Saint John the Baptist (c. 6 B.C.E. to c. 28-36 C.E.) Saint Joseph, Husband of Mary (c. 30 B.C.E. to c. 18-19 C.E.) Saint Faustina Kowalska (1905-38) Padre Pio (1887-1968) Saint Bartholomew (died c. 69-71 C.E.) San Lorenzo Ruiz (1594-1637) Saint Bruno of Cologne (c. 1030-1101) Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) Saint John of the Cross (1542-91) Saint Joseph Moscati (1880-1927) Saint Bernadette Soubirous (1844-79) Elijah the Prophet (c. 850 B.C.E.to c. 900 B.C.E.) Saint Clare of Assisi (1194-1253) Saint Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853) Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-97) Saint Charbel Makhlouf (1828-98) Saint Joan of Arc (c. 1412-31) Saint Anthony the Great (c. 251-356) Saint Michael the Archangel Saint Catherine Labouré (1806-76) Saint Jacinta Marto (1910-20) Saint Ephraim the Syrian (died 373) Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622) Saint Paul VI (1897-1978) Saint Oscar Romero (1917-80) Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-82) Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-80)
Among other reformist actions, Saint Paul VI, a moderate, progressive pope, turned his attention to dialogue with the modern world, especially in its social and political aspects. He was a highly intelligent, refined, and sensitive man, exemplary, imbued with the Holy Spirit, deeply compassionate.
Roman Catholic clergy tread the fine line separating their objectionable interference in politics from their necessary intervention driven by moral imperatives. Saint Oscar Romero rightly discerned the difference, paying the price of martyrdom for calling the powerful to account for their grave violations of the moral law.
Her life and writings uniquely contributed to mystical theology, showing the way for all the faithful to contemplative union with God in this life. She is honored by the Roman Catholic Church as the Doctor of the Soul.
She practiced extreme ascetism, received the most rarefied mystical graces, and attained the topmost heights of God’s mountain. Her Dialogue with God the Father marvelously enlightens the denizens of the lowlands about the deepest mysteries of Christian life and faith.
Holiness demands a constant effort, but it is possible for everyone because, rather than a human effort, it is first and foremost a gift of God, thrice Holy (cf. Is 6: 3). In the second reading, the Apostle John remarks: “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (I Jn 3: 1).
It is God, therefore, who loved us first and made us his adoptive sons in Jesus. Everything in our lives is a gift of his love: how can we be indifferent before such a great mystery? How can we not respond to the Heavenly Father’s love by living as grateful children? In Christ, he gave us the gift of his entire self and calls us to a personal and profound relationship with him.
—Pope Benedict XVI, Homily on the Solemnity of All Saints, November 1, 2006
Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. (Leviticus 19:2)
Saint Charbel Makhlouf, whose life was marked by almost complete obscurity to the outside world, would have stayed a hidden figure inside the Maronite Church, besides the Roman Catholic Church of which it is a part, were it not for miracles that happened after his death that were connected with the discovery of his incorrupt body.
He was baptized Youssef Antoun, one of five children, his father passing away three years after the boy was born. He was raised by his mother and a stepfather whom she had married two years after she had been widowed and with whom she had two more children. His stepfather was a deacon who was later ordained a Maronite priest.
His family was devout. Two of his uncles were hermits.
His years growing up were marked by notable simplicity and piety. He studied at the parish school and tended livestock. He prayed at a nearby grotto of the Blessed Virgin.
In 1851 at 23 years old, he joined the monastery and took the religious name of Charbel, a martyr of the second century. Two years later he professed monastic vows.
He was ordained a priest in 1859 and assigned to Saint Maroun’s Monastery in Annaya, Lebanon, where his body and relics are now kept. Because of Saint Charbel’s global renown, Saint Maroun’s has become an international place of pilgrimage.
In 1875 he was granted permission by the abbot to transfer to the Hermitage of Saints Peter and Paul attached to the monastery, where he lived in the company of other hermits for the next 23 years until his death from a stroke in 1898.
His request to move to the hermitage, which was initially refused, was approved after his superior noticed that his lamp had kept burning throughout the night even though (as a prank) it had been filled by another monk with water instead of oil.
Saint Charbel died on Christmas Eve, eight days after suffering terribly the complications resulting from his stroke.
Miracles and wonders followed the death of the holy man.
“At the closing of the Second Vatican Council, on December 5, 1965, Father Charbel (St Charbel) was beatified by Pope Paul VI who said: ‘Great is the gladness in heaven and earth today for the beatification of Charbel Makhlouf, monk and hermit of the Lebanese Maronite Order. Great is the joy of the East and West for this son of Lebanon, admirable flower of sanctity blooming on the stem of the ancient monastic traditions of the East, and venerated today by the Church of Rome…. The holy monk of Annaya is presented as one who reminds us of the indispensable role of prayer, hidden virtues and penance…. A hermit from the Lebanese Mountain is enrolled among the blessed…a new, eminent member of monastic sanctity is enriching the entire Christian people by his example and his intercession…. In a world largely fascinated with riches and comfort, he helps us understand the paramount value of poverty, penance, and asceticism to liberate the soul in its ascent to God….’”
—“Saint Charbel Detailed History,” Saint Charbel Lebanon, n.d.
After his interment, a very bright light surrounded his grave for forty-five nights. When he was exhumed, his body was found to be incorrupt even though it had floating in pools of water from recent, constant rains.
He was immediately transferred in fresh clothes to a wooden coffin that was placed in a monastery chapel open to the public.
His body exuded an unusual liquid that appeared to consist of blood and perspiration. When pieces of cloth that had absorbed the liquid were touched by the sick, healings and miraculous cures took place.
During a period of seventeen years after the first exhumation, Saint Charbel’s body was examined 24 times by physicians who testified to its incorruption.
Before the body was sealed in 1927 in a tomb of a monastery oratory, it was examined again by two physicians, who documented it as incorrupt.
Twenty-three years later, in 1950, his body was again exhumed and confirmed to be incorrupt, flexible and lifelike besides, still exuding the miraculous liquid. A subsequent exhumation in 1952 showed the same results.
In 1965—the year of the saint’s beatification—the body was found in the same state of incorruption.
However, when the body was exhumed in 1976, only Saint Charbel’s bones remained.
He was canonized the following year.
The saint’s body had been incorrupt for at least 67 years since his death.
Although there is some inconsistency in the accounts available on the internet, the following details recur throughout—Saint Charbel’s hidden, unassuming life in the rural village of Bekaa Kafra, Lebanon; his devout upbringing; his exemplary conduct as a monk, priest, and later on, for 23 years, as a hermit; the discovery by the monks several months after his interment of his incorrupt body, the wonder of which inexplicably maintained for possibly 67 years; and the many healings and miraculous cures wrought through his intercession, particularly those instances when cloths that had been imbued with the liquid of perspiration and blood that had exuded from his incorrupt body had been touched by those afflicted.
Beginning in a rural village of Lebanon, his was a hidden life growing up and later on witnessing as a Maronite monk, priest, and in the closing 23 years, as a hermit. Several months after his interment, his incorrupt body was exhumed by the monks, the wonder of which inexplicably maintained for at least half a century. Many healings and miraculous cures were wrought through his intercession, particularly those instances in which cloths that had been imbued with the liquid of perspiration and blood that had exuded from his incorrupt body were touched by those afflicted. By working miracles and wonders, God—the God of surprises—willed to call our attention to the holiness of a man who by the logic of circumstance should very well have remained completely unknown to and been entirely forgotten by the world.
Naturally, the very influential civilizations of India and East Asia—Japan, Korea, and China—were leading targets of missionary work in the Roman Catholic Church. India and East Asia produced worthy martyrs from the very beginning.
He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:27-28)
A tradition reaching all the way back to the first century C.E. tells us that Saint Thomas the Apostle evangelized southern India, and today the Syro-Malabar Church in communion with the Church of Rome is the fruit of his apostolic labor. The saint was martyred near Chennai, which is on the east coast. He was killed by the spears of the soldiers of a king who was angered when Saint Thomas converted his queen and another lady of the court.
It is a highly plausible tradition.
“The long-accepted belief is that St. Thomas preached in South India and established churches and left congregations known to this day as the St.Thomas’ Christians, and that in the end he was martyred in St. Thomas’ Mount and buried in San Thome, now a suburb of Madras. Thus the glory of the introduction of Christianity in India, by time-honoured tradition, has been ascribed to St. Thomas the Apostle. There are many scholars who hold the view that he did and there are also those who take the opposite stance.
“...The Doctrine of the Apostles, which was probably written in the second century AD, mentions that St. Thomas evangelised India. We also have St. Ephraem (A.D. 330-378) attesting that the Apostle was martyred in India and that later his relics were taken to Edessa (a city in Upper Mesopotamia, present day Şanlıurfa inTurkey). Origen (A.D. 184-253) and Eusebius of Caesarea (the bishop of Caesarea Maritima from A.D. 315 to about A.D. 340) state that St. Thomas evangelised the Parthians and the same statement is made by the ‘Clementine Recognitions,’ the original of which may have been written about A.D. 210.
“...Even in the hymns of St. Ephraem (A.D. 300 – 378) we see the traditional belief that St. Thomas was connected to India. Though the exact name of the place of his martyrdom and burial is not mentioned, it does have some indicators as to where these events might have taken place. In the hymns the place whom St. Thomas evangelised is called ‘land of people dark’ and the people themselves are called ‘the sunburnt.’ Both of which point to the possibility that the tradition current in St. Ephraem’s time was that St. Thomas preached mainly in Southern India and was martyred and buried there.
“...As for the earliest records that we have regarding Christianity in India comes from Eusebius, a Christian historian, who notes that St. Pantaenus had visited India somewhere between A.D. 177 and A.D. 192 and found Christian communities already present in India and that these communities where using a version of the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew letters. Though Pantaenus attributes the presence of the Gospel to the Apostle Bartholomew, there are scholars who believe that the difficulty in understanding the language might have caused him to misinterpret the reference to Mar Thoma as Bar Tolmai (the Hebrew name of Bartholomew).
“...After taking into account all the evidence that is there, it can be said with certainty that there is nothing impossible or improbable about St. Thomas travelling to India, specifically the southern part of the country. When combined with the fact that solemn Ecclesiastical confirmation has been given, regarding the apostolic origin of St. Thomas Christians, by several popes and that there is neither a rival claim regarding the tomb of the Apostle nor archeological evidence against it, to hold the view that St. Thomas had come to Kerala, would be completely reasonable.”
—Edin Michael, “What historical proof is there that St Thomas did come to India? Any documentation or indications that he really did come to Kerala?” Catholic Café, n.d.
The Apostle’s relics are located principally in Chennai and Ortona, Italy, and scattered elsewhere.
“St. Thomas, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ, is claimed to have brought Christianity to India in 52 AD, where he was killed as a martyr. His relics traveled to quite a few places after his death, until most of them found their final resting place in the Basilica di San Tommaso in Ortona, Italy.
“Some of the relics of St. Thomas still remain in Chennai, India, close to where he died and was buried. Others ended up on the Greek Island Chios at the beginning of the 13th century, where, supposedly, the skull of St. Thomas remains. Yet others made their way to Italy in 1258 when Ortona’s General Leone Acciaiuoli visited the Greek island with three galleys and had a spiritual experience.
“After successfully looting the place, the general went into the local church to pray. According to a legend, a light hand waved twice at him, beckoning him to come closer, and he felt a sweetness and peace as never before. Acciaiuoli than reached into the tomb and took a bone. A halo surrounding the bones was proof to him that, indeed, he had found the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas. The next night he came back and stole the rest of the relics and the tomb.
“In 1358 the relics were brought to the local church in Ortona, which was elevated to a minor basilica by Pope Pius IX in 1859. There the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas, along with the looted tombstone, were displayed in a crypt, and remain to this day.”
Saint Paul Miki is sixth from the right. He is distinguished from most of the other martyrs because he prays in the gesture of the orans and looks downwards, symbolic of the fact that he preached until his death. Saint Peter Bautista is in this same posture, but unlike Saint Paul Miki, he is clothed in the Franciscan habit. Saint Peter Bautista is eleventh from the right.
Saint Gonsalo (Gundi Salvus is his birth name) Garcia is the fourteenth figure from the right. His name—Gundisalvus in Latin—is inscribed above his figure.
See this Alamy photo, Image ID 2BA5HBY, by Richard Cummins, December 7, 2007:
The feast of the Korean martyrs, celebrated by the Catholic Church on Sept. 20, remembers 103 men, women, and children who died for their faith in the first decades of Korean Christianity. The Korean martyrs marked on this day are collectively known as Sts. Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang, and Companions. They were among the 8,000 to 10,000 Korean Christians killed for refusing to deny Christ.
Persecutions began in 1791, with five additional waves through the 19th century. Catholics in Korea celebrate the witness of their country’s Catholic martyrs throughout September, with celebrations culminating in the feast of the Korean martyrs.
—Kevin J. Jones/CNA, “Who Are the Korean Martyrs?” National Catholic Register (September 20, 2023)
The “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” is a memorial tradition that begins in post-World War I United Kingdom and France, when leaders of the two allied victors decided to establish national monuments honoring their soldiers who had died in service to the nation but whose remains were missing or could not be identified. In the United Kingdom the memorial was christened the “Tomb of the Unknown Warrior,” while in France it was “La Tombe du Soldat Inconnu.”
In the U.S. the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” was built in 1921, while many countries have raised their own memorials in this spirit. Chile and the Ukraine, for example, have constructed memorials to the “Unknown Sailor.”
Because we are morally certain that millions of the deceased have entered into eternal life and are now with God in heaven—we don’t know who they are and we probably never will, at least not with theological or scientific certainty—we think it is appropriate in the spirit of the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” to set up a “Tomb of the Unknown Saint” honoring the saints in heaven presently unknown and who will possibly remain so until the end of time, inspiring the many Christian witnesses today who conduct their lives dedicated to the service and love of God and to humanity. They are indeed “unknown saints.”
During my 2013 trip to Seoul, South Korea,...I was pleasantly surprised…delighted…to come across the remains of two unknown saints. The crypt of Myeongdong Cathedral, Seoul houses the remains of nine Korean martyrs of the 1839 and 1866 persecutions, including two lay persons (it is believed) who are not named or in other respects identified.
I spent some time praying at the crypt.
We might say that the “Tomb of the Unknown Saint” is for current practical purposes now located at the crypt of Myeongdong Cathedral.
The 120 Catholics who died between 1648 and 1930 as its “Martyr Saints of China” were canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 1, 2000. Of the group, 87 were Chinese laypeople and 33 were missionaries; 86 died during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. The 33 foreign-born missionaries, mostly priests and religious, included members of the Order of Preachers, Friars Minor, Jesuits, Salesians, and Franciscan Missionaries of Mary.
One of the more well-known native martyrs was a 14-year old Chinese girl named Ann Wang, who was killed during the Boxer Rebellion when she refused to renounce her religious faith. She bravely withstood the threats of her torturers, and just as she was about to be beheaded, she radiantly declared, “The door of heaven is open to all” and repeated the name of Jesus three times.
Another of the martyrs was 18-year old Chi Zhuzi, who had been preparing to receive the sacrament of Baptism when he was caught on the road one night and ordered to worship idols. He refused to do so, revealing his belief in Christ. His right arm was cut off and he was tortured, but he would not deny his faith. Rather, he fearlessly pronounced to his captors, before being flayed alive, “Every piece of my flesh, every drop of my blood will tell you that I am Christian.”
—“120 Martyrs and Saints of China,” Archdiocese of Chicago, n.d.
We continue to pray for the conversion of the Chinese people—that they will know and love God the Father, his only begotten Son, and their unity in the Holy Spirit—and that the many gifts of Chinese civilization will join with the treasures and blessings of Christianity so that by God’s grace the world will become a better and happier place.
Southeast Asia is a culturally diverse region, with major religious influences spreading from west to east—Hinduism from India, Islam from the Middle East, and Christianity from the West—and north to south, principally Buddhism from China. Spain was very successful in converting the Philippines to Roman Catholicism, Portugal in evangelizing Timor-Leste. Malaysia, with its large Buddhist minority, and Indonesia have always remained solidly Muslim. Buddhism for centuries has been deeply entrenched in Myanmar, Indochina, and Thailand, while in Vietnam particularly, resistance to evangelization by Roman Catholic missionaries resulted from the opposition of Vietnamese rulers to the political influence of Western colonial powers. Vietnam is unusual in this respect—it was in Vietnam that hundreds of thousands of Roman Catholics were martyred; the persecution was fierce, brutal, and large-scale.
One man, a priest, gives his name to today’s feast, but the one stands for many: 117 Vietnamese faithful. They were bishops, priests, and many laypeople, a mother of six and even a nine-year-old child, who gave their lives for Christ between the 17th and the 19th centuries. 96 were native Vietnamese and 21 were Spanish or French missionaries who had embraced that land and culture. The group of 117, canonized together by Pope John Paul II in 1988, in turn stands for a nameless multitude estimated at between 100,000 and 300,000 martyrs, the “great cloud of witnesses” whose blood was the seed of a thriving Church in the land of Vietnam.
…Fr. Andrew Dung-Lac, who gives his name and his life’s story to this group of martyrs, was born with the name Dung An-Tran to a poor, ordinary family in northern Vietnam around the year 1795. The family followed the traditional religion of their land. But when An-Tran was twelve, his family moved to Hanoi to look for work. There the boy met a Christian, a catechist who housed him and taught him about the Lord and Savior of mankind. The boy was baptized with the name Andrew. In 1823, Andrew was ordained a priest, and his preaching and simplicity of life led many others to baptism. But it was a dangerous time to be a Christian in Vietnam.
In 1832, the Emperor Minh-Mang banned foreign missionaries and commanded Vietnamese Christians to trample on crucifixes in order publically to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ. Many would not. …Fr. Andrew was first arrested in 1835, but his parishioners ransomed him. He changed his last name to Lac and moved to a different region to avoid persecution, but persecution followed him. In 1839, he was arrested again along with another Vietnamese priest, Fr. Peter Thi, whom Fr. Andrew had visited in order to go to confession. The two were ransomed, then arrested again, tortured, and finally beheaded in Hanoi on December 21, 1839.
…the Vietnamese faithful were subjected to some of the cruelest forms of martyrdom in the history of Christianity. Christians had the words “ta dao,” or “false religion,” written across their faces. They were stripped of their belongings and families, and subjected to diabolically inventive forms of torture. …What the rulers of the land did to wipe out the Church, the Spirit of God used to give the Church deep and lasting roots among the Vietnamese people. By the end of the 20th century, Catholics were estimated at 10% of the Vietnamese population.
When Fr. Andrew Dung-Lac and the Vietnamese martyrs – the 117 named and the hundreds of thousands unnamed – were canonized in 1988, the communist government of Vietnam did not permit a single representative from that country to attend. …8,000 Vietnamese Catholics from the diaspora were there, filled with joy…. The feast day of this great cloud of witnesses from the land of Vietnam is celebrated on November 24.
The persecution of Catholics in Vietnam began in 1798 when King Canh Minh of the Nguyen’s dynasty, issued an anti-Catholic edict that identified Catholicism as a religious sect introduced by foreign powers to persuade the working class into revolt. In response to this edict the government directly attacked the 37 parishes and seminaries established in Dinh Cat, Vietnam – demolishing structures and killing all parishioners present. More than 100,000 Catholics were martyred as a result of this edict over the 63-year Catholic persecution in Vietnam.
—“Diocese of Orange to Honor 117 Vietnamese Martyrs of Brutal Catholic Persecution,” Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, November 18, 2019
Between 1630 and 1886, it is estimated that somewhere between 130,000 and 300,000 Christians were martyred in Vietnam. According to the Vatican, these martyrs endured some of the most brutal torture in Christian history. In the face of unbelievable suffering, they remained steadfast in their faith, willing to give their lives for the cross.
—“Remembering the Martyrs of Vietnam,” Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, June 11, 2021
In the 19th century, when persecution of Catholics was at its worst, entire villages of Vietnamese were slaughtered by the regime. The reason given was that the Catholics were involved in political revolutions, attempting to put a Catholic-friendly ruler into power. Being Catholic, then, became a crime, and, echoing the years of Christian persecution in Ancient Rome, Vietnamese were called upon to stomp on a crucifix to prove that they were not Christian. Those who refused were tortured horribly and then killed. The lucky ones were only branded on their faces with the Vietnamese words for “perverse religion.”
https://omargutierrez.com/the-vietnamese-martyrs/
—Omar F. A. Gutiérrez, “The Vietnamese Martyrs,” Deacon Omar F. A. Gutiérrez, November 24, 2010
The persecutions of Catholics under the monarchs and, subsequently, the communists of Vietnam have been politically motivated. Catholics were considered agents of foreign powers and revolutionary threats to the state besides, a worldview that continues to inform communist states today. The historical persecution fits our contemporary understanding of genocide, one among the crimes against humanity.
Although there is some truth to the claim that Western and specifically Christian influence represents a political threat to communist states, the reality is complexly nuanced. The primary impetus of Christian missions is theological, not political.
The first missionaries to Thailand were Portuguese Dominicans who in 1554 arrived in Siam, as it was then known. Siam was a Buddhist kingdom, but Christians were welcomed as bringing new knowledge. By the 19th century most Catholic missionaries were from the Paris Foreign Missions Society...living in enclaves and exempt from national jurisdiction and taxation. ...The country’s name was changed to Thailand in 1939. The government adopted a nationalistic and anti-western stance, and Christianity was branded “the foreign religion”. ...The Vichy Government established after the fall of France in 1940 allowed the Japanese to set up bases in northern Vietnam, and the Thai government responded by invading French Indo-China (present-day Laos and Cambodia). Japan invaded Thailand in 1941 to secure bases to advance into Malaya and Singapore, and the Thai government signed an alliance that lasted until the Japanese were defeated in 1945.
—“Dec 16 – The Seven Thai Martyrs of Songkhon (d. 1940),” CatholicIreland.net, December 16, 2012
Thailand (Siam) is the sole nation in southeast Asia not to have been the colony of another power. From 1940 to 1944 the Thais were at war with their Indo-China neighbors. To achieve unity on the home front, this officially Buddhist country expelled foreign missionaries and sought to pressure its Catholics into apostasy.
The persecution was especially strong at Songkhon. When the Catholic priests were ousted, they left the Songkhon mission parish in the charge of Philip Siphong. Philip, a married man with five children, was a teacher in the parish school and a topnotch catechist. Because he was so obviously a leader, the government authorities decided to frighten the other parishioners into submission by executing him. On December 16, 1940, they took him outside the village and shot him.
Philip’s death strengthened rather than weakened the faith of the parishioners. The sisters who taught in the school now took over the leadership.
On Christmas, 1940, the local policeman ordered the Catholics to assemble in front of the church. He told them that he had been commanded to suppress Christianity; therefore he gave them a choice between apostasy or death. At that, Cecilia Butsi, a 16-year-old, spoke out, declaring that she was ready to accept death. The policeman did not seem to hear her.
That same night, Sister Agnes Phila (1909-1940) wrote a letter in her own name and the name of all who resided in the convent, declaring that they would die rather than abandon their faith. In the note she prayed, “We ask to be your witnesses, O Lord, our God.” Sister Agnes gave the letter to Cecilia to deliver to the policeman.
On December 26, this officer called at the convent and addressed the sisters and layfolk present. All reiterated their resolution not to apostatize. He therefore had all six of them escorted to the cemetery and shot to death. Two of the six were nuns: Sister Agnes Phila and Sister Lucy Khambang (1917-1940). Four were laypersons: Agatha Phutta (a pious elderly woman converted at 37 in 1918, and now the convent cook); Cecilia; Bibiana Khamphai (a devout 15-year-old who often visited the convent) and Maria Phon, aged only 14.
After the execution, the chief of the village somehow got hold of Sister Agnes’ Christmas letter, an important testimonial to the true martyrdom of the six. When priests were readmitted to Thailand in 1943, the letter was handed over to Father Cassetta, the first of them to return. A church investigation was quickly started, and on the basis of this document and the other evidence, the Holy See issued a decree on September 1, 1988, declaring that Philip Sihong and the six women had indeed been murdered out of hatred of their faith.
Father Cremonesi was killed on February 7, 1953 by government troops who accused him of supporting the Karen rebels. He was beatified on October 19, 2019.
Blessed Cremonesi was shot dead for principally political reasons that were associated with his missionary and pastoral work in Myanmar.
“While he was in the village of Donoku, he was involved in a clash between a group of government soldiers and some rebels. He welcomed the soldiers and defended his faithful, suspected of favoring the anti-government rebels. Some soldiers, due to their anti-Christian hatred, killed him, shooting him in the eye, then destroyed every building marked with a cross. According to the testimony of those present, Father Alfredo was assassinated while praying. ...The conviction that the missionary had been killed in hatred of the faith and was therefore a martyr was immediate and unanimous.”
—“The beatification of Father Cremonesi, martyr, on the eve of Mission Day in the Extraordinary Missionary Month,” agenzia fides, October 18, 2019
In many cases Christians are killed for political reasons intermixed with “hatred of the faith,” so that motivation in odium fidei is sometimes an ambiguous proposition.
Even though foreign-born missionaries are not indigenous to the region, they gave their lives for the evangelization of their mission country and are just as well martyrs of the same.
Many Filipinos are familiar with the the first Filipino saint, San Lorenzo Ruiz, and the protomartyr of the Visayas, San Pedro Calungsod. They are not so acquainted with the third beatus from the Philippines, Blessed José Maria, who was an ethnic Spaniard.
“Eugenio Sanz-Orozco Mortera (Jose Maria of Manila) was a Spanish-Filipino priest born on September 5, 1880 in Manila, Philippines to Spanish parents Don Eugenio Sanz-Orozco, the last Spanish mayor of Manila, and Doña Feliza Mortera y Camacho. Fr. Jose spent his initial years of education at the Ateneo de Manila University, Colegio de San Juan de Letran, and University of Santo Tomas. He stayed in the Philippines until he was 16 years old before pursuing further studies in Spain. Despite objections from his parents, according to Lopez, Jose fulfilled his desire to become a Capuchin priest. Records also showed that he had his simple profession in Lecaroz (Navarra, Spain) on October 4, 1905, while his solemn profession was held October 18, 1908. He was ordained a priest on November 30, 1910. Fr. Jose ‘remained a Filipino at heart’ throughout his years in Spain, desiring to return to the Philippines to serve the local Church. On August 17, 1936...the Filipino priest was executed at the gardens of the Cuartel de la Montaña, a military building in Madrid.”
Blessed José Maria left the Philippines the year that the Philippine Revolution began. When he was ordained in 1910, the Moro Rebellion was still ongoing. He was martyred in Madrid, Spain, on August 17, 1936, during the Spanish Civil War.
Key periods and events in the background of his life include:
- Philippine Revolution, August 23, 1896-January 23, 1899 - Malolos Republic, January 23, 1899 - Philippine-American War, February 4, 1899-July 4, 1902 - Moro Rebellion, May 2, 1902-June 15, 1913 - Spanish Civil War, July 17, 1936-April 1, 1939
He was was a native of the Philippines and a man of two worlds, the Philippines under the Spanish Empire, and Spain.
The countries of Southeast Asia include Brunei, Cambodia, Timor-Leste (East Timor), Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Strictly speaking, the following countries do not have any Roman Catholic martyrs:
- Brunei - Timor-Leste - Malaysia - Singapore
Timor-Leste, with a Roman Catholic supermajority, has several possible prospects for official recognition.
Saint John of the Cross embraced the cross of his religious name by identifying himself closely with the person of the suffering Christ, thereby securing the eternal glory of heaven for himself. The cross singularly marked the saint’s life in two particular instances—during his imprisonment at the Carmelite monastery in Toledo in the period 1577-78; and while afflicted with erysipelas culminating in his death from cellulitis at the monastery in Ubeda in 1591, where despite his manifestly mortal condition he was treated rather poorly by the prior. His sufferings opened for him the doorway to intimate union with God, which he celebrated in poetry and commentary that today are acknowledged as his lasting contribution not only to the patrimony of Spain and of the Roman Catholic Church but also to world heritage. Exhumed multiple times, his body was found to be incorruptible, the last instance in 1955 when it was observed to still be “moist and flexible.”
“His early first-hand acquaintance with deprivation, the later misunderstandings and imprisonment, the final persecution that he suffered, all might more easily have brought forth a bitter cynic; instead, the result was a man purified and enlightened. Events outwardly sad but inwardly transforming bore fruits in charity toward others and deep compassion for the sufferer. Together with these came a rare, clear vision of the beauty of God's creation and an intimacy with the Blessed Trinity that John found somewhat describable only through comparisons to the life of glory.”
—The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD, and Otilio Rodriguez, OCD, with revisions and introductions by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD, revised edition, copyright 1991 by the Washington Province of Discalced Carmelite Friars, Inc. and published by ICS Publications, Washington, D.C., pages 23-24
SAINTS FEATURED, IN ORDER
ReplyDeleteSaint John the Baptist (c. 6 B.C.E. to c. 28-36 C.E.)
Saint Joseph, Husband of Mary (c. 30 B.C.E. to c. 18-19 C.E.)
Saint Faustina Kowalska (1905-38)
Padre Pio (1887-1968)
Saint Bartholomew (died c. 69-71 C.E.)
San Lorenzo Ruiz (1594-1637)
Saint Bruno of Cologne (c. 1030-1101)
Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)
Saint John of the Cross (1542-91)
Saint Joseph Moscati (1880-1927)
Saint Bernadette Soubirous (1844-79)
Elijah the Prophet (c. 850 B.C.E.to c. 900 B.C.E.)
Saint Clare of Assisi (1194-1253)
Saint Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)
Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853)
Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-97)
Saint Charbel Makhlouf (1828-98)
Saint Joan of Arc (c. 1412-31)
Saint Anthony the Great (c. 251-356)
Saint Michael the Archangel
Saint Catherine Labouré (1806-76)
Saint Jacinta Marto (1910-20)
Saint Ephraim the Syrian (died 373)
Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Saint Paul VI (1897-1978)
Saint Oscar Romero (1917-80)
Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-82)
Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-80)
Gonzalinho
PHOTO CREDITS
ReplyDeletePublic domain photo of Padre Pio
Photo of San Lorenzo Ruiz statue is from the website of the Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Photo of Saint Bruno statue, Santa Maria degli Angeli, Rome, Italy, courtesy of Lawrence OP
https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/6216730086
Photo of Saint Ignatius the Pilgrim (1964) by William McElcheran, sculpture at Ignatius Jesuit Centre, Canada, courtesy of Randy OHC
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mariya_umama_wethemba_monastery/4628406569
Photo of Saint Joseph Moscati courtesy of Inviaggio
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:San_Giuseppe_Moscati.jpg
Public domain photo of Saint Bernadette Soubirous
Photo of Elijah Confronts Ahab and Jezebel (1873) by Francis Bernard Dicksee (1 Kings 21:20-24), Shutterstock editorial use only
Public domain photo of Venerable Pierre Toussaint
Public domain photo of Saint Therese of Lisieux
Photo, cropped, of Saint Charbel Makhlouf (2017) by Nayez Alwan, Faraya, Lebanon, courtesy of FOSS-the-world
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Statue_of_St._Charbel.jpg
Photo of Joan of Arc at the Siege of Orléans (1886-90) by Jules Eugène Lenepveu is in the public domain.
Photo of Saint Anthony and Saint Paul in the Desert (c. 1503) by Albrecht Dürer is in the public domain.
Photo of Saint Michael the Archangel is in the public domain.
Photo of Vision of Saint Catherine Labouré, 140 Rue du Bac, Paris, France, courtesy of Lawrence OP
https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/15357855105
To be continued
Gonzalinho
PHOTO CREDITS
DeleteContinued
Photo of Saint Jacinta Marto and Venerable Lúcia dos Santos is in the public domain.
Photo of Saint Ephrem the Syrian, courtesy of Lawrence OP
https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/34805939910/in/photostream/
Photo of Saint Francis de Sales, courtesy of Lawrence OP
https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/24501046311
Photo of Saint Paul VI and Saint Oscar Romero is in the public domain.
Public domain photo of Saint Teresa of Avila
Photo of Saint Catherine of Siena (1746), detail by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo is in the public domain.
Gonzalinho
SAINT PAUL VI (1897-1978)
ReplyDeleteAmong other reformist actions, Saint Paul VI, a moderate, progressive pope, turned his attention to dialogue with the modern world, especially in its social and political aspects. He was a highly intelligent, refined, and sensitive man, exemplary, imbued with the Holy Spirit, deeply compassionate.
Gonzalinho
SAINT OSCAR ROMERO (1917-80)
ReplyDeleteRoman Catholic clergy tread the fine line separating their objectionable interference in politics from their necessary intervention driven by moral imperatives. Saint Oscar Romero rightly discerned the difference, paying the price of martyrdom for calling the powerful to account for their grave violations of the moral law.
Gonzalinho
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA (1515-82)
ReplyDeleteHer life and writings uniquely contributed to mystical theology, showing the way for all the faithful to contemplative union with God in this life. She is honored by the Roman Catholic Church as the Doctor of the Soul.
Gonzalinho
SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA (1347-80)
ReplyDeleteShe practiced extreme ascetism, received the most rarefied mystical graces, and attained the topmost heights of God’s mountain. Her Dialogue with God the Father marvelously enlightens the denizens of the lowlands about the deepest mysteries of Christian life and faith.
Gonzalinho
Holiness demands a constant effort, but it is possible for everyone because, rather than a human effort, it is first and foremost a gift of God, thrice Holy (cf. Is 6: 3). In the second reading, the Apostle John remarks: “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (I Jn 3: 1).
ReplyDeleteIt is God, therefore, who loved us first and made us his adoptive sons in Jesus. Everything in our lives is a gift of his love: how can we be indifferent before such a great mystery? How can we not respond to the Heavenly Father’s love by living as grateful children? In Christ, he gave us the gift of his entire self and calls us to a personal and profound relationship with him.
—Pope Benedict XVI, Homily on the Solemnity of All Saints, November 1, 2006
Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. (Leviticus 19:2)
Gonzalinho
SAINT CHARBEL MAKHLOUF (1828-98)
ReplyDeleteSaint Charbel Makhlouf, whose life was marked by almost complete obscurity to the outside world, would have stayed a hidden figure inside the Maronite Church, besides the Roman Catholic Church of which it is a part, were it not for miracles that happened after his death that were connected with the discovery of his incorrupt body.
He was baptized Youssef Antoun, one of five children, his father passing away three years after the boy was born. He was raised by his mother and a stepfather whom she had married two years after she had been widowed and with whom she had two more children. His stepfather was a deacon who was later ordained a Maronite priest.
His family was devout. Two of his uncles were hermits.
His years growing up were marked by notable simplicity and piety. He studied at the parish school and tended livestock. He prayed at a nearby grotto of the Blessed Virgin.
In 1851 at 23 years old, he joined the monastery and took the religious name of Charbel, a martyr of the second century. Two years later he professed monastic vows.
He was ordained a priest in 1859 and assigned to Saint Maroun’s Monastery in Annaya, Lebanon, where his body and relics are now kept. Because of Saint Charbel’s global renown, Saint Maroun’s has become an international place of pilgrimage.
In 1875 he was granted permission by the abbot to transfer to the Hermitage of Saints Peter and Paul attached to the monastery, where he lived in the company of other hermits for the next 23 years until his death from a stroke in 1898.
His request to move to the hermitage, which was initially refused, was approved after his superior noticed that his lamp had kept burning throughout the night even though (as a prank) it had been filled by another monk with water instead of oil.
Saint Charbel died on Christmas Eve, eight days after suffering terribly the complications resulting from his stroke.
Miracles and wonders followed the death of the holy man.
“At the closing of the Second Vatican Council, on December 5, 1965, Father Charbel (St Charbel) was beatified by Pope Paul VI who said: ‘Great is the gladness in heaven and earth today for the beatification of Charbel Makhlouf, monk and hermit of the Lebanese Maronite Order. Great is the joy of the East and West for this son of Lebanon, admirable flower of sanctity blooming on the stem of the ancient monastic traditions of the East, and venerated today by the Church of Rome…. The holy monk of Annaya is presented as one who reminds us of the indispensable role of prayer, hidden virtues and penance…. A hermit from the Lebanese Mountain is enrolled among the blessed…a new, eminent member of monastic sanctity is enriching the entire Christian people by his example and his intercession…. In a world largely fascinated with riches and comfort, he helps us understand the paramount value of poverty, penance, and asceticism to liberate the soul in its ascent to God….’”
—“Saint Charbel Detailed History,” Saint Charbel Lebanon, n.d.
Gonzalinho
After his interment, a very bright light surrounded his grave for forty-five nights. When he was exhumed, his body was found to be incorrupt even though it had floating in pools of water from recent, constant rains.
DeleteHe was immediately transferred in fresh clothes to a wooden coffin that was placed in a monastery chapel open to the public.
His body exuded an unusual liquid that appeared to consist of blood and perspiration. When pieces of cloth that had absorbed the liquid were touched by the sick, healings and miraculous cures took place.
During a period of seventeen years after the first exhumation, Saint Charbel’s body was examined 24 times by physicians who testified to its incorruption.
Before the body was sealed in 1927 in a tomb of a monastery oratory, it was examined again by two physicians, who documented it as incorrupt.
Twenty-three years later, in 1950, his body was again exhumed and confirmed to be incorrupt, flexible and lifelike besides, still exuding the miraculous liquid. A subsequent exhumation in 1952 showed the same results.
In 1965—the year of the saint’s beatification—the body was found in the same state of incorruption.
However, when the body was exhumed in 1976, only Saint Charbel’s bones remained.
He was canonized the following year.
The saint’s body had been incorrupt for at least 67 years since his death.
Gonzalinho
Although there is some inconsistency in the accounts available on the internet, the following details recur throughout—Saint Charbel’s hidden, unassuming life in the rural village of Bekaa Kafra, Lebanon; his devout upbringing; his exemplary conduct as a monk, priest, and later on, for 23 years, as a hermit; the discovery by the monks several months after his interment of his incorrupt body, the wonder of which inexplicably maintained for possibly 67 years; and the many healings and miraculous cures wrought through his intercession, particularly those instances when cloths that had been imbued with the liquid of perspiration and blood that had exuded from his incorrupt body had been touched by those afflicted.
DeleteGonzalinho
SAINT CHARBEL MAKHLOUF (1828-98)
ReplyDeleteBeginning in a rural village of Lebanon, his was a hidden life growing up and later on witnessing as a Maronite monk, priest, and in the closing 23 years, as a hermit. Several months after his interment, his incorrupt body was exhumed by the monks, the wonder of which inexplicably maintained for at least half a century. Many healings and miraculous cures were wrought through his intercession, particularly those instances in which cloths that had been imbued with the liquid of perspiration and blood that had exuded from his incorrupt body were touched by those afflicted. By working miracles and wonders, God—the God of surprises—willed to call our attention to the holiness of a man who by the logic of circumstance should very well have remained completely unknown to and been entirely forgotten by the world.
Gonzalinho
MARTYRS OF INDIA AND EAST ASIA
ReplyDeleteNaturally, the very influential civilizations of India and East Asia—Japan, Korea, and China—were leading targets of missionary work in the Roman Catholic Church. India and East Asia produced worthy martyrs from the very beginning.
Gonzalinho
SAINT THOMAS CHRISTIANS
DeleteHe said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:27-28)
A tradition reaching all the way back to the first century C.E. tells us that Saint Thomas the Apostle evangelized southern India, and today the Syro-Malabar Church in communion with the Church of Rome is the fruit of his apostolic labor. The saint was martyred near Chennai, which is on the east coast. He was killed by the spears of the soldiers of a king who was angered when Saint Thomas converted his queen and another lady of the court.
It is a highly plausible tradition.
“The long-accepted belief is that St. Thomas preached in South India and established churches and left congregations known to this day as the St.Thomas’ Christians, and that in the end he was martyred in St. Thomas’ Mount and buried in San Thome, now a suburb of Madras. Thus the glory of the introduction of Christianity in India, by time-honoured tradition, has been ascribed to St. Thomas the Apostle. There are many scholars who hold the view that he did and there are also those who take the opposite stance.
“...The Doctrine of the Apostles, which was probably written in the second century AD, mentions that St. Thomas evangelised India. We also have St. Ephraem (A.D. 330-378) attesting that the Apostle was martyred in India and that later his relics were taken to Edessa (a city in Upper Mesopotamia, present day Şanlıurfa inTurkey). Origen (A.D. 184-253) and Eusebius of Caesarea (the bishop of Caesarea Maritima from A.D. 315 to about A.D. 340) state that St. Thomas evangelised the Parthians and the same statement is made by the ‘Clementine Recognitions,’ the original of which may have been written about A.D. 210.
“...Even in the hymns of St. Ephraem (A.D. 300 – 378) we see the traditional belief that St. Thomas was connected to India. Though the exact name of the place of his martyrdom and burial is not mentioned, it does have some indicators as to where these events might have taken place. In the hymns the place whom St. Thomas evangelised is called ‘land of people dark’ and the people themselves are called ‘the sunburnt.’ Both of which point to the possibility that the tradition current in St. Ephraem’s time was that St. Thomas preached mainly in Southern India and was martyred and buried there.
“...As for the earliest records that we have regarding Christianity in India comes from Eusebius, a Christian historian, who notes that St. Pantaenus had visited India somewhere between A.D. 177 and A.D. 192 and found Christian communities already present in India and that these communities where using a version of the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew letters. Though Pantaenus attributes the presence of the Gospel to the Apostle Bartholomew, there are scholars who believe that the difficulty in understanding the language might have caused him to misinterpret the reference to Mar Thoma as Bar Tolmai (the Hebrew name of Bartholomew).
“...After taking into account all the evidence that is there, it can be said with certainty that there is nothing impossible or improbable about St. Thomas travelling to India, specifically the southern part of the country. When combined with the fact that solemn Ecclesiastical confirmation has been given, regarding the apostolic origin of St. Thomas Christians, by several popes and that there is neither a rival claim regarding the tomb of the Apostle nor archeological evidence against it, to hold the view that St. Thomas had come to Kerala, would be completely reasonable.”
https://catholic.cafe/2020/02/12/what-historical-proof-is-there-that-st-thomas-did-come-to-india-any-documentation-or-indications-that-he-really-did-come-to-kerala/
—Edin Michael, “What historical proof is there that St Thomas did come to India? Any documentation or indications that he really did come to Kerala?” Catholic Café, n.d.
Gonzalinho
THE RELICS OF SAINT THOMAS THE APOSTLE
DeleteThe Apostle’s relics are located principally in Chennai and Ortona, Italy, and scattered elsewhere.
“St. Thomas, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ, is claimed to have brought Christianity to India in 52 AD, where he was killed as a martyr. His relics traveled to quite a few places after his death, until most of them found their final resting place in the Basilica di San Tommaso in Ortona, Italy.
“Some of the relics of St. Thomas still remain in Chennai, India, close to where he died and was buried. Others ended up on the Greek Island Chios at the beginning of the 13th century, where, supposedly, the skull of St. Thomas remains. Yet others made their way to Italy in 1258 when Ortona’s General Leone Acciaiuoli visited the Greek island with three galleys and had a spiritual experience.
“After successfully looting the place, the general went into the local church to pray. According to a legend, a light hand waved twice at him, beckoning him to come closer, and he felt a sweetness and peace as never before. Acciaiuoli than reached into the tomb and took a bone. A halo surrounding the bones was proof to him that, indeed, he had found the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas. The next night he came back and stole the rest of the relics and the tomb.
“In 1358 the relics were brought to the local church in Ortona, which was elevated to a minor basilica by Pope Pius IX in 1859. There the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas, along with the looted tombstone, were displayed in a crypt, and remain to this day.”
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/relics-of-the-apostle-st-thomas
—Christine Williamson, “Relics of the Apostle St. Thomas,” Atlas Obscura, October 24, 2016
It is astonishing to contemplate that the Apostle traveled so distantly east and spread the gospel to India.
Gonzalinho
26 MARTYRS MEMORIAL (1962) BY FUNAKOSHI YASUTAKE
DeleteSaint Paul Miki is sixth from the right. He is distinguished from most of the other martyrs because he prays in the gesture of the orans and looks downwards, symbolic of the fact that he preached until his death. Saint Peter Bautista is in this same posture, but unlike Saint Paul Miki, he is clothed in the Franciscan habit. Saint Peter Bautista is eleventh from the right.
Saint Gonsalo (Gundi Salvus is his birth name) Garcia is the fourteenth figure from the right. His name—Gundisalvus in Latin—is inscribed above his figure.
See this Alamy photo, Image ID 2BA5HBY, by Richard Cummins, December 7, 2007:
https://www.alamy.com/site-of-the-26-christian-martyrs-nagasaki-kyushu-region-japan-asia-image350477343.html
The first Japanese martyrs, meaning, natives of Japan, are included in this group of twenty-six.
Born in Agashi, Bassein, India in 1557, Saint Gonsalo, son of a Portuguese father and Indian mother, is considered the first Indian saint.
Gonzalinho
TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SAINT
DeleteThe feast of the Korean martyrs, celebrated by the Catholic Church on Sept. 20, remembers 103 men, women, and children who died for their faith in the first decades of Korean Christianity. The Korean martyrs marked on this day are collectively known as Sts. Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang, and Companions. They were among the 8,000 to 10,000 Korean Christians killed for refusing to deny Christ.
Persecutions began in 1791, with five additional waves through the 19th century. Catholics in Korea celebrate the witness of their country’s Catholic martyrs throughout September, with celebrations culminating in the feast of the Korean martyrs.
https://www.ncregister.com/cna/who-are-the-korean-martyrs
—Kevin J. Jones/CNA, “Who Are the Korean Martyrs?” National Catholic Register (September 20, 2023)
The “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” is a memorial tradition that begins in post-World War I United Kingdom and France, when leaders of the two allied victors decided to establish national monuments honoring their soldiers who had died in service to the nation but whose remains were missing or could not be identified. In the United Kingdom the memorial was christened the “Tomb of the Unknown Warrior,” while in France it was “La Tombe du Soldat Inconnu.”
In the U.S. the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” was built in 1921, while many countries have raised their own memorials in this spirit. Chile and the Ukraine, for example, have constructed memorials to the “Unknown Sailor.”
Because we are morally certain that millions of the deceased have entered into eternal life and are now with God in heaven—we don’t know who they are and we probably never will, at least not with theological or scientific certainty—we think it is appropriate in the spirit of the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” to set up a “Tomb of the Unknown Saint” honoring the saints in heaven presently unknown and who will possibly remain so until the end of time, inspiring the many Christian witnesses today who conduct their lives dedicated to the service and love of God and to humanity. They are indeed “unknown saints.”
https://poetryofgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2018/12/saint-john-of-cross.html
During my 2013 trip to Seoul, South Korea,...I was pleasantly surprised…delighted…to come across the remains of two unknown saints. The crypt of Myeongdong Cathedral, Seoul houses the remains of nine Korean martyrs of the 1839 and 1866 persecutions, including two lay persons (it is believed) who are not named or in other respects identified.
I spent some time praying at the crypt.
We might say that the “Tomb of the Unknown Saint” is for current practical purposes now located at the crypt of Myeongdong Cathedral.
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2019/09/tomb-of-unknown-saint.html
Gonzalinho
MARTYRS OF CHINA
DeleteThe 120 Catholics who died between 1648 and 1930 as its “Martyr Saints of China” were canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 1, 2000. Of the group, 87 were Chinese laypeople and 33 were missionaries; 86 died during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. The 33 foreign-born missionaries, mostly priests and religious, included members of the Order of Preachers, Friars Minor, Jesuits, Salesians, and Franciscan Missionaries of Mary.
One of the more well-known native martyrs was a 14-year old Chinese girl named Ann Wang, who was killed during the Boxer Rebellion when she refused to renounce her religious faith. She bravely withstood the threats of her torturers, and just as she was about to be beheaded, she radiantly declared, “The door of heaven is open to all” and repeated the name of Jesus three times.
Another of the martyrs was 18-year old Chi Zhuzi, who had been preparing to receive the sacrament of Baptism when he was caught on the road one night and ordered to worship idols. He refused to do so, revealing his belief in Christ. His right arm was cut off and he was tortured, but he would not deny his faith. Rather, he fearlessly pronounced to his captors, before being flayed alive, “Every piece of my flesh, every drop of my blood will tell you that I am Christian.”
https://aci.archchicago.org/asian-icons/120-martyrs-saints-china
—“120 Martyrs and Saints of China,” Archdiocese of Chicago, n.d.
We continue to pray for the conversion of the Chinese people—that they will know and love God the Father, his only begotten Son, and their unity in the Holy Spirit—and that the many gifts of Chinese civilization will join with the treasures and blessings of Christianity so that by God’s grace the world will become a better and happier place.
Gonzalinho
MARTYRS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA
ReplyDeleteSoutheast Asia is a culturally diverse region, with major religious influences spreading from west to east—Hinduism from India, Islam from the Middle East, and Christianity from the West—and north to south, principally Buddhism from China. Spain was very successful in converting the Philippines to Roman Catholicism, Portugal in evangelizing Timor-Leste. Malaysia, with its large Buddhist minority, and Indonesia have always remained solidly Muslim. Buddhism for centuries has been deeply entrenched in Myanmar, Indochina, and Thailand, while in Vietnam particularly, resistance to evangelization by Roman Catholic missionaries resulted from the opposition of Vietnamese rulers to the political influence of Western colonial powers. Vietnam is unusual in this respect—it was in Vietnam that hundreds of thousands of Roman Catholics were martyred; the persecution was fierce, brutal, and large-scale.
Gonzalinho
THE MARTYRS OF VIETNAM
DeleteOne man, a priest, gives his name to today’s feast, but the one stands for many: 117 Vietnamese faithful. They were bishops, priests, and many laypeople, a mother of six and even a nine-year-old child, who gave their lives for Christ between the 17th and the 19th centuries. 96 were native Vietnamese and 21 were Spanish or French missionaries who had embraced that land and culture. The group of 117, canonized together by Pope John Paul II in 1988, in turn stands for a nameless multitude estimated at between 100,000 and 300,000 martyrs, the “great cloud of witnesses” whose blood was the seed of a thriving Church in the land of Vietnam.
…Fr. Andrew Dung-Lac, who gives his name and his life’s story to this group of martyrs, was born with the name Dung An-Tran to a poor, ordinary family in northern Vietnam around the year 1795. The family followed the traditional religion of their land. But when An-Tran was twelve, his family moved to Hanoi to look for work. There the boy met a Christian, a catechist who housed him and taught him about the Lord and Savior of mankind. The boy was baptized with the name Andrew. In 1823, Andrew was ordained a priest, and his preaching and simplicity of life led many others to baptism. But it was a dangerous time to be a Christian in Vietnam.
In 1832, the Emperor Minh-Mang banned foreign missionaries and commanded Vietnamese Christians to trample on crucifixes in order publically to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ. Many would not. …Fr. Andrew was first arrested in 1835, but his parishioners ransomed him. He changed his last name to Lac and moved to a different region to avoid persecution, but persecution followed him. In 1839, he was arrested again along with another Vietnamese priest, Fr. Peter Thi, whom Fr. Andrew had visited in order to go to confession. The two were ransomed, then arrested again, tortured, and finally beheaded in Hanoi on December 21, 1839.
…the Vietnamese faithful were subjected to some of the cruelest forms of martyrdom in the history of Christianity. Christians had the words “ta dao,” or “false religion,” written across their faces. They were stripped of their belongings and families, and subjected to diabolically inventive forms of torture. …What the rulers of the land did to wipe out the Church, the Spirit of God used to give the Church deep and lasting roots among the Vietnamese people. By the end of the 20th century, Catholics were estimated at 10% of the Vietnamese population.
When Fr. Andrew Dung-Lac and the Vietnamese martyrs – the 117 named and the hundreds of thousands unnamed – were canonized in 1988, the communist government of Vietnam did not permit a single representative from that country to attend. …8,000 Vietnamese Catholics from the diaspora were there, filled with joy…. The feast day of this great cloud of witnesses from the land of Vietnam is celebrated on November 24.
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/saints/11/24/sts--andrew-d_ng-lc--and-his-companions--martyrs.html#:~:text=In%201832%2C%20the%20Emperor%20Minh,Hanoi%20on%20December%2021%2C%201839.
—“Sts. Andrew Dũng Lạc, and His Companions, Martyrs,” Vatican News, November 24
To be continued
Gonzalinho
THE MARTYRS OF VIETNAM
DeleteContinued
The persecution of Catholics in Vietnam began in 1798 when King Canh Minh of the Nguyen’s dynasty, issued an anti-Catholic edict that identified Catholicism as a religious sect introduced by foreign powers to persuade the working class into revolt. In response to this edict the government directly attacked the 37 parishes and seminaries established in Dinh Cat, Vietnam – demolishing structures and killing all parishioners present. More than 100,000 Catholics were martyred as a result of this edict over the 63-year Catholic persecution in Vietnam.
https://www.rcbo.org/ko/newsroom-archive/vietnamese-martyrs-mass/#:~:text=History%20of%20Catholic%20Persecution%20in,year%20Catholic%20persecution%20in%20Vietnam.
—“Diocese of Orange to Honor 117 Vietnamese Martyrs of Brutal Catholic Persecution,” Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, November 18, 2019
Between 1630 and 1886, it is estimated that somewhere between 130,000 and 300,000 Christians were martyred in Vietnam. According to the Vatican, these martyrs endured some of the most brutal torture in Christian history. In the face of unbelievable suffering, they remained steadfast in their faith, willing to give their lives for the cross.
https://www.nationalshrine.org/blog/remembering-the-martyrs-of-vietnam/
—“Remembering the Martyrs of Vietnam,” Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, June 11, 2021
In the 19th century, when persecution of Catholics was at its worst, entire villages of Vietnamese were slaughtered by the regime. The reason given was that the Catholics were involved in political revolutions, attempting to put a Catholic-friendly ruler into power. Being Catholic, then, became a crime, and, echoing the years of Christian persecution in Ancient Rome, Vietnamese were called upon to stomp on a crucifix to prove that they were not Christian. Those who refused were tortured horribly and then killed. The lucky ones were only branded on their faces with the Vietnamese words for “perverse religion.”
https://omargutierrez.com/the-vietnamese-martyrs/
—Omar F. A. Gutiérrez, “The Vietnamese Martyrs,” Deacon Omar F. A. Gutiérrez, November 24, 2010
The persecutions of Catholics under the monarchs and, subsequently, the communists of Vietnam have been politically motivated. Catholics were considered agents of foreign powers and revolutionary threats to the state besides, a worldview that continues to inform communist states today. The historical persecution fits our contemporary understanding of genocide, one among the crimes against humanity.
Although there is some truth to the claim that Western and specifically Christian influence represents a political threat to communist states, the reality is complexly nuanced. The primary impetus of Christian missions is theological, not political.
Gonzalinho
THE SEVEN MARTYRS OF SONGHORN, THAILAND
DeleteThe first missionaries to Thailand were Portuguese Dominicans who in 1554 arrived in Siam, as it was then known. Siam was a Buddhist kingdom, but Christians were welcomed as bringing new knowledge. By the 19th century most Catholic missionaries were from the Paris Foreign Missions Society...living in enclaves and exempt from national jurisdiction and taxation. ...The country’s name was changed to Thailand in 1939. The government adopted a nationalistic and anti-western stance, and Christianity was branded “the foreign religion”. ...The Vichy Government established after the fall of France in 1940 allowed the Japanese to set up bases in northern Vietnam, and the Thai government responded by invading French Indo-China (present-day Laos and Cambodia). Japan invaded Thailand in 1941 to secure bases to advance into Malaya and Singapore, and the Thai government signed an alliance that lasted until the Japanese were defeated in 1945.
https://www.catholicireland.net/saintoftheday/the-thai-martyrs-of-songkhon-d-1940/
—“Dec 16 – The Seven Thai Martyrs of Songkhon (d. 1940),” CatholicIreland.net, December 16, 2012
Thailand (Siam) is the sole nation in southeast Asia not to have been the colony of another power. From 1940 to 1944 the Thais were at war with their Indo-China neighbors. To achieve unity on the home front, this officially Buddhist country expelled foreign missionaries and sought to pressure its Catholics into apostasy.
The persecution was especially strong at Songkhon. When the Catholic priests were ousted, they left the Songkhon mission parish in the charge of Philip Siphong. Philip, a married man with five children, was a teacher in the parish school and a topnotch catechist. Because he was so obviously a leader, the government authorities decided to frighten the other parishioners into submission by executing him. On December 16, 1940, they took him outside the village and shot him.
Philip’s death strengthened rather than weakened the faith of the parishioners. The sisters who taught in the school now took over the leadership.
On Christmas, 1940, the local policeman ordered the Catholics to assemble in front of the church. He told them that he had been commanded to suppress Christianity; therefore he gave them a choice between apostasy or death. At that, Cecilia Butsi, a 16-year-old, spoke out, declaring that she was ready to accept death. The policeman did not seem to hear her.
That same night, Sister Agnes Phila (1909-1940) wrote a letter in her own name and the name of all who resided in the convent, declaring that they would die rather than abandon their faith. In the note she prayed, “We ask to be your witnesses, O Lord, our God.” Sister Agnes gave the letter to Cecilia to deliver to the policeman.
On December 26, this officer called at the convent and addressed the sisters and layfolk present. All reiterated their resolution not to apostatize. He therefore had all six of them escorted to the cemetery and shot to death. Two of the six were nuns: Sister Agnes Phila and Sister Lucy Khambang (1917-1940). Four were laypersons: Agatha Phutta (a pious elderly woman converted at 37 in 1918, and now the convent cook); Cecilia; Bibiana Khamphai (a devout 15-year-old who often visited the convent) and Maria Phon, aged only 14.
To be continued
Gonzalinho
THE SEVEN MARTYRS OF SONGHORN, THAILAND
DeleteContinued
After the execution, the chief of the village somehow got hold of Sister Agnes’ Christmas letter, an important testimonial to the true martyrdom of the six. When priests were readmitted to Thailand in 1943, the letter was handed over to Father Cassetta, the first of them to return. A church investigation was quickly started, and on the basis of this document and the other evidence, the Holy See issued a decree on September 1, 1988, declaring that Philip Sihong and the six women had indeed been murdered out of hatred of their faith.
https://saints-alive.siministries.org/saints-alive/saint/martyrs-of-thailand/
—Father Robert F. McNamara, “Martyrs of Thailand: Executed 1940,” Saints Alive, Copyright 2023
The execution by the police of the Thai martyrs in odium fidei was intermixed with in odium gallei.
They are the protomartyrs of Thailand.
Notably, the day of their execution, December 26, 1940, is the memorial of Saint Stephen, the first martyr of the Church.
Gonzalinho
BLESSED ALFREDO CREMONESI (1902-53)
DeleteFather Cremonesi was killed on February 7, 1953 by government troops who accused him of supporting the Karen rebels. He was beatified on October 19, 2019.
Blessed Cremonesi was shot dead for principally political reasons that were associated with his missionary and pastoral work in Myanmar.
“While he was in the village of Donoku, he was involved in a clash between a group of government soldiers and some rebels. He welcomed the soldiers and defended his faithful, suspected of favoring the anti-government rebels. Some soldiers, due to their anti-Christian hatred, killed him, shooting him in the eye, then destroyed every building marked with a cross. According to the testimony of those present, Father Alfredo was assassinated while praying. ...The conviction that the missionary had been killed in hatred of the faith and was therefore a martyr was immediate and unanimous.”
https://www.fides.org/en/news/66804-EUROPE_ITALY_The_beatification_of_Father_Cremonesi_martyr_on_the_eve_of_Mission_Day_in_the_Extraordinary_Missionary_Month
—“The beatification of Father Cremonesi, martyr, on the eve of Mission Day in the Extraordinary Missionary Month,” agenzia fides, October 18, 2019
In many cases Christians are killed for political reasons intermixed with “hatred of the faith,” so that motivation in odium fidei is sometimes an ambiguous proposition.
Even though foreign-born missionaries are not indigenous to the region, they gave their lives for the evangelization of their mission country and are just as well martyrs of the same.
Gonzalinho
BLESSED JOSÉ MARIA OF MANILA (1880-1936)
DeleteMany Filipinos are familiar with the the first Filipino saint, San Lorenzo Ruiz, and the protomartyr of the Visayas, San Pedro Calungsod. They are not so acquainted with the third beatus from the Philippines, Blessed José Maria, who was an ethnic Spaniard.
“Eugenio Sanz-Orozco Mortera (Jose Maria of Manila) was a Spanish-Filipino priest born on September 5, 1880 in Manila, Philippines to Spanish parents Don Eugenio Sanz-Orozco, the last Spanish mayor of Manila, and Doña Feliza Mortera y Camacho. Fr. Jose spent his initial years of education at the Ateneo de Manila University, Colegio de San Juan de Letran, and University of Santo Tomas. He stayed in the Philippines until he was 16 years old before pursuing further studies in Spain. Despite objections from his parents, according to Lopez, Jose fulfilled his desire to become a Capuchin priest. Records also showed that he had his simple profession in Lecaroz (Navarra, Spain) on October 4, 1905, while his solemn profession was held October 18, 1908. He was ordained a priest on November 30, 1910. Fr. Jose ‘remained a Filipino at heart’ throughout his years in Spain, desiring to return to the Philippines to serve the local Church. On August 17, 1936...the Filipino priest was executed at the gardens of the Cuartel de la Montaña, a military building in Madrid.”
https://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingpilgrim33/10271716926
Blessed José Maria left the Philippines the year that the Philippine Revolution began. When he was ordained in 1910, the Moro Rebellion was still ongoing. He was martyred in Madrid, Spain, on August 17, 1936, during the Spanish Civil War.
Key periods and events in the background of his life include:
- Philippine Revolution, August 23, 1896-January 23, 1899
- Malolos Republic, January 23, 1899
- Philippine-American War, February 4, 1899-July 4, 1902
- Moro Rebellion, May 2, 1902-June 15, 1913
- Spanish Civil War, July 17, 1936-April 1, 1939
He was was a native of the Philippines and a man of two worlds, the Philippines under the Spanish Empire, and Spain.
Gonzalinho
The countries of Southeast Asia include Brunei, Cambodia, Timor-Leste (East Timor), Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
DeleteStrictly speaking, the following countries do not have any Roman Catholic martyrs:
- Brunei
- Timor-Leste
- Malaysia
- Singapore
Timor-Leste, with a Roman Catholic supermajority, has several possible prospects for official recognition.
Gonzalinho
SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS (1542-91)
ReplyDeleteSaint John of the Cross embraced the cross of his religious name by identifying himself closely with the person of the suffering Christ, thereby securing the eternal glory of heaven for himself. The cross singularly marked the saint’s life in two particular instances—during his imprisonment at the Carmelite monastery in Toledo in the period 1577-78; and while afflicted with erysipelas culminating in his death from cellulitis at the monastery in Ubeda in 1591, where despite his manifestly mortal condition he was treated rather poorly by the prior. His sufferings opened for him the doorway to intimate union with God, which he celebrated in poetry and commentary that today are acknowledged as his lasting contribution not only to the patrimony of Spain and of the Roman Catholic Church but also to world heritage. Exhumed multiple times, his body was found to be incorruptible, the last instance in 1955 when it was observed to still be “moist and flexible.”
“His early first-hand acquaintance with deprivation, the later misunderstandings and imprisonment, the final persecution that he suffered, all might more easily have brought forth a bitter cynic; instead, the result was a man purified and enlightened. Events outwardly sad but inwardly transforming bore fruits in charity toward others and deep compassion for the sufferer. Together with these came a rare, clear vision of the beauty of God's creation and an intimacy with the Blessed Trinity that John found somewhat describable only through comparisons to the life of glory.”
—The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD, and Otilio Rodriguez, OCD, with revisions and introductions by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD, revised edition, copyright 1991 by the Washington Province of Discalced Carmelite Friars, Inc. and published by ICS Publications, Washington, D.C., pages 23-24
Gonzalinho