St. Thomas Aquinas states in the Summa Theologica Part 2-2, Question 124, Article 3 that martyrdom[1] is necessary for salvation for some. Martyrdom is the supreme testimony of faith, a witness to truth, a participation in Christ’s Passion, a means of purification, and a source of extraordinary grace. We see this exhibited in the lives of some saints. Father Hugo Hoever, in his Lives of the Saints, writes of St. Eusebius, who is commemorated on August 14th: “On hearing his sentence he thanked God, and a voice from Heaven assured him that it was only by suffering that he would merit a place in Heaven.”
We should above all strive to never cease our prayers, fasting, and almsgiving as a means of penance in reparation for our sins. While God may not call us to martyrdom, we must do all that we can to follow His will and do penance, especially through the annoyances, pains, and sufferings of daily life.
St. Andries Wouters
The Martyrs of Gorkum, also known as the Gorkum Martyrs, were a group of nineteen Catholic clerics and laypeople who were martyred for their faith during the Protestant Revolt in the Netherlands. Their martyrdom took place in the city of Gorkum (now Gorinchem) in 1572.
The imprisoned Catholics – including Franciscan friars, a Dominican friar, and several laypeople – were subjected to harsh treatment and demands that they renounce their Catholic faith. Despite the threats and torture, they steadfastly refused to renounce their beliefs. On July 9, 1572, the captors decided to execute them as a warning to others.
The Martyrs of Gorkum were hanged in a barn near the city on July 9, 1572. Their deaths were the result of their refusal to renounce their Catholic faith and their commitment to their religious beliefs. In 1675, the Holy See beatified the Martyrs of Gorkum, and in 1867, Pope Pius IX canonized them as saints. Their relics are exposed for veneration in Brussels.
One of their number was Saint Andries Wouters, who was a priest who had given in to serious sins against the 6th Commandment. He was well known as a womanizer and had several affairs with women. He even fathered several children, despite his vow of celibacy. He was suspended by the Church for his scandalous life. Yet when the Calvinists captured him and tried to force him to renounce the Holy Eucharist and the Pope he famously exclaimed: “Fornicator I always was; heretic I never was.” (Had Saint Andries not been captured, tortured and martyred, it is reasonable to speculate that he would never have converted, thereby suffering the fires of hell for all eternity.)
St. Mark Ji Tianxiang
Another saint who triumphed over serious sin and gave the ultimate sacrifice was Saint Mark Ji Tianxiang, a Chinese layman. He was an opium addict who struggled for more than 30 years with his addiction. In fact, he confessed it so often that the priest had to begin to withhold absolution. St. Marcus persisted in his faith despite his seemingly insurmountable addiction. He ultimately died as a martyr for the Faith during the Boxer Rebellion, a violent anti-foreign and anti-Christian movement that took place in China from 1899 to 1901.
Willingness to Bear All Trials
While we may not be called to martyrdom, we must always be willing to give an account for the Faith and be willing to endure all things (e.g., loss of income, loss of employment, loss of friends, loss of position or prestige, and even loss of life in the rarest of circumstances) if doing so is necessary to save our soul. Even making the Sign of the Cross in public, praying before meals, encouraging others to attend Mass on Sundays, etc. can lead to persecution to some extent. And we must be willing to bear those trials.
Martyrdom As an Act of Perfect Contrition
St. Thomas, in the Summa, states: “Now, of all virtuous acts martyrdom is the greatest proof of the perfection of charity…” Since perfect charity cannot exist in a soul together with mortal sin, it would seem that this act has the same effect as an act of perfect contrition. Martyrdom is an extraordinary means by which God grants sanctifying grace and immediate entry into Heaven to those who willingly lay down their lives for their faith.
But martyrdom cannot save an obstinate soul that has fallen into formal heresy, and which obstinately denies part a dogmatic teaching of the Faith revealed by Christ through His Church. As Pope Eugene IV affirmed: “No one, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church” (Cantate Domino). While martyrdom may save a soul from Purgatory and/or significantly reduce its time there, it cannot save the one who, even at the moment of death, obstinately remains in heresy or schism.
This is because martyrdom – to be a true martyrdom in the Catholic understanding – must be for the true Faith. Men can die for other causes. A man can die for his family or his country. This, of course, is not the martyrdom of which we speak. A person could even die for a lie (e.g., persons who give their lives to promote communism). Thus, a Muslim can give his life in the name of his false religion (e.g., a suicide bombers) but he is certainly not a martyr. Likewise, a Protestant or a schismatic can die for his false religion but is not a martyr.
Prayer to the North American Martyrs for the Grace to Never Deny the Faith
With the approaching feast day of the North American Martyrs, let us ask through their intercession that God give us all the graces we stand in need of. The following excerpt is taken from the Servants of the Holy Family:
“September 26th is the feast of the North American Martyrs. They were martyred in the 1640’s and canonized by Pope Pius XI on June 29, 1930. Fathers Isaac Jogues and Anthony Daniel, with the coadjutor Brother Rene Goupil and the oblate John de la Lande, were martyred in the territory which is now the United States; Father John de Brebeuf, Gabriel Lalemant, Charles Garnier and Noel Chabanel in Canada. All were Frenchmen by birth. They worked amidst great privations for the conversion of the Hurons. Taken prisoners by the Iroquois tribe, they were put to atrocious tortures, which they bore with joy for the love of God. (St. Andrew’s Missal) They had said that these new lands and new peoples would not be converted without the shedding of blood like the early days of Christianity, and it was their blood that accomplished this.”
O God, Thou hast blessed the first fruits of the Faith in the vast expanse of North America by the missionary labors and martyrdom of blessed Isaac, John, and their companions. May the harvest for Christ grow daily more abundant in the whole world through the intercession of these saints. Amen.
ENDNOTES:
[1] The definition of a “martyr” from the Catholic Dictionary of Father John Hardon: “A person who chooses to suffer, even to die, rather than renounce his or her faith or Christian principles. After the example of Christ, one does not resist one’s persecutors when they use violence out of hatred or malice against Christ, or His Church, or some revealed truth of the Catholic religion. (Etym. Greek μάρτυς for witness, martyr.)