Be sure to check out Sancte Pater for a moving entry about the Catholic pastoral workers and missionaries who were killed during the year of Our Lord 2009.
These names and their stories should be taught to all Catholic children in whatever form of Catechesis they receive.
When I read these names, I wonder if one of the Sundays in Ordinary Time (say, for example, the last Sunday of October) could not be designated for All Martyrs of the Church who perished for Christ in the year previous.
A theological question: what qualifies one as a martyr?
If you read the Bios, many of these men were killed simply during robberies.
If you’re robbed for money but just so happen to be wearing clerics does that really make you a martyr?
Some might say they were killed “in the line of duty” maybe (especially if they were missionaries who willingly went into a dangerous area)…but is this really dying “for the faith”?
Also, it is interesting to note in the bios how many priests in Latin America are STILL exported from Spain, which some would take as saying something about neocolonialism.
Oneros said: “Some might say they were killed “in the line of duty” maybe (especially if they were missionaries who willingly went into a dangerous area)…but is this really dying “for the faith”?”
Of course it is dying for the faith. Priests and others who willingly offer themselves to give witness to the faith and are killed “in the line of duty” – what else are they but martyrs?
I am astonished that you would question that. What do you think their “line of duty is”?
I think what Oneros meant ( he can correct me if I’m wrong) is that it appears that many of these cases seem to be a case of straight robbery + murder where the vicitim happened to be a priest/religous rather than a case of the murderers actively singling out the victim based on the fact that he/she was a Catholic (such as was the case witht the Roman Persecutions)
We are all called to be martyrs. We are called to defend our faith no matter what.
It is easy to defend when nobody persecutes us, but it is more difficult when society is against it, and we are facing criticism, or much worse (which may be the case for the martyrs listed).
Let us pray for all who are facing persecution against the faith.
Well, it does show that it’s not a safe, easy thing to do to be a missionary. Missionaries face, as did the early saints, threats of robbery and murder as well as the out-right anti-Christian persecution that we see in India today. Their courage and generosity are humbling for us individually and a glory of the Church. Indeed, their stories should be told to children as well as to the adult faithful … a nice counter-weight to the sex abuse scandal. I’m grateful for their lives. They risked all for Christ.
A large number of these appeared to have been killed by those who opposed their efforts for the poor. Some seem to have been just robberies, but when you look at the stories, so many of which involve many stabbings, one wonders if demonic hatred for the servants of God were not involved. Even if the murderers were just looking for money, I think seeing the pattern here we might wonder whether the evil one did not suggest to them these particular victims.
I don’t know if we can say that all are technically martyrs; if they were where they were because they were doing Christ’s work in what they knew was a dangerous place, which seems to be true of many of them, there is an argument for it.
But if a priest happened to be killed in my safe little hometown, I would say he was a murder victim but not a martyr, unless there were some reason to think he was killed because he was a priest.
Susan Peterson
Comments are closed.
SHOPPING ONLINE? Please, come here first!
Your use of my Amazon affiliate link is a major part of my income. It helps to pay for insurance, groceries, everything. Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance.
“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
I'm finishing up a batch of Mass intentions right now. I'll have room in my register for more while I am in Rome. Also, I regularly say Mass for my regular benefactors and special Roman Sojourn Donors. HERE for the form I use.
YOUR RECENT COMMENTS
hwriggles4 on Rome 24/10 – Day 37: Wherein Fr. Z rants: “Fr. Z: About terms for pastors: this is one reason many Catholics (myself included) do not always attend the parish…”
Everyone, work to get this into your parish bulletins and diocesan papers.
The most evident mark of God’s anger and the most terrible castigation He can inflict upon the world are manifested when He permits His people to fall into the hands of clerics who are priests more in name than in deed, priests who practice the cruelty of ravening wolves rather than the charity and affection of devoted shepherds.
St. John Eudes
Federated Computer… your safe and private alternative to big biz corporations that hate us while taking our money and mining our data. Have an online presence large or small? Catholic DIOCESE? Cottage industry? See what Federated has to offer. Save money and gain peace of mind.
I am an affiliate. Click and join or at least explore! If you join, I’ll get credit.
“Until the Lord be pleased to settle, through the instrumentality of the princes of the Church and the lawful ministers of His justice, the trouble aroused by the pride of a few and the ignorance of some others, let us with the help of God endeavor with calm and humble patience to render love for hatred, to avoid disputes with the silly, to keep to the truth and not fight with the weapons of falsehood, and to beg of God at all times that in all our thoughts and desires, in all our words and actions, He may hold the first place who calls Himself the origin of all things.”
To donate monthly I prefer Zelle because it doesn't extract fees. Use
frz AT wdtprs DOT com
Nice people. Great chess stuff!
Donate using VENMO
GREAT BEER from Traditional Benedictine Monks in Italy
CLICK and say your daily offerings!
A Daily Prayer for Priests
NEW OPPORTUNITY – 10% off with code: FATHERZ10
Fr. Z’s VOICEMAIL
Nota bene: I do not answer these numbers or this Skype address. You won't get me "live". I check for messages regularly.
WDTPRS
020 8133 4535
651-447-6265
This REALLY helps! And it’s great coffee (and tea)
I use this when I travel both in these USA and abroad. Very useful. Fast enough for Zoom. I connect my DMR (ham radio) through it. If you use my link, they give me more data. A GREAT back up.
“He [Satan] will set up a counter-Church which will be the ape of the Church because, he the devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the anti-Christ that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ. In desperate need for God, whom he nevertheless refuses to adore, modern man in his loneliness and frustration will hunger more and more for membership in a community that will give him enlargement of purpose, but at the cost of losing himself in some vague collectivity.”
“Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops.”
“The modern habit of doing ceremonial things unceremoniously is no proof of humility; rather it proves the offender's inability to forget himself in the rite, and his readiness to spoil for every one else the proper pleasure of ritual.”
- C.S. Lewis
This blog has to earn its keep!
PLEASE subscribe via PayPal if it is useful. Zelle and Wise are better, but PayPal is convenient.
A monthly subscription donation means I have steady income I can plan on. I put you my list of benefactors for whom I pray and for whom I often say Holy Mass.
In view of the rapidly changing challenges I now face, I would like to add more $10/month subscribers. Will you please help?
For a one time donation...
To donate monthly I prefer Zelle because it doesn't extract fees. Use
frz AT wdtprs DOT com
As for Latin…
"But if, in any layman who is indeed imbued with literature, ignorance of the Latin language, which we can truly call the 'catholic' language, indicates a certain sluggishness in his love toward the Church, how much more fitting it is that each and every cleric should be adequately practiced and skilled in that language!" - Pius XI
"Let us realize that this remark of Cicero (Brutus 37, 140) can be in a certain way referred to [young lay people]: 'It is not so much a matter of distinction to know Latin as it is disgraceful not to know it.'" - St. John Paul II
Grant unto thy Church, we beseech Thee, O merciful God, that She, being gathered together by the Holy Ghost, may be in no wise troubled by attack from her foes. O God, who by sin art offended and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy people making supplication unto Thee,and turn away the scourges of Thine anger which we deserve for our sins. Almighty and Everlasting God, in whose Hand are the power and the government of every realm: look down upon and help the Christian people that the heathen nations who trust in the fierceness of their own might may be crushed by the power of thine Arm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.
May their souls and the souls of all the Faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen
Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord and may Perpetual Light shine on them. may they rest in peace. Amen
Those who feel so inclined could have a Mass said for these martyrs.
These names and their stories should be taught to all Catholic children in whatever form of Catechesis they receive.
When I read these names, I wonder if one of the Sundays in Ordinary Time (say, for example, the last Sunday of October) could not be designated for All Martyrs of the Church who perished for Christ in the year previous.
A theological question: what qualifies one as a martyr?
If you read the Bios, many of these men were killed simply during robberies.
If you’re robbed for money but just so happen to be wearing clerics does that really make you a martyr?
Some might say they were killed “in the line of duty” maybe (especially if they were missionaries who willingly went into a dangerous area)…but is this really dying “for the faith”?
Also, it is interesting to note in the bios how many priests in Latin America are STILL exported from Spain, which some would take as saying something about neocolonialism.
Oneros said: “Some might say they were killed “in the line of duty” maybe (especially if they were missionaries who willingly went into a dangerous area)…but is this really dying “for the faith”?”
Of course it is dying for the faith. Priests and others who willingly offer themselves to give witness to the faith and are killed “in the line of duty” – what else are they but martyrs?
I am astonished that you would question that. What do you think their “line of duty is”?
Joan M
I think what Oneros meant ( he can correct me if I’m wrong) is that it appears that many of these cases seem to be a case of straight robbery + murder where the vicitim happened to be a priest/religous rather than a case of the murderers actively singling out the victim based on the fact that he/she was a Catholic (such as was the case witht the Roman Persecutions)
We are all called to be martyrs. We are called to defend our faith no matter what.
It is easy to defend when nobody persecutes us, but it is more difficult when society is against it, and we are facing criticism, or much worse (which may be the case for the martyrs listed).
Let us pray for all who are facing persecution against the faith.
Well, it does show that it’s not a safe, easy thing to do to be a missionary. Missionaries face, as did the early saints, threats of robbery and murder as well as the out-right anti-Christian persecution that we see in India today. Their courage and generosity are humbling for us individually and a glory of the Church. Indeed, their stories should be told to children as well as to the adult faithful … a nice counter-weight to the sex abuse scandal. I’m grateful for their lives. They risked all for Christ.
A large number of these appeared to have been killed by those who opposed their efforts for the poor. Some seem to have been just robberies, but when you look at the stories, so many of which involve many stabbings, one wonders if demonic hatred for the servants of God were not involved. Even if the murderers were just looking for money, I think seeing the pattern here we might wonder whether the evil one did not suggest to them these particular victims.
I don’t know if we can say that all are technically martyrs; if they were where they were because they were doing Christ’s work in what they knew was a dangerous place, which seems to be true of many of them, there is an argument for it.
But if a priest happened to be killed in my safe little hometown, I would say he was a murder victim but not a martyr, unless there were some reason to think he was killed because he was a priest.
Susan Peterson