"The Blood of the Martyrs is the Seed of the Church."

 

 

 “Let no one, of things visible or invisible, prevent me from attaining to Jesus Christ. Let fire and the cross; let wild beasts; let tearing, breakings, and dislocation of bones; let cutting off  limbs; let shattering of the whole body; and let all the evil torments of the devil come upon me; only let me attain to Jesus Christ.” -St. Ignatius of Antioch

After the death of the Lord,  “Christians were persecuted almost immediately.”¹  Before Jesus appeared to the  disciples, they hid in the Upper Room, for fear of persecution from the Jews. Jesus would appear to them from behind locked doors, granting them peace. After the Holy Spirit descended on the Twelve Apostles, with Mary at the center,² the Apostles would face persecution because of the Holy Name of Jesus. The first  Roman persecution of the Church began under Nero, in 64 A.D. When Rome caught on fire, Nero was quick to blame the catastrophe on the  Christians.³

The forms of persecution varied across the spectrum. Some Christians were merely imprisoned or had their lands confiscated. For others, the differing forms persecution would take would be more brutal and cruel, leading to the martyrdom of many Christians, beginning with the Apostles. Forms of martyrdom would be many: crucifixion, being burned alive, beheaded or tossed to the lions in the Coliseum.  The martyrdom of Christians also provided sport and entertainment to the people of Rome; hardly ever did a Christian get martyred without some form of public audience.

Especially note-worthy are the virgin martyrs. These were young women, probably no more than twelve or thirteen, who were offered marriage proposals by powerful men, some emperors, some prefects. These young women refused, pledging their virginity to their one and only Spouse, Jesus Christ. Therefore, they were killed in horrible and agonizing ways, all the while remaining faithful to the Lord. The virgin martyrs pointed strongly to the primacy of Christ and served as a prototype of the Church as a pure, unblemished, and spotless Bride of Christ.

The early martyrs made such an impression on the Church that their names were added later to the Eucharistic Canon of the Mass. Linus, Cletus, Sixtus, Cornelius, Agatha, Perpetua, Felicity, Agnes, and Anastasia are just some of the forty-two names listed in the Eucharistic canon.⁴

Far from deterring people from becoming Christians, their blood seemed to usher in a new Christian era.  For whom could, willingly and joyfully,  go to their own torture and death, in anticipation of the next world? [1]They were the Christians who witnessed to the love of Christ so strongly, that it invited others to follow their footsteps, and thus caused the Church to grow.

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[1] Vidmar, John OP The Catholic Church through the Ages, a History, 2^nd Edition Paulist Press, New York, 2014 27

² The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition Acts 1:1-13

^3.  Vidmar, The Catholic Church through the Ages, 28

⁴ Di Camillo, Kevin www.ncregister.com , Who are all the Saints in the Canon