It could happen - the Holy Father on martyrdom.
Martyrdom is a realistic possibility for every Christian.
During the Holy Father’s Angelus address for the beatification of 498 martyrs of the Spanish Civil War, Pope Benedict suggested that martyrdom is indeed possible for every Christian in today’s world. Such a change of tone from what I heard growing up as a kid when the school sisters and parish priests always told us: “None of us will ever have to face martyrdom…” When I was little, even though we lived with the fear of nuclear war, no one ever thought we would see the day of outright persecution of Christians - at least in the “free world”. How times have changed.
“The Pope addressed the issue before a crowd of some 50,000 who had gathered in Saint Peter for the recitation of the Angelus, including a large number of Spaniards with unfurled flags who had previously taken part in the beatification ceremony presided in Saint Peter’s Square by Card José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
“The contemporaneous inclusion of such a large number of martyrs to the list of the Blessed,” said the Pope, “shows that the supreme witness of blood is not an exception reserved only to a few individuals, but is a realistic possibility for the entire Christian people. We are in fact talking about men and women who vary in terms of age, vocation and social background but who paid with their life their faithfulness to Christ and the Church. The words by Saint Paul that echo in this Sunday’s liturgy are fitting: “For I am already being poured out like a libation,” aid Timothy, “and the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith (2 Tim, 4: 6-7).” - Asia News
[Photo: Bl. Eduardo of the Child Jesus, OCD. One of two Discalced Carmelites of the 498 martyrs beatified today.]
October 28th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Pope John Paul II received and still does receive a great deal of criticism for having been a “saint making machine.”
462 people were canonized during his pontificate. Never had so many been canonized during one pontificate. There had been only 302 canonized during the preceding almost 400 years.
Sounds bad right? It does, unless you know the details.
399 of those 462 saints, about 86%, were martyrs, most of them canonized as groups.
JPII also beatified 947 martyrs, during his pontificate, again, mostly as groups.
Martyrdom has increased dramatically since about the time of the Protestant Revolution in the early 1500s. This was not necessarily due totally to that event because many martyrdoms occurred in Asia and many occurred in Socialist and Communist countries in the 20th century.
Martyrdom has occurred at a pace perhaps never exceeded before except in the Roman Empire before the early fourth century and perhaps during the Muslim conquests of North Africa and the Middle East during the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries.
And there surely are countless martyrs in Heaven whose names are unknown but to God.
498 Spanish Civil War Martyrs were beatified today by Pope Benedict.
There were at least 6,861 Catholic Martyrs in the Spanish Civil War: 12 Bishops; 300 Nuns; 2,365 Monks; & 4,184 Priests
(see Hugh Thomas’ book on the Spanish Civil War, p. 144)
So you can expect more beatifications in the course of time.
And that doesn’t count laypeople who suffered their martyrdom then at the hands of the Spanish “Republicans.” In those days, Republicans were Communists, supported by Joe Stalin.
Today those Republicans are in control as Socialists and they are attempting to expunge the story of what they did in the 1930s, the practice field for the Second World War.
[The successors of the "Spanish revolutionary government", Communists then, Socialists now, are now in power in Spain and they have just passed a law re-writing history and forbidding all memorials and references to Franco and his supporters].
I’m sure these beatifications of the Spanish Civil War victims is a “statement” by the Church to the Spanish socialist government.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10 /12/wfranco112.xml
http://www.holycross.edu/departments/history/vlapomar/persec ut/spain.html
October 28th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
I agree, Ray. One of the things that was very important to JPII was that the martyrdoms of the 20th century should receive their proper acknowledgment.
October 28th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
…and as I watch the world turn, I wonder, not infrequently, who among us will be called?
It is not so far fetched anymore, is it?
I pray to have the strength and grace to give it all if called upon.
October 28th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
Martyrdom is alive and well in the world today. Thanks for remminding me to pray to the “Unknown Saints”.
This weekend, in my reading for my paper on Suffering, there was a section on martyrdom. I can’t remember all it said, and because the paper itself has a different focus, it wasn’t a point I highlighted. But it struck me all the same; because athough death itself is evil, and thus we have a natural aversion to it, when we love God more, our natural fear is overcome and we are willing to suffer anything out of that perfection of charity; anything in order to obtain that divine union.
Because the only fear that overcomes the fear of death is the fear of sin that would cause us eternal separation.
So when faced with the choice to renounce Our Lord, or to die in horrible ways; well, the temporary suffering of life simply doesn’t compare to the eternal reality of unity with God.
I do believe intense suffering is coming for all of us; we have to be prepared, trust God, and rely on His grace.
October 29th, 2007 at 3:49 am
I must have had an oddball priest, back in the early 70’s. He was always quoting a seminary professor of his on how we all might be hanging from lamp-posts someday.