonical Gospels recount Jesus walking on the water. Matthew additionally describes Peter walking on the water, but sinking when he lost his faith and courage.(Matthew 14:28–31).
Washing of feet
John 13:2-11 recounts that at the beginning of the Last Supper Jesus washed his disciples' feet; Peter initially refused to let Jesus wash his feet, but when Jesus responded: "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me", Peter replied: "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head".
The washing of feet is often repeated at Mass on Holy Thursday in the Roman Catholic Church and at similar services by other groups.
Arrest of Jesus
Saint Peter striking Malchus
All four canonical Gospels mention that, when Jesus was arrested, someone cut off the ear of the high priest's slave, an action that Jesus rebuked. John names the slave as Malchus, and the man with the sword as Peter. Luke adds that Jesus touched the ear and healed it.
Denial of Jesus
All four canonical gospels recount that, during the Last Supper, Jesus foretold that Peter would deny association with him three times that same night. The three Synoptics describe the three denials as follows:
A denial when a female servant of the high priest spots Simon Peter, saying that he had been with Jesus.
A denial when Simon Peter had gone out to the gateway, away from the firelight, but the same servant girl or another told the bystanders he was a follower of Jesus.
A denial came when recognition of Peter as a Galilean was taken as proof that he was indeed a disciple of Jesus.
Matthew adds that it was his accent that gave him away as coming from Galilee. Luke deviates slightly from this by stating that, rather than a crowd accusing Simon Peter, it was a third individual.
St Peter Denying Christ, by Gustave Doré
The Gospel of John places the second denial while Peter was still warming himself at the fire, and gives as the occasion of the third denial a claim by someone to have seen him in the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was arrested.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus' prediction of Peter's denial is coupled with a prediction that all the apostles ("you," plural) would be "sifted like wheat," but that it would be Peter's task ("you," singular), when he had turned again, to strengthen his brethren.
In a reminiscent[11] scene in John's epilogue, Peter affirms three times that he loves Jesus.
A most poignant literary "aftershock" of the story of Peter's denial may be found in Chekhov's tale, "The Student."
Empty tomb
In John's gospel, Peter is the first person to enter the empty tomb, although the women and the beloved disciple see it before him (John 20:1–9). In Luke's account, the women's report of the empty tomb is dismissed by the apostles and Peter is the only one who goes to check for himself. After seeing the graveclothes he goes home, apparently without informing the other disciples (Luke 24:1–12).
Church of the Primacy of St. Peter on the Sea of Galilee. Traditional site where Jesus Christ appeared to his disciples after his resurrection and, according to Catholic tradition, established Peter's supreme jurisdiction over the Christian church.
Resurrection appearances
Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, (chapter15), contains a list of resurrection appearances of Jesus, the first of which is an appearance to "Cephas" (Peter): 1 Corinthians 15:3–7. Here Paul follows a very early tradition that Peter was the first to see the risen Christ.[2] Luke 24:34 also mentions an appearance to "Simon" as the first in Jerusalem, more or less contemporaneous with the appearance to the two disciples on their way to Emmaus.
In the final chapter of the Gospel of John, Peter, in one of the resurrection appearances of Jesus, three times affirmed his love for Jesus, balancing his threefold denial, and Jesus reconfirmed Peter's position (John 21:15–17). Some scholars hypothesize that it was added later to bolster Peter's status.[12]
Statue of St. Peter on the south door of St Mary's Church in Aylesbury, United Kingdom
Role in the early church
The author of the Acts of the Apostles portrays Peter as an extremely important figure within the early Christian community, with Peter delivering a significant open-air sermon during Pentecost. According to the same book, Peter took the lead in selecting a replacement for Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:15). He was twice arraigned, with John, before the Sanhedrin and directly defied them (Acts 4:7–22, Acts 5:18–42). He undertook a missionary journey to Lydda, Joppa and Caesarea (Acts 9:32–10:2), becoming instrumental in the decision to evangelise the Gentiles (Acts 10).
About halfway through, the Acts of the Apostles turns its attention away from Peter and to the activities of Paul, and the Bible is fairly silent on what occurred to Peter afterwards.
Antioch and Corinth
A fleeting mention of Peter visiting Antioch is made in the Epistle to the Galatians (Galatians 2:11-14) where Paul rebuked him for treating Gentile converts as inferior to Jewish Christians.[1] The Liber Pontificalis (9th century) mentions Peter as having served as bishop of Antioch before his journey to Rome.[13] Historians have furnished other evidence of Peter's sojourn in Antioch.[14] Subsequent tradition held that Peter had been the first Patriarch of Antioch.
Epistles
Church tradition ascribes the epistles First and Second Peter to Saint Peter,[1] as does the text of 2 Peter itself. First Peter refers to the author being in Rome ("Babylon").[1] Most scholars regard First Peter as not authored by him,[1] and there is still considerable debate about the Petrine authorship of Second Peter. However the Greek in both books are similar, and the early Church was adamantly opposed to pseudographical authorship.[1]
Death
In the epilogue[1] of the Gospel of John, Jesus hints at the death by which Peter would glorify God (John 21:18–19), saying "'…when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and take you where you do not want to go.'" This is understood as a reference to Peter's crucifixion.[11] It is believed by a long tradition that Peter, after a ministry of about thirty years, traveled to Rome and met his martyrdom there. He was crucified upside down because he said that he was not worthy to die as Jesus did.
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