20th Century Martyrs

She loved the ones who mistreated her (Betty Olsen)

2006-07-15T05:31:00.000-07:00

Betty Ann Olsen, the daughter of a missionary-couple in Africa, arrived in war-torn Vietnam in 1964 as a missionary nurse at the age of thirty. She entered the country carrying with her only her medical kit. She worked in a leprosarium ran by Chirstian and Mission Alliance Missionaries in Banmethuot, South Vietnam. Despite their humanitarian works, the mission was always harassed by the Viet Cong. Some missionaries have already been kidnapped, but the missionary work never ceased.

During the Tet (Vietnamese New Year) in January, 1968, the mission compounds were attacked and bombarded by the Viet Cong. Six missionaries died in the three-day attack. During the attacks, Betty Olsen tried to start her car in order to bring a wounded missionary to the hospital. But she was cornered by the Viet Cong and taken as a captive with a fellow missionary, Henry Blood. They were last seen being marched into the forest.

They were hostaged together with Mike Benge, an American journalist, in Darlac POW Camp. They were placed in cages and were fed only with boiled tapioca. The Vietnamese kept moving their prisoners, hiking through the jungles and mountains. Benge once saw an American plane flying above the camp. The pilot only waved at them and left them alone.

For months Olsen, Blood and Benge were chained together and moved north from one encampment to another, moving over 200 miles through the mountainous jungles. The trip was grueling and took its toll on the prisoners. They were physically depleted, sick from dysentery and malnutrition; beset by fungus, infection, leeches and ulcerated sores. Blood died because of the following sicknesses. Benge could also have died, if not only Betty took care of him.

The Viet Cong and their captives kept moving. Just before crossing the border into Cambodia, Olsen weakened to the point that she could no longer move. The Vietnamese began to kick and drag her to keep her moving. Benge, trying to defend her, was beaten with rifle butts. They were not allowed any food, except for bamboo shoots. Betty died on September 28, 1967 and was buried by Benge.

When Benge was released, he met with Olsen’s family in America. He told them, “She suffered terribly. She died from starvation and dysentery two days before her thirty-fifth birthday. She never showed any bitterness or resentment. To the end, she loved the ones who mistreated her.”

Richie Fernando, SJ

2006-07-15T05:30:00.000-07:00

Richie Fernando was a young Filipino Jesuit missionary in Cambodia. He was sent to Cambodia before his priesthood. There, he worked as a teacher in a technical school for the handicapped. In the school, people who were disabled, most especially landmine victims, learned skills which help them earn a living. Richie loved his students in Cambodia and allowed them to share with him their stories.

Among Richie’s students was Sarom, a sixteen-year-old boy who was a victim of a landmine. He wanted to finish his studies there but he was asked to leave by the school authorities for his disruptive attitude. According to Richie, Sarom was tricky but he still had a place for him in his heart.

On October 17, 1996, Sarom came to the school for a meeting. Angered, he suddenly he reached into a bag he was carrying, pulled out a grenade, and began to move towards a classroom full of students; the windows of the room were barred, leaving the students no escape. Richie Fernando came up behind Sarom and grabbed him. Sarom tried to let Richie go, but the missionary held on to Sarom. Sarom accidentally dropped the grenade behind Richie, and in a flash, Richie was dead. The missionary had protected Sarom and the other students from the violence that was about to come.

Four days before he died, Richie wrote to a friend in the Philippines, “I know where my heart is, It is with Jesus Christ, who gave his all for the poor, the sick, the orphan ...I am confident that God never forgets his people: our disabled brothers and sisters. And I am glad that God has been using me to make sure that our brothers and sisters know this fact. I am convinced that this is my vocation.”
Shocked by what he had caused, Sarom sat in his jail cell and mourned too. In March 1997, Mr. and Mrs. Fernando wrote to Cambodia's King Sihanouk, asking for pardon for Sarom; somehow, someone had to stop the violence. Sarom had not wanted to kill Richie. “Richie ate rice with me,” he said. “He was my friend.”

Mother Agnes' glass of water

2006-07-15T05:28:00.000-07:00

Shi Xianzhi was the daughter of a rich pagan in Anhui. As a young girl, she had a difficult character but her friends in a Catholic school in which she enrolled changed her. She converted to the Catholic religion, even though she was faced with opposition from her family. She even refused to be married to the man which her parents chose for her according to the Chinese tradition of arranged marriage. She left her home secretly on the day of her wedding. Because of this, her father disowned her.

After leaving her home, she lived with the Ursuline nuns who baptized her and received her into their religious congregation. In her baptism, she took the name Maria Agnes. She was sent to Italy for her studies as a religious and returned to China to become a school principal. When the foreign missionaries were deported by the Communist government, she was made the superior of the religious congregation throughout China.

During the persecution, she moved to Shanghai and lived in secrecy in the house of a Christian. She continued training her two novices for religious life, placed them in different houses and dressed them in civilian clothes to avoid arrest. She visited the other Ursuline nuns in Xuzhou, Bengbu and Nanking, and in each of her visit, she brought them the Blessed Sacrament. However, the nuns are not just Mother Agnes’ problems. The money sent to her by the Ursulines abroad did not reach her in time, and the families of the other nuns lived in poverty and asked for material aid. Mother Agnes faced all these problems with strength coming from God.

Mother Agnes wrote to the nuns in Italy, “I pray to our beloved Mother and our Lord to give us the grace of martyrdom. We are all prepared.” In Nanking, Monsignor Peter Chang, who protected the nuns in Nanking, was arrested. Five more Ursuline nuns were arrested. Mother Agnes’ neighbors also began to look at her with suspicion.

Mother Agnes was arrested in her house during the celebration of the Chinese New Year. During interrogations, Mother Agnes remained silent or simply replied, “I don’t know.” The Communists called her “the tight mouth.” In 1959, she was sentenced to work as a farmer in Anhui. However, because of her heart problems, she was made to stay in the house for the domestic jobs. One prisoner said about Mother Agnes, “Each time we had finished our work and returned, we would always see her at the entrance of the dining hall picking vegetables or sweeping the floor. She would frequently prepare for us a container of hot boiled water and hide it under a coverlet, saying, “I only work at home and my work is far lighter than yours. Whenever the dining hall has hot water, I go and ask for a container or otherwise the minute you come home, other people may well push forward and you would lose an opportunity to get any.” A glass of boiled water, especially if it was hot, was regarded at that time as very precious. As for us Catholics, we would each beg the other to take it, each of us being glad to let another person enjoy a drink. Our mutual generosity could be seen even in the disposal of a drop of water. Mo. Shi’s glass of hot boiled water did indeed warm the hearts of everyone.”

In the early months of 1960, Mother Agnes’ health aggravated. In the end of October, she was sent to work in the farm. According to the other prisoners, Mother Agnes always talked about death. Once, Mother Agnes told a prisoner, “I am content to die here. For a Christian who lives in Christ, to die is to gain.” She also said to one prisoner, “I am a nun of the Ursuline Order. Should an opportunity arise for you to write a letter one day to the mother general of our order in Rome, please tell all of them that my soul sings praises to the Lord and that right up until the moment of my death I have kept all the rules of our religious congregation.”

In December, 1960, Mother Agnes suffered a fatal heart attack and was brought to the prison hospital, where she died alone. A non-Catholic prisoner said of her, “Look at her, she is still young but she died rather than renounce her faith.” While Mother Agnes was still alive, one prisoner wrote under her inspiration, “I live on the verge of death. To live one more day is to approach the grave nearer by one day. During the course of my life, I walk step by step, coming closer to death, with only the breath of life to divide life from death. What of life! What of death! To live is to live for Christ so that death comes as a blessing. This meeting with God is the highest ideal of our human existence.”

Pastor Son's Sons

2006-07-15T05:27:00.000-07:00

The Communists who infiltrated in South Korea sparked local rebellions, which led to the martyrdom of Christians. Among those Christians were Tong-in and Tong-sin, the sons of Pastor Son, the minister of a Presbyterian Church.

Tong-in and Tong-sin have been persecuted by the Japanese for refusing to worship at a Shinto shrine. In October, 1948, the Communists seized the school. One communist pointed a pistol at Tong-in and forced him to renounce his faith. Tong-in preached to the Communist and asked him to accept Christ.

Suddenly, Tong-sin, the younger brother, came into the scene and shouted, “Shoot me and let my brother live!” “No,” objected Tong-in. “I am the elder. If you must kill someone, shoot me.” The Communists killed them both. When Pastor Son viewed the bodies of his sons, he only said, “Their shining faces are as lovely as flowers.”

After the uprising, the murderers of the two brothers were brought to trial. Pastor Son hurried to the military authorities and said, “Nothing wil bring back my boys now, so what is to be gained by killing this one? I am willing to take him and try to make a Christian of him so he could do for God what Tong-in and Tong-sin left undone.”

The military officers were stunned, but they finally agreed to the pastor’s wish. Pastor Son took the two murderers home. The parents of the Communists were overcome with gratitude that they begged to feed and dress Pastor Son’s daughter. The daughter was hesitant to go, but Pastor Son told her, “It is the best Christian witness that you can make.” And she agreed.

Manche Masemola

2006-07-15T05:25:00.000-07:00

Manche Masemola, a South African girl, was believed to be born in 1913. She was a member of the Pedi tribe. In the early twentieth century, the first Christians from the tribe formed a community. They were very much suspected by other pagan members of the tribe.
Manche grew up with her family. She did not go to school, but helped in her home as other girls from the tribe did. In 1919, an Anglican missionary began preaching among the Pedis. Manche and her cousin, Lucia, listened to the preacher with interest.

This was a source of stress within the family; however, for her parents feared she would leave them and not marry the person they would select as her husband. Such arranged marriages were a source of wealth to the families who contracted them. Her parents beat her, and the constantly abused child told her sister and cousin she would die at their hands. “Manche's mother said she would force us to leave the church. She beat Manche every time she returned from church,” the cousin recalled later. Relations worsened, and the mother hid the girl's clothes so she could not attend Christian instructional classes. On February 4, 1928, her parents led the teenager to a lonely place, where they killed her, burying her by a granite rock on a remote hillside.

I shall pray for him very much (Isidore Bakanja)

2006-07-15T05:24:00.000-07:00

During the colonial times in the Congo, the missionaries were not loved by the colonists, even though they both came from the same nations. The missionaries would usually defend the rights of the abused African slaves, which would anger the colonists.

The Trappist missionaries from Belgium met a young man named Bakanja. Bakanja worked for some white colonizers as an assistant in building-making. He became a Catholic and was baptized as Isidore. He had great love for the Blessed Virgin and always wore his scapular as his identity as a Christian.

When his contract with the whites expired, Isidore Bakanja found work as a servant to a Belgian national. He was transferred to a plantation in Ikili, where it was said that the whites hated Christians. In Ikili, Isidore taught his friends about the Christian religion, prayed in his home and continued wearing his scapular. The agent in Ikili, Mr. Longange, didn’t like Isidore and his faith. Even though Isidore asked to resign, the agent would not allow it.

One night as Isidore was serving his master at supper, Mr. Longange noticed his Brown Scapular. He ordered him to take it off. Isodore did not. A few days later Mr. Longange noticed it again. He had Isodore beaten. The second time the agent tore the scapular from Isidore's neck, had him pinned to the ground, and then beaten with over 100 blows with a whip of elephant hide with nails on the end. He was then chained to a single spot 24 hours a day.

When an inspector came to the plantation, Isidore was sent to another village. He managed to hide in the forest, then dragged himself to the inspector. "I saw a man," wrote the horrified inspector, "come from the forest with his back torn apart by deep, festering, malodorous wounds, covered with filth, assaulted by flies. He leaned on two sticks in order to get near me - he wasn't walking; he was dragging himself". The agent tried to kill "that animal of mon pere", but the inspector prevented him. He took Isidore home to heal, but Isidore knew better. "If you see my mother, or if you go to the judge, or if you meet a priest, tell them that I am dying because I am a Christian."

Fortunately, two missionaries came to give him spiritual comfort. The victim explained what had happened, “The white man did not like Christians ... He did not want me to wear the scapular... He yelled at me when I said my prayers.” Forgive this man, the missionaries urged him. Isidore answered that he had already done so, and held no grudge against him, “Certainly I shall pray for him. When I am in heaven, I shall pray for him very much.” So he received the last sacraments most devoutly. But it was not yet over. His agony lasted six more months. He died on August 8 or 15, 1909, the scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel around his neck and the rosary grasped in his hand.

I will take his place (Maximillian Kolbe)

2006-07-15T05:23:00.000-07:00

On February 17, 1941, Gestapo agents seized Franciscan Fr. Maximillian Kolbe and four other Brothers and first took them to Pawiak prison in Warsaw. The night before his arrest, Fr. Kolbe said, “What indescribable happiness! What a great grace it is to seal one’s ideal with one’s life.” For many times, the Gestapo have been asking Fr. Kolbe to take German citizenship, since Kolbe is a German surnamce. But Fr. Kolbe refused to do so both on religious and patriotic reasons. Also, his work in the Catholic press was not pleasing to the Nazis.

While in prison, Father was violently beaten for being a religious and a priest. He wrote to his children remaining at Niepokalanow, “The Immaculata, most loving Mother, has always surrounded us with tenderness and will watch over us always Let us be led by her, more and more perfectly where she wishes and according to her pleasure, so that, fulfilling our duties to the end, we may, through love, save all souls.” Many times in prison, Fr. Kolbe spoke of martyrdom. One of his brothers told him that what they are suffering for is for the country. But Father Kolbe told him, “Son, I tell you that if it is thus, the Martyrdom is certainly for the faith.” There, he was beaten many times for wearing a crucifix.

Several days later Father Kolbe was transferred to the camp at Auschwitz. The priest, who was too ill to walk, have been pushed, kicked and beaten. He tried to do what was commanded to him, like hauling wheel barrels full of gravel to build crematorium walls. But no matter what violence they used on the priest, Fr. Kolbe never ceased loving them.

Fr. Kolbe infuriated the Nazis because of his priesthood. To punish him, the guards would save the most demeaning work for him. At one time, they even set their vicious dogs on him. Many times, he said, “For Jesus, I am prepared to suffer.” The Nazis also used Fr. Kolbe for carrying corpses to the crematorium. He blessed each dead people he carried.

Soon hospitalized following severe beatings, he spent his nights hearing confessions, despite it being forbidden and the threat of reprisals. He knew how to turn evil itself into good, and one day said to a sick person, “Hate is not a creative force. Only love is creative. These sufferings will not make us bend, but they should help us to be even stronger. They are necessary, with other sacrifices, so that those who come after us may be happy.” He shared among his companions the experience of the Paschal Mystery, in which suffering lived in Faith is transformed into joy. He was so happy being hopspitalized because so many people there needed a priest. He shared with them food which he really saved for them after going out from the hospital.

One day, he sneaked in some hosts. If Fr. Kolbe was caught saying Mass, it would mean immediate execution. He distributed among his fellown prisoners the Eucharist, but he never accepted any rations from them. When he left the hospital, he was sent to a cell called Blocked 14.

In the end of July, a prisoner from the block where Fr. Kolbe was kept escaped. It was a policy in the camp that for each prisoner who escaped, 10 would be killed brutally for his place. The men in Block 14 lived in fear and torment.

The next day, the prisoners were lined up under the scorching sun. They were not given anything to eat or drink. Many of them collapsed. As the night approached, other prisoners were sent to watch the helpless men from block 14. Commander Fritsch announced that ten of them would be chosen to die since the escapee was not found.

When the ten were chosen, one of the men, Francis Gajowniczek, cried out, “My poor wife! My poor children! Goodbye!” Hearing this, Fr. Kolbe walked up to the front of the commandant, a bold act which is punishable by shooting on the spot. He told the commandant, “I would like to die in the place of one of these men.” Fritsch asked, “Why?” Kolbe said, “I am sick and the weak must be liquidated. I am an old man sir, and good for nothing. My life is no longer of use to anyone.” He was asked whose place would he want to take. “The one with the wife and children.” “And who are you?” “A Catholic priest.” Gajowniczek was crossed out from the list, and Fr. Kolbe was sent with the nine other men to the starvation bunker.

The starvation bunker was an underground cell where the rays of the sun cold not manage to reach. It was a virtual grave itself. The men were left there to die. A witness said that Fr. Kolbe would lead his fellow prisoners in prayers anmd singing that passing by the cell was like “descending into the crypt of a church.” Sometimes, the prisoners would be so absorbed in prayer that they wouldn’t notice that the guards would come in and check them. Only when the guards would shout at them would they stop. The prisoners died one by one. On August 14, 1941, two weeks later, only four men remained alive in the starvation bunker. Among them was Fr. Kolbe. The four men were killed with lethal injection. Fr. Kolbe, with a prayer on his lips gave his arm to his executioner. Maximilian Kolbe was 47 years old when he was executed. Francis Gajowniczek to live to a very old age to the point that he managed to attend Fr. Kolbe’s canonization in 1980.
e camp that for each prisoner who escaped, 10 would be killed brutally for his pace. walls. is for the cou
When he was young, he reportedly saw a vision of Mary, offering two crowns. One of the crowns was white, which symbolized purity, and the other was red, symbolizing martyrdom. Our Lady asked him which of the crowns would he like to take. Young Maximillian chose both.

The preacher of Buchenwald (Paul Schneider)

2006-07-15T05:22:00.000-07:00

When Adolf Hitler was assigned by the German president to chancellory, Lutheran Pastor Paul Schneider believed that the new leader would lead Germany to a brighter future with God’s help. However, his hoped faded when the Nazis began ridiculing God’s divinity and the Church. Pastor Schneider protested against this and joined the “Confessing Church,” a Protestant organization which opposed Hitler and the Nazis. In 1935, the Nazis detained him for a short while for protesting against the Nazis on the pulpit. In the winter of 1935-1936 alone, the pastor had been interrogated by the Nazis for twelve times. Pastor Schneider told his friends that he did not want martyrdom, but he was only following Christ.

In 1937, Pastor Schneider excommunicated his parishioners who supported the Nazi party. Because of this, he was imprisoned by the Nazis for two months. After his release, he was banned from returning to the Dickenshied congregation, his parish. But even after his release, he continued criticizing the Nazis. In 1937, he was arrested after worshipping with the Dickenshied congregation. He was imprisoned in the Buchenwald camp.

In the camp, he was sentenced to solitary confinement. From his cell window, he preached to the other prisoners the Gospel. Each time he preached, the Nazis beat him mercilessly. A fellow prisoner once begged him to stop preaching out of mercy, but the pastor continued witnessing to the truth. A Catholic priest, Fr. Leonhard Steinwender, said about the Pastor: “In front of the single-storeyed building of the camp there stretched the immense parade-ground... On feast-days, in the silence of the roll-call, suddenly from behind the barred dinginess of the camp, there echoed the powerful voice of Pastor Schneider. He would preach like a prophet, or rather, he would try to preach. On Easter Sunday, for instance, we heard to our surprise the powerful words, ‘Thus says the Lord: I am the Resurrection and the Life!’ The long lines of prisoners stood at attention, deeply moved by the courage and energy of that indomitable will... He could never utter more than a few phrases. Then we would hear raining down on him the blows of guards' truncheons.”

On July 18, 1939, Pastor Schneider was martyred with a lethal injection. Despite Gestapo surveillance, hundreds of people attended Pastor Schneider’s funeral, including many members of the Confessing Church. One of the pastors preached at the grave side, “May God grant that the witness of your shepherd, our brother, remain with you and continue to impact on future generations and that it remain vital and bear fruit in the entire Christian Church.”

The Ten Boom Family

2006-07-15T05:21:00.000-07:00

The members of the ten Boom family were devout members of the Reformed Church of Holland. They owned a watch shop and were very respected by their community. As early as the thirties, the ten Booms were already sympathetic for the Jews. Wilhelm ten Boom, a minister, was the first member of the family to help the Jews.

Living in the floor above the watch shop were Casper ten Boom, a widower, and his two daughters Corrie and Betsie. Their first Jewish fugitive was a Mrs. Kleermaker. Mr ten Boom welcomed her, saying, “In this household, God’s people are always welcome.” Two nights later, a Jewish couple knocked on the door of the ten Boom residence, and they were accepted. All in all, the ten Booms had seven Jewish guests and others who resided for only a short matter of time. In order to protect the Jewish refugees just in case of a raid, the ten Booms hired a famous architect to design a secret room and a warning buzzer. At the sound of the buzzer, the guests would all hide in the secret room.

One time, Nollie ten Boom, the wife of Wilhelm ten Boom, was caught with a blonde lady. She blurted out the truth, “She is a Jew.” Both of them were arrested. Corrie was in bed of flue at that time. One time, a spy went to the ten Booms asking for money from the ten Booms since, according to him, his wife was in prison for being a Jew. Corrie sent him to the bank with a note telling the bankers to give him money. A few minutes later, the Gestapo burst into their home and arrested the three ten Booms, but they never found the Jews hiding in the secret room. They all escaped, and six survived the war.

Nollie and Willem were released from prison, but not Casper, Corrie and Betsie. The women were sent to Ravensbruck, and Casper was sent to Schevingen, where he died at the age of eighty-four.

The two sisters found their strength in a hidden Bible. Through these, they would read the Bible to their fellow prisoners. Prisoners from other nationalities would translate them into their own languages. This was described as “little glimpses of heaven.”

One time, while they were digging and shovelling in the camp, Betsie became weak and coughed blood. The guard slashed her across the chest and neck with his crop. She told Corrie, “Don’t look, Corrie. Look at Jesus only.” Betsie gradually became weak. On her death bed, she told Corrie, “Corrie, people can still learn to love.”

Corrie was released a few days later. She later learned that her release was due to a clerical error. She survived for more than forty years after her liberation and told the people about their story.

A great desire well up inside him to sacrifice himself for the salvation of others (Salvo D'Acquisto)

2006-07-15T05:20:00.000-07:00

In 1939, Salvo d’Acquisto’s generous-mindedness led him to enrol in the Carabinieri, the Italian Military Police Force. He soon distinguished himself by his conscientiousness and his respectful attitude towards everyone. He seemed to need “to help people, combining this expression of his love for God and his concern for his neighbour with the traditional qualities of the policeman: love for the fatherland, courage, a spirit of sacrifice and a sense of duty. In November 1940 he volunteered to go to Cyrenaica (Libya) and stayed there until 1942, experiencing, as his mother observed, “a great desire well up inside him to sacrifice himself for the salvation of others.” It was his life’s wish. He himself wrote to his mother, “We have to conform ourselves to God’s will whatever the cost in suffering or sacrifice.”

On September 22, 1943, the Nazi barracks in the village of Palidoro, Rome, was bombed by resistance fighters. One German soldier was killed and two others were wounded. The German soldiers went to the headquarters of the Carabinieri in Torrimpietra. They were received by Salvo, who was the only officer in the headquarters at that moment, since the Commanding Officer was absent. The Germans told Salvo to follow them and took him in their armoured car to Palidoro.

Since the Nazis could not find any more Carabinieri soldiers, they took 23 civilians from Palidoro as hostages. Salvo was ordered to identify among those they had rounded up the one responsible for the incident of the previous evening. But Salvo said no one was involved. Because of this, he was beaten by the police. “If we do not find the guilty one,” they shouted, “the whole lot will die!” The hostages and Salvo were loaded on a truck and brought to Torre di Palidoro.

The hostages were protesting their innocence. But they were given shovels to dig their own graves. The hostages found it hard to dig their own graves. Salvo tried to encourage the others, but their emotions were too great. Finally, out of love for his neighbour, Salvo told the Nazis that he alone was the one who was involved in the bombing the last night and asked that the innocent civilians be set free. Salvo was shot to death that afternoon, only two weeks before his twenty-third birthday. The soldiers buried Salvo in the grave. But the civilians of the village exhumed the body and gave it a Christian burial.

When the German Commandant heard of Salvo's offer to die for the others, “he was startled and paced nervously up and down for a time,” probably greatly disturbed himself and in admiration of the gesture, as we learn from witnesses.

On February 26, 2001, John Paul II in his Address to the Italian Carabinieri , stated, “The history of the Italian Carabinieri shows that the heights of holiness can be reached in the faithful and generous fulfillment of the duties of one's state. I am thinking here of your colleague, Sergeant Salvo d'Acquisto, awarded a gold medal for military valor, whose cause of beatification is under way.”

No satisfactory guarantee for Nazi education (Elizabeth von Thadden)

2006-07-15T05:19:00.000-07:00

During the first years of Nazism, Elisabeth von Thadden, a Protestant school mistress, was attracted to the ideas of the new Reich. She was still quite blind to the intentions of the Nazis. But as the Nazi’s evil agendas became more and more exposed, she gradually became disappointed.When the Nazis came to power, they banned von Thadden to enroll Jewish girls in the Christian bording school which she founded, but she defied those rules.

Unknown to von Thadden, one of the girls enrolled in her school was the daughter of a Nazi mother. She was sent by her mother to spy on the school’s activities. Once, von Thadden held a worship service in her school and chose some verses from the Psalms as text. The girl immediately reported this to her mother, and the Gestapo were sent to the school. The Bavarian Culture Ministry threatened the school with closure for “activities endangering the state” because there was no portrait of Hitler hanging in the school building, and because at worship services, where the texts are mostly from the Psalms, therefore making it Jewish. Von Thadden was interrogated, and most of the topics in interrogation was about religion. Von Thadden didn’t close the school, however. So the school was nationalized and Von Thadden was unceremoniously suspended from the school's governing board without compensation. The Nazis saw in the school “no satisfactory guarantee for National-Socialist-aligned education.”

Von Thadden went back to Berlin and joined the Red Cross as a nursing assistant. She also developed contacts with opponents of the Nazi régime such as Helmut Gollwitzer, Martin Niemöller and Elly Heuss-Knapp and also engaged in activities such as gathering food stamps for people in hiding and affording those threatened by the régime a chance to leave the country. She quite underestimated the danger of doing these things.

Von Thadden became involved in the “Solf Circle”, which was organized by an ambassador’s widow and her daughter and tackled pressing issues about Nazism in tea parties. The Nazis saw this as a threat to the Reich. On September 10, 1943, von Thadden invited members of the circle to her birthday party, where they talked about Nazism. One of the guests was a Swiss Doctor who was spying for the Nazis.

Over the next faw months, members of the circle and von Thadden were arrested. Von Thadden was sent to Ravensbruck. She was sentenced to death for “attempted high treason because of the assumed connection with Reichchancellor Wirth and his circle, and the destruction of the army’s morale through the conversations about hopelessness of the state of war.” The sentence was delayed because of the attempt on Hitler’s life. She was beheaded on September 8, 1944, in Plotzensee prison. The pastor who accompanied her to death said that she walked with steady steps. She went the way in a brave fight against her enemies, but without rebellion against God.

The Ulma Family

2006-07-15T05:18:00.000-07:00

During the Nazi Occupation of Poland, many Jews had to escape from the Nazis in order to save their lives. They were discriminated, their properties were confiscated, and majority of them were sent to concentration camps. Many of the Jews sought refuge in Christian households, but they were only given a few days to stay out of fear of reprisals. One family showed complete hospitality to the endangered Jews to the point of risking their lives out of performing this act of charity.

Jozef and Wiktoria Ulma lived in Markowa. They were poor peasants who owned a fruit orchard. They were married in 1937 and had six children: four boys and two girls. Jozef was known to be sympathetic to the Jews and have sheltered a great number of Jews since the start of the war. Many Jews came to be sheltered since the house of the Ulmas was far from the village and it gave them a sense of safety. The last Jews they sheltered were six members of the Szallow family and the Goldman sisters. The eight Jews hid in the attic of the Ulmas for many months.

One time, the Nazi police searched every house in Markowa for sheltered Jews. The police discovered the Jews hidden in the Ulma household. First, the policemen only took a photograph of the house then left them in peace. In March 23, the police began to plan a crime.

The next day, at dawn, the police came to the Ulma household. German police surrounded the house. Then, shots were heard. First to be killed were the eight Jews. Then, Jozef and Wiktoria were taken to the garden of their house and killed. Wiktoria was nine-months pregnant at that time. The last ones to be killed were the six children. The oldest child was Stasia, eight, and the youngest was Marysia, one. Many villagers were forced to watch the massacre as a sign of warning for those who shelter Jews.

Father Stanislaw Jamrozek, the postulator of the canonization cause of the family, said the request for canonization was initiated by Markowa residents, “who still cherish the memory of their murdered neighbors.”

I want to be with my people (Stanley Rother)

2006-07-15T05:14:00.000-07:00

The Oklahoma diocese adopted the T'zutuhil-Mayan community in Guatemala for missions, and they sent priests from their diocese to work as missionaries to the community. Among those priests was Fr. Stanley Rother. He was not politically active, and his fellow priests in the area considered him to be the most conservative in their group. But that wasn't the point. Rother loved his people, and they loved him. And their suffering became his suffering. He could not ignore what he was seeing and living in his parish of Santiago Atitlán.

During those times, the military entered the community and persecuted the Indian community. The Catholic Church was also targeted for persecution. Some 150 other priests and religious men and women were forced to leave the country under the threat of death. Military leaders accused the church of supporting communism through its preaching on human, land and labor rights, and the work of its pastoral agents in the field. The bible came to be considered a subversive book, and people in villages would often hide them, burying them behind their houses or in their fields, so that soldiers would not find them.

One evening, in 1981, a catechist of Fr. Rother’s parish was abducted and disappeared. Rother came to the door and ended up witness to the kidnapping of his friend. He could do nothing, and in the following years, the cries of his friend haunted him. Fr. Rother said, “That makes 11 members of the community that have been kidnapped and all are presumed dead...For these 11 that are gone, there are eight widows and 32 children among the group.”

Soon after, Fr. Rother’s name was in the army’s death list. Fearing for the protection of his flock, Fr. Rother fled to Oklahoma, but returned to the people he loved. “If I have to die, I will die there. I want to be there with my people.”

On the night July 28, 1981, three hooded men came into Fr. Rother’s rectory to kidnap him. But Fr. Rother struggled against them, knowing that he would be kidnapped, tortured and killed. People around the rectory heard Fr. Rother say to the men, “No, I won’t go with you. Kill me here!” Then, he was shot to death. He was the tenth priest to be killed between the years 1980-1981.

Thousands came to the funeral, so many that the pews had to be removed from the church to make room for them. Twenty-five priests concelebrated a Mass on the day of his death. The following day, two bishops and 35 priests concelebrated the funeral Mass. His body was buried in Oklahoma, while his heart was in Santiago Atitlan.

The US Embassy did not even send a representative to the memorial Mass for Rother. Only one American reporter attended. There have been no congressional fact-finding teams. Sources within the US Embassy in Guatemala indicate the incident has a low priority. Like the four American nuns killed in El Salvador, the American administration ignored his death and continued sending military support to the repressive soldiers of Guatemala.

Felipe and Mary Barreda

2006-07-15T05:13:00.000-07:00

Felipe and Mary Barreda were already married for thirty years. They raised six children and had fifteen grandchildren. In the 70’s, the couple joined the Cursillo movement and became leaders of the Basic Ecclesial Community in their hometown, where they lived in service to the poor out of Christian charity.

During those times, it was hard to live a Christian life in Nicaragua based on the Gospels. The Basic Ecclesial Communities were often suspected with political implications. But the only activities of the Community was to bring families together to reflect on the scripture and help them live Christian lives.

Before Christmas in 1982, Felipe and Mary volunteered to work in a coffee plantation. Picking coffee would not be construed as a Christian witness, but the risk and meaning of this work were clearly understood by the Barredas. In a letter to her friend, she wrote, “The opportunity to go and pick coffee will be converted into health, clothing, homes and roads and food. For this, I am going to pick coffeewith all love and enthusiasm of which I am capable. Please understand that in every grain that I cut, every bean that I pick, every one of your faces will be present, the faces of your children, and even the faces of those that I don’t know. . . .We wish to ask yoyu to be present with God this Christmastime with a smile, with greater care for your children. Wherever I may be, I’ll be thinking of you in these moments. I love you all very much.”

On December 28, the farm where they were working were attacked by the Contra rebels. The Barredas and other farmers were kidnapped, and the coffee harvests were destroyed.

The Barredas were marched into a camp in Honduras, where they were subjected to beatings and torture. Mary was repeatedly raped. The Barredas were forced to declare themselves as communists, but they responded with prayers and protestations of their Christian faith. On January 7, 1983, Felipe and Mary were executed.
In their funeral in the cathedral of Esteli, five thousand people attended. The couple were acclaimed as Christian martyrs who laid down their lives in faithfulness to the Gospel and their commitment to God and their neighbour.

The Martyrs of Kongolo

2006-07-15T05:10:00.000-07:00

In the town of Kongolo, in the Democratic Congo, anti-Catholic rebels killed 20 Belgian missionaries from the order of the Holy Spirit. The priests established their monastery since 1909. There lived the priests, old men, children, patients, 40 Sisters and 56 seminarians.

On Sunday, December 31 1961, therebels attacked the town of Kongolo, with anti-Catholic sentiments. The rebels spread terror in different parts of the country. The rebels are planning to kill the “mercenaries,” which are the priests. The priests were accused of breaking the confessional seal, participating in the battle in Lukika, and many more false accusations. Immediately, the soldiers attacked the mission, where a white flag was raised.

The priests had their shoes, glasses and watches removed from them. They were beaten and loaded to the truck. The other nuns and seminarians were also abducted. Meanwhile, the soldiers plundered the seminary and the mission house.

The missionaries were brought to the military camp. There, they suffered maltreatment, beatings and insults. Then, a mock trial began. The soldiers demanded for the death of the missionaries.

The atrocities began. In the eyes of the nuns and seminarians, the priests were laid on the ground, had their cassocks raised and were whipped with whips made of thin stripes of hippopotamus skin. Then, the priests were called by name, sentencing them to death.

That night, the nuns were brought back to the convent. It is not sure if the soldiers made an attempt to their purity, but the nuns were heard screaming. The priests and seminarians were placed in cells. The missionaries prepared themselves for martyrdom.

The next day, January 1 1962, the seminarians were brought to the military camp in Lualaba. The priests were brought to the river and were mutilated. The seminarians were beaten, but no one was killed among them. They were forced to throw the bodies of the priests to the river.

Every year, the Kongolo Diocese celebrates their martyrdom with a mass and ordination of priests, making the memory of the martyrs alive.

They cannot silence the Gospel, which is the voice of Jesus (The Martyrs of La Rioja, Argentina)

2006-07-15T05:05:00.000-07:00

In 1969, Bishop Enrique Angelelli of the La Rioja diocese held his first mass aired on the radio. May, 1969, the Bishop wrote in his pastoral an analysis of the reality in La Rioja and the liberation of the people. Because of this, Monsignor Angelelli became closer to workers and farmers. He denounced drugs, gambling and prostitution among the powerful people of La Rioja. He visited all districts and forgotten rural provinces in his diocese, encouraging them to solve their problems. He demanded to the national government for budget for the nation, condemned the human rights abuses by governors, encouraged the organization of the domestic employees and insisted all to commit in the political action on the service and well-being of the town. But conservative Catholic groups protested against the actions of Bishop Angelelli and his radio programs were banned.
In 1973, during the general elections, the people’s hopes were returned. The mass aired on the radio was allowed again. But, the Church was persecuted. On June 13, in Annilaco, there had been expulsion organized by landowners of priests and nuns. Many people called the Church of La Rioja “Communists”.
In 1974, the country suffered more problems with socio-political crisis. In September, Angelelli visited Rome. In Rome, he was advised not to return anymore because he is being threatened by the "Three A" (group for police officers of the Anti-communist Alliance of Argentina). But Angelelli returned to his suffering flock and defended their rights.

In February of 1976, the General Vicar of the Diocese of La Rioja, Mons. Esteban Inestal and two leaders of the Rural Movement were arrested. After the coup d’etat on March 24, the people and the Church were persecuted. Mons. Angelelli spoke out in defense of his suffering flock. He made negotiations with the military government, and even talked with Commander Luciano III. Realizing that his priests and religious’ lives are in danger, he advised them to leave the Diocese and take refuge. He refused the Latin American Bishop’s Conference’s invitation for an encounter in Quito, Ecuador. Things got worse. Many more priests were arrested.

On 18 July 1976, the priests GABRIEL LONGUEVILLE, a French priest aged 44, and CARLOS DE DIOS MURIAS, 33, were having a dinner. Two people, members of the Federal police, came and talked with them for about ten minutes. They were told to go to La Rioja to identify some prisoners. The two took advantage of this trip by taking some belongings for a pastoral meeting. Then, they went to La Rioja. Nothing more is heard about them. The next day, the bodies of the two priests were found near the railroad with clear signs of torture.

On hearing the death of the two priests, the Bishop of Longueville’s diocese in France went to the place of their martyrdom, kissed the ground and planted grains of wheat from Longueville’s village. Monsignor Angelelli officiated the funeral of the two martyrs. He recalled what Murias said three hours before he disappeared, “They can silence the voice of the Bishop and the voice of Carlos de Dios Murias, but they can not silence the Gospel, which is the voice of Jesus.” He also said about Longueville, “Gabriel, man of peace, sensitive to the sufferings of his neighbors, faithful friend, alert and of a few words.”

The day after the crime, men wearing hoods went to look for the parish priest of Sanogasta, but he had already left on the recommendation of the Bishop, Monsignor Enrique Angelelli. A layperson who attended to them, WENCESLAO PEDERNERA, was asked about the whereabouts of the priest. He was shot when he told them that the priest was not there. Pedrenera is a married person and a farmer. He is also a member of the Young Catholic Workers.

On 4 August, seventeen days after the murder of the priests, Monsignor Enrique Angelelli, Bishop of the Diocese of La Rioja, died, allegedly in a car accident. However, overwhelming evidence has been gathered which suggests that it was an assassination.

The Bishop had just left Chamical where he had celebrated Mass and given a sermon in which he denounced the previous murders. The Bishop was driving a van, and Father Arturo Pinto who was accompanying him, remembers how just as they left Chamical a car began to follow them. The Bishop accelerated, but then another car appeared and at the height of the Punta de los Llanos the cars blocked their path and forced the van to overturn.

The body of the Bishop was left on the ground for six hours, the van disappeared, and the only injury that the corpse of Monsignor Angelelli showed was a broken neck, as if it had been repeatedly struck. The briefcase that the Bishop was carrying was never found.

When Democracy returned to Argentina, the case of the murder of the Bishop was returned. It was declared that Bishop Angelelli was murdered, and that he did not die in a car accident.

My God, forgive these brothers (Lucien Botovasoa)

2006-07-14T22:40:00.000-07:00

During a civil war in Madagascar, Lucien refused to take up arms to kill the innocent on account of his faith. He was threatened, but he persisted. Finally, he was condemned to die. Before being killed, he asked his executiners for a moment to pray. The executioners left him alone for some minutes and heard him say, "My God, forgive these brothers."

Sixteen years later, Lucien's executioner came to a French missionary and told him, "Father, it is I who killed Lucien Botovasoa seventeen years ago. Before dying, he told me, 'When you really need me, I will be close to you.' I know that he is here. Baptize me, Father, for I will die soon." The executioner was baptized, and he soon died afterwards.

I have only one request, forgive those who killed me (Ghasibe Kayrouz)

2006-07-14T22:20:00.000-07:00

During the Lebanese civil war, a young man preparing to enter the seminary was killed. Ghasibe Kayrouz was born to a poor Maronite family near Beirut. From his childhood, the Catholic faith was introduced to him by the example of his parents who educated their children in a spirit of prayer and love to God.

After his father's death, Ghassibe helps his family to survive by teaching religion to children in the countryside. It is at this point that Ghassibe's extraordinary Faith reveals itself. It is in this love for God that he enters the Jesuit seminary in Beirut. Ghassibe's Passion arrives upon his decision, one Christmas, to return to his native village. He never reaches his home, however, as he is captured and held hostage by a Muslim family who want to blackmail Ghassibe's family for land. Ghassibe's witness to Faith until death is provoked following his decision to knowingly make the sign of the Cross in this Muslim house. The Muslim men of the house, enraged by this, kill Ghassibe.

Later, after his death, his family discovered a letter which was written by Ghassibe himself. In it, they learned that even before his death, he had a premonition about his future martyrdom. It might probably have started when three of is friends were killed for their faith.

In the testament, he wrote, "I have only one request, forgive those who killed me." He also offered his blood for the conversion of sinners in Lebanon and for peace, love, and reconciliation not only in Lebanon, but also in the whole world.

They suffered like the people (Jesuit Priests and Dominican Nuns)

2006-07-14T22:19:00.000-07:00

Before any missionaries were killed in Rhodesia there were isolated instances of individual terrorist leaders demonstrating anti- religious views. A piece of rhetoric, left at the scene of an unsuccessful bridge demolition near a mission, closed with the words "Down with Christ." Subsequent to the first killings, in May 1977, a terrorist leader told missionaries: "If the Jews had not killed Christ, I would have done it myself." Other missionaries were told by terrorists not to mention Christ and His resurrection in the course of preaching. It has been pointed out that this restriction is ominously akin to similar impositions made upon the Russian churches. In another incident, the Roman Catholic Church was described as representing the evils of capitalism.

On the night of February 6, 1977, seven Catholic missionaries were massacred by the rebels for no reason at all. According to a survivor, the rebels killed the missionaries without saying anything. Those who were killed are four Dominican nuns and three Jesuit priests.

Fr. Myerscough, the only one who survived the massacre, narrated the events that happened. According to him, the rebels rounded up the white missionaries, ignoring the black staff and sisters. After they were rounded up, they were brought to an abandoned place a short distance from the mission. The missionaries were unaware of what will happen to them until three of the rebels opened fire. The missionaries began to run for safety. According to Fr. Myerscough, after the shooting stopped, he saw the seven dead.

Fr. Myerscough is aware of the reason why his fellow missionaries were killed. He said that the murders were “obviously the result of Russian indoctrination. In my opinion, if you want proof the Communists are behind this, come to the mission. The terrorists must have been got at to have that brutality in them." According to the police, more than 100 cartridge cases fired from Russian-made rifles and a machine-gun were found in the murder scene.

It is not known from what group did the murderers of the missionaries come from, but they probably came from the rebel groups. According to those who knew the murdered missionaries, they are not interested in knowing who the real murderers are. For them, what is important is that the missionaries are aware of the dangers that they might face and they persevered in remaining with the people. Finally, they suffered like the people.

We have decided to remain with you! (Three Missionaries in Burundi)

2006-07-14T22:15:00.000-07:00

The missionaries who tried to reconcile the groups were also killed, even though they are not Africans. On September 30, 1995, three missionaries were killed in their residence. They are Xaverian missionaries Fr. Aldo Marchiol and Fr. Ottorino Maule; and the lay volunteer Catina Gubert. The three missionaries worked in Burundi for a long time already and had been receiving death threats from the government for speaking out for the people.

It was discovered that the government was trying to get rid of the missionaries, and if they could not get rid of them, they would be killed. Ms. Gubert has plans to go back to Italy in July, but she postponed her trip, saying, “I was thinking to come to Italy after the return of Fr. Ottorino, but how can I leave now? There is so much to do, especially now that the situation is getting worse. I don’t feel I could betray them this way. The Lord is giving me strength to endure these times, and so I stay. It might be in one, two months? Will see!” The missionaries are aware of their fates if they remained. Fr. Maule was once asked by a child, “Is it true that you are going away?” Fr. Maule replied, “We have decided to remain with you!”

The deaths of these missionaries are fruitful. In their funeral, the mother of Fr. Maule said, “Tell Father General to send new missionaries to take the place of my son, Ottorino.”

Tell Christ the King I shall be with him soon (Jose Sanchez del Rio)

2006-07-08T04:35:00.000-07:00

Jose Sanchez del Rio was only thirteen when the religious persecution in Mexico broke out. He wanted to follow their footsteps, but because of his young age, the General would not allow him to join the fight. Jose begged to be allowed to be a young soldier for Christ the King. His mother, of course, objected, saying that he might be killed. “Mama, do not let me lose the opportunity to gain Heaven so easily and so soon,” he replied. Jose was accepted as the flag bearer of the troops and was given the nickname of “Tarcisio” after the young martyr of Rome.
In a fierce battle on February 5, 1928, the General’s horse was shot. Like a true veteran, Jose leapt off his own horse saying, “My General, take my horse and save yourself. If they kill me, I won’t be missed, but you would!” Then the young soldier crawled to a strategic position and began shooting until he used his last cartridge. He was captured and taken to his home town of Sahuayo, and put in the sacristy of the church as his jail.
One of Jose’s childhood friends, Marcial Maciel, said, “One of the windows looked out on the street and from there we could hear him sing, ‘To heaven, to heaven, to heaven I want to go,’ while awaiting his sentence. The federals were using the parish as a prison, and also as a corral. Rafael Picazo, who controlled the village of Sahuayo, put as a condition to release him that he deny his faith before Picazo himself and his soldiers. We all heard about this, and we were very worried and in a tremendously emotional and sad state. We, his friends, met together to pray for him. We cried a lot, asking the Most Holy Virgin that he not be killed but, at the same time, that he not renounce his faith. In fact, Jose wanted no part in renouncing the faith.”
In order to terrorize him, the soldiers made him watch the hanging of one of the other captured Cristeros. Jose encouraged the man, saying “Lazaro, you will be in Heaven before me. Prepare a place for me. Tell Christ the King I shall be with him soon.”
Daily, Jose recited the rosary and sang songs of faith. From prison, he wrote a beautiful letter to his mother telling her that he was resigned to the Will of God. Jose’s father attempted to ransom his son, but was unable to raise the money in time.
On February 10, 1928, Jose was brutally tortured and the skin of the soles of his feet was sheered off; he was then forced to walk on salt, followed by walking through the town to the cemetery. The young boy screamed with pain but would not give in. The soldiers placed Jose beside a grave already dug for the occasion. They stabbed him with their knives, and each time he was stabbed, he cried out, “Viva Cristo Rey!” When he was asked of the words he would like to tell his father, he said, “Tell him I shall see him in heaven.” Finally, he was shot to death.

Seven Visitandine Nuns

2006-07-08T04:34:00.000-07:00

In May, 1931, the Visitandine Convent in Madrid dispersed its more than eighty sisters, disguised in street clothes, to their families and friends. Rumours have been circulating that the republicans would burn down their convent. The superior, Mother Maria Gabriela Hinojosa, wanted to make sure that her sisters would not be harmed just in case violence broke out.
Greater danger came when the government started requisitioning empty buildings. In order to keep control over the convent, Mother Gabriela asked six sisters to return. When things pacify, the other sisters would return. It became a necessity for seven sisters to stay behind just in case violence breaks out.
The seven sisters did not even dare to put on their habits or sleep in their usual cells. Instead, they wore secular clothing and slept together in a common room where they could flee at a moment’s notice. But as the years passed by, the situation became hotter. The seven sisters rented an apartment near the convent. The contemplative nuns had to learn the ways of the secular world.
When the war broke out, the sisters transferred the most precious objects of the convent into the apartment. At night, the sisters took turns in watching for signs of danger. People who met them said that they felt to be living in some kind of “new catacombs.”
Unfortunately, the seven nuns were betrayed by a neighbour. Their apartment was checked by the militia and the sacred objects were carted off. When the militia were checking their apartment, one of the nuns exclaimed, “What a joy, martyrdom is not far off.” The militia returned and told the nuns to report to the police station for some questioning. After the questioning, they were soon released. The neighbours of the nuns advised them to flee, but they refused, since they did not want to leave one of their sisters exposed to danger. They also refused to take refuge in foreign consulates in Madrid. They remained united, believing that it will take precedence over any physical peril.
Predictably, a truck arrived under the control of anarchist units. The sisters were loaded into the truck and set off. It stopped at the end of Calle Lopez de Hoyos. The sisters were loaded off the truck to be killed. As they held each other's hand, a barrage of gunfire shattered their bodies, except for Sr. Maria Cecilia, who had unwittingly started to run when she felt the sister next to her fall. Moments afterwards, she surrendered, declaring herself a nun, and was shot five days later at the cemetery wall in Vallecas on the outskirts of Madrid.

Maria Teresa Ferragud Roig and her daughters

2006-07-08T04:31:00.000-07:00

During the height of the Spanish civil war, four nuns from the Masia-Ferragud family, sought refuge in the shelter of their mother, Maria Teresa Ferragud Roig, in Algemesi, Valencia. Maria Teresa, an elderly woman of 84, was a member of the Catholic Action and the widow of Silverio Masia. Of their nine children, five became nuns and their only son entered priesthood. Maria’s four daughters, who lived in different convents, continued to live according to the rules of the congregations in which they belonged, the Poor Clares and the Discalced Augustinians. Their mother, who raised them up as good Christians, joined them in their life of prayer and, together, they prepared themselves for their future martyrdom.
At that time, every prominent Catholic in Algemesi was killed by the anti-Catholic militia. However, the Masia-Ferragud sisters lived in safety in the shelter of their mother until they were betrayed by some neighbors. At four o’clock in the afternoon, on October 19, 1936, the militia came to arrest the four sisters. Maria Teresa did not want to leave her daughters, and so she followed them. The five women were imprisoned in Fons Salutis, formerly a convent of the Cistercian nuns. There, they remained peaceful and resigned to the will of God. Some of the militia men offered the four nuns freedom in exchange of marriage, but they refused.
At ten o’clock in the evening, October 25, the militia brought the four sisters on a car. Maria Teresa begged not to be separated from her daughters and joined them. The car went to the neighboring village of Alcira. During the trip, the five women prayed and encouraged each other. The women were taken to a place called “Cruz Abierto,” where they would be killed. The executioners wanted to kill the mother first, but she told the militia, “I want to know what you are going to do to my daughters, and if you are going to kill them, shoot them first with me being the last one.” Then she said to her daughters, “My daughters, be faithful to your celestial Husband and do not believe in the flatteries of these men.” She also told them, “My daughters, do not be afraid. Death is only a question of time.” One by one, her daughters were killed.
When the executioners came to her, they asked her, “Old woman, are you not afraid to die?” Maria Teresa told them, “All my life I wanted to do something for Jesus, and now I’m going to be left behind? Kill me for the same reason you killed my daughters. I am a Christian.” After killing her, the executioners said among themselves, “This is a true saint.”

I shall live and die for my religion (Ignatios Maloyan)

2006-07-07T21:47:00.001-07:00

When the Turks announced the elimination of the Armenian race, Bishop Ignatios Maloyan prepared the Catholic clergy of Armenia for the great trial which awaits them and told them to pray. He himself was arrested on June 15, 1915 with other Catholics and interrogated by the Turks.
The interrogators asked Bishop Maloyan where he hid his weapons, but the bishop said he had always been faithful to the government. When advised to convert to Islam, Bishop maloyan resolutely refused. He said that he was ready to tolerate all kinds of sufferings even death so that he may always remain true to the faith, and in this was his ultimate happiness. And even if they condemned him to the worst punishments and cut his body with daggers he will not betray his faith. Because of this answer, Bishop Maloyan was beaten and sent to prison.
Despite his broken body, Bishop Ignatios Maloyan gathered his strength and said with all his might, “He who hears me among priests, I ask him to give me the absolution.” With that the soldiers went back hitting him, they extracted his nails and his blood spilled on the jail floor then they forced him to walk with his bleeding feet.
Bishop Ignatios Maloyan remained in jail with his congregation till June 9. On that day his mother visited him and cried for his state. But the bishop, her son, encouraged her by saying, “Don’t despair, oh mother, God has saved me for this glorious day. Don’t cry for me neither suffer, tomorrow, with my beloved imprisoned, I shall walk the road to Diyrbakir, what will happen to us, I don’t know, pray for us. Go back home and encourage my relatives to remain true to the faith.” He also asked for shoes to be able to walk the long way.
The next day, the Turks marched four-hundred-and-forty people to a desrted place called “Chikhan” and gave them the last chance to convert to Islam. All refused. Bishop Maloyan said on their behalf, “Not for a day, did we betray the Turkish government, not in the past or at the present. But if you want us to betray our loyalty to the Christian faith, this will never be.”
Bishop Ignatios Maloyan asked for a permission to say his last words to his believers. He gave them the general absolution and the Holy Eucharist. He also prayed for the courage to die as martyrs. One of the witnesses said, “That hour, I saw a cloud covering the prisoners and from all emitted a perfumed scent. What caused a great surprise was the look of joy and serenity on the faces of the believers, as they were all going to die out of love for Jesus."
The executioners separated the Catholics into three groups and brought them to different places, where they killed them. Before eliminating the last group, where bishop Maloyan belonged, they parted the Bishop from his friends, set him on a horse and took him to Farkabro three hours away from Diyarbekir. On arriving there Maloyan asked the soldiers, “Where are my children?” They answered, “They were taken to be killed.”
He was given the last chance to convert to Islam. Maloyan answered, “I am surprised by your question. I’ve told you I shall live and die for the sake of my faith and religion. I take pride in the Cross of my God and Lord.”
With this, the executioner shot Bishop Maloyan wit his pistol. The bullet hit Maloyan in his throat and he fell to the ground. Before he released his last breath he cried out loud, “My God, have mercy on me; Into your Hands I deliver my last breath.”

He sometimes sees fit to let his choicest servants seal their testimony by laying down their lives in the line of duty (Mavis Pate)

2006-07-07T21:47:00.000-07:00

The short dark-haired Mavis Pate had served as a nurse in the famous hospital ship, SS Hope. At her first missionary appointment in 1964, she said, “God has his way to deal with us, and with this obstinate one, it required me there for about a year, to see the need that existed and to help point out to me my part in meeting that need. . . On the basis of that. . . I made the commitment to foreign mission service.”
She first served in Bangladesh, then in Thailand.In 1970, she was sent to a Baptist hospital in Gaza to work in the operating room and be the director of a nursing school. During the Six-Day war in 1967, she and the other missionaries in Gaza were in the most dangerous part of the globe. Many victims were brought to their hospital for treatment.
Nurse Pate was touched by the plight of the 360,000 Palestinians. She visited them in their refugee camps and shared to them her faith in Jesus. She prayed “that we all may be truly surrendered to His will, willing tools in his hand, channels for his blessings, more Christlike than manlike.
One Sunday evening, January 16, 1972, Nurse Pate left with Pastor Ed Nicholas and his three daughters on a short trip to Tel Aviv. After filling some oxygen tanks, she drove back to Gaza with a new car. There was danger of commando attacks from refugee camps, but the missionaries thought that they would be respected because of their neutrality. While on their way, hidden Palestinians opened fire on the vehicles of the missionaries. Pastor Nicholas and one of his daughters were wounded, while Nurse Pate was hit with three bullets. She lived for three more hours in the medical center in Beersheba, where she was brought by helicopter. She died while the doctors are working on her.
Many Palestinians apologized for the incident. They thought that the vehicles were Israeli army vehicles.
In the funeral, the executive director of Nurse Pate’s mission board said in a eulogy:
“We know how urgently a missionary nurse is needed, and how radiantly a life like this shines forth its Christian testimony. We recognize, however, that the Lord of the harvests knows more than we do about the affairs of his work. He sometimes sees fit to let his choicest servants seal their testimony by laying down their lives in the line of duty, and out of it God has a way of bringing sustained advance in the work of his kingdom.
Her silent grave will be a permanent witness to the high calling of God. Missionaries will look at it and remember the great extent to which the missionaries go in order that the love of Christ may be shared.
Non-Christian people will look at it and be reminded of the love of God that sent the Lord Jesus into the world for our redemption, and has continued sending his messengers forth to make salvation known.”

I will stay with the Fathers and the Sisters (Lucien Tapeidi and Companions)

2006-07-07T21:46:00.001-07:00

During the Japanese invasion of Papua New Guinea, the missionaries who lived in the country watched events anxiously, and feared the worst. In January 1942 the Anglican bishop, Philip Strong, had broadcast an appeal to them to stay at their work, come what may. Many of the missionaries themselves wished this, and had already resisted calls to turn to safety.
In Northern Papua, a group of Anglican Missionaries landed on Gona for safety from capture. With them was Lucian Tapiedi, a faithful layman who assisted the missionaries. He said, “I will stay with the Fathers and the Sisters.”
While the missionaries were fleeing, they remembered that they have left a box containing records and money for the missionaries. Lucian volunteered to go back and get the box. Nearing the Jewala Creek, Lucian was met by a small group of Orakaiva men. Perhaps the box was left by design to give Lucian, the Papuan, a choice, plainly telling him their intentions regarding the Europeans. Lucian was killed with an axe there on the track and his body was buried nearby.
The party of whites and their escorts moved on to Kurumbo and on to Hanakiro. At Worisata Plantation one of the women became ill and was carried to Embi. At Embi the Porombeta man returned to their village and Boro men took charge of the “captives.” On 6th August the party set off, not in the direction of Eroro but towards Dobodura. At Joropa the party were handed over to the Japanese soldiers. The captives were put in a truck and driven off to Buna. There, the missionaries were killed with other white men.

I shall remain at my post (Clodesindis Luken)

2006-07-07T21:46:00.000-07:00

Mother Clodesindis Luken, a Benedictine missionary from Germany, became a great missionary to the Filipino people and fostered vocations. She was popular in the country that the vice president once said of her, ““If Mother were to run as mayor of Manila, she would easily win.” After her term of office as prioress, she was assigned as superior to the Benedictine community of Legaspi. With a narrower scope of responsibility, Mother Clodesindis could attend personally to whoever might need her attention. She taught some classes, instructed lepers in religion and comforted them in many ways.
On December 21, 1941, the Japanese invaders landed at Legaspi City. Shortly after, they wanted to occupy St. Agnes School. Politely but firmly, Mother answered, “This is a school. Besides, Germany and Japan are allies. So you cannot take the school.” It was her personality rather than her logic that caused the Japanese to withdraw.
As the underground movement was active, many suspected guerillas were arrested and tortured. At the risk of her own life, Mother Clodesindis would plead for their lives, appealing for justice and mercy. With the community’s prayer and her own bravery and sacrifice, she saved many Filipinos from military cruelty and from death.
During the bombings in September 1944, many sought and found refuge at the convent. She braved the bombings to bring food and clothes to the lepers. On Holy Saturday of 1945, the sisters shortened the Office because of the bombings. Sensing danger, Mother Clodesindis addressed the community, “It is impossible to leave the house now; but after five this afternoon when things are quiet, you may all go to the air-raid shelter. I shall remain at my post.” When the carpet-bombing started, the sisters realized that St. Agnes was within the target area and, leaving the chapel, they hurried to the shelter. As usual, Mother was at the rear to look after everyone. Just then she met some children who were crying in fright. She got them candies and led them to the Sacred Heart statue to pray with them and calm their fears. In was there that an incendiary bomb struck the main building, hit the statue and killed Mother Clodesindis.
On April 4, some American soldiers brought to the sisters the bones which were believed to be Mother Clodesindis’ remains. After the War, on August 11, 1945, there was a solemn transference of the bones to the cemetery at Albay. Afterwards, they were brought to the sisters’ cemetery in Baguio. There, sisters come every day to pray and ask for help. Mother Clodesindis’ presence still prevails.

Martyrs of the Korean Deathmarch

2006-07-07T21:45:00.000-07:00

During the Korean war, the Communists of the North arrested missionaries from the Catholic, Anglican, Methodist and Salvation Army Churches and some diplomats from foreign legates.. They were held in prison and were indoctrinated with Marxist ideas. They even told them once, “The most potenet weapon of the west held against its enemies was not the atom bomb, but religion.” They were told that since religion was non sense, the purpose of the missionaries in Korea were for being political agents. One Carmelite nun who was kidnapped even wrote in her diary that she overheard one of the soldiers shouting, “There is nothing but to destroy Rome and the Vatican. . . We are going to kill all the priests and nuns tonight!”
Those who were arrested included a group of Belgian and French Carmelite nuns, who were arrested for refusing to leave their Korean sisters instead of returning to their native lands for safety. Also imprisoned was Bishop Patrick Byrne, an American Maryknoll missionary who was the apostolic delegate of the Pope to Korea. All lived at death’s door in the camp, had it not been for a Korean priest who risked his life by bringing the necessities of the foreign prisoners.
Camp life in the North was quite hard, especially for the Catholic priests. Some of them were imprisoned by the Japanese soldiers and were allowed to perform the Mass. But they were not allowed to in the hands of their Korean captives. They were all being prepared for the death march, where the captives would be forced to march from South Korea to the Yalu River in the North. The march would begin on October 31, 1950. The snow was deep at that time. One of the Salvation Army missionaries, Herbert Lord, pleaded for mercy, “These people will die if they have to march”” But the commanding officer said, “Then let them march until they die. This is a military order.”
The commander of the marching line, “The Tiger,” knew about the conditions of his prisoners. Some of them were even sick. One of the Carmelite nuns was blind. But he did not allow one to fall out from the march. When some prisoners fell out, the American officer in charge of the group was executed. In order to bring peace to the hellish atmosphere of the march on a cold and snowy November, Bishop Byrne passed the word down the line that he would give a General Absolution to all Catholics. All of them feared death. During nights, the prisoners stayed in open fields or were crowded in buildings. Some of them even died in the buildings in a standing position. Tiger told them that they were to be brought to government hospitals, which did not happen.
The guards separated the women from the men, promising that they would be provided transportation. But when the men left, the guards ordered the women to start walking. An eighty-two-year-old nun, Mother Beatrix, could no longer walk. She was left behind in the cold to die. One nun, Mother Eugenie, tried to stay with Mother Beatrix, but Mother Beatrix told her, “Go, my sister, go.” As the march resumed, a few gunshots were heard. Mother Beatrix was not seen again.
Dozens began dying per day. Some were killed on the road. One priest, Fr. Paul Villemot, died of starvation. Toothless and unable to eat the corn given to him, he died after five days. An Anglican nun, Sr. Mary Clare, died of starvation. A Carmelite nun wrote of what happened:
“This morning we found our dear Sister Mary Clare, an Anglican Religious, sixty-years old, dead on her bed of straw. A person of deep Christian charity, she helped us in times of distress. We loved her very much. She shared with us the unbearable life in camp, and now she had finished her bitter Calvary. May she rest in the peace of the Lord!
“With her companions who helped her so much on the forced march, we prepared her body for burial. Preceded by our guard; her friends; Sister Bernadette (a Carmelite) and myself, we carried her, the five us, on an improvised bier to the top of a neighbouring hill, quite close to the camp. We ourselves dug her grave, only so deep as our failing strength allowed, and we laid her down there, showing a sisterly reverence. Then, after the last prayer, we covered this poor body with a little earth and stones. With bits of wood we made a cross, and placed this sign of Redemption on her tomb.”
Within a few days, more and more missionaries died. Bishop Patrick Byrne, who was terribly sick, was moved into a hut with other infected prisoners to isolate them from the others. Bishop Burne died peacefully. The regular toll of death also took toll on the survivors as well.
The survivors of the march were brought into a camp, where the indoctrinations continued. Their health gradually improved and they became accustomed to camp life. The Carmelite sisters resumed their ministry to the suffering and encouraged each other. Finally, after three years, they were expatriated. The missionaries prayed for the salvation of their captors.

She was our mother (Cleusa Carolina Rody Coelho)

2006-07-07T21:44:00.000-07:00

In 1979, Sr. Cleusa Carolina Rody Coelho, a Recollect Augustinian nun, was sent to Labrea, in the Amazon, to be the directress of the St. Rita College. There, she developed a friendship with the poor Indians, who were abused by landowners. Out of love for them, Sr. Cleusa asked to leave the school in order to work with the indigenous. She defended the Indians from persecution. Because of this, many wanted her silenced. The police were angered with the nun because she works for the release of innocent imprisoned Indians. They wanted to kill her.
In April, 1985, a non-Indian entered the land of the Indians to collect woods. Agustin, an Indian, reported this to the FUNAI (a foundation which promotes the rights of the Indians). So, the woods collected by Damasio, the non-Indian, were confiscated and the other Indians were allowed to collect wood. So as an act of revenge, Raimundo Povidem, an Indian who was with Damasio, killed Agustin’s son and daughter.
When Sr. Cleusa learned of the news, she decided to go to Agustin to comfort him and prevent more bloodshed. The other sisters tried to stop Sr. Cleusa because of the dangers attached to her decision, but she decided to go.
When Sr. Cleusa arrived in Japiim, the place where Agustin lived, she advised Agustin to stay and remain calm, because she will report the incident in Labrea. So, she and a companion returned to Labrea by boat. While on their way, they were stopped by Raimundo Povidem. A year before, Sr. Cleusa took care of Povidem because he was ill.
When Sr. Cleusa recognized Povidem, she asked him to talk. But he shot Sr. Cleusa’s Indian companion, who fell and was wounded. Sr. Cleusa told him to flee, because he still has a wife and children to take care of. He fled to the forest, where he spent the night. Then, he went to the missionaries and told them of the incident. A search party was made, and Sr. Cleusa’s body was found on May 3, by the river bank.
The missionaries first noticed a flock of vultures in a bush near the river. So, they followed the vultures and saw Sr. Cleusa’s body. The autopsy revealed that Sr. Cleusa suffered beatings before she was shot to death. Her right arm was never found again. Sr. Cleusa was buried immediately. In her funeral, an Indian woman mourned, “Who will take care of us now? She was our mother!”

Pastor Romulo Saune

2006-07-07T21:43:00.001-07:00

Romulo Saune was a popular preacher in Peru. He translated the Holy Bible into the Quechua language for the Peruvian aborigines. Before his martyrdom, he visited his hometown, where his grandfather, Pastor Justiniano Quicana, was murdered by the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) rebels, an armed group of Marxist terrorists. There, they celebrated the anniversary of the Church. Then, he returned home with other members of the congregation.
The Sendero Luminoso rebels stopped the bus where Pastor Romulo Saune and his fellow Church workers were riding. The terrorists waved their guns at the Church workers and commanded them to get out of the vehicle.
Pastor Saune reacted quickly. He boldly told the rebels, “God loves you and I love you. There is no sin that cannot be forgiven. Even now, God is willing to forgive your sins because He loves you. The blood of the Lord Jesus can clean and purify your souls.”
The Marxist rebels listened to the Gospel, being presented by the Pastor. But they were interrupted by their leader, who told the Christians, “You are guilty of fooling people with your religion. Today, you are being judged.” Then, he opened fire on them, killing four of them. Pastor Saune died saying, “God, I love you! Jesus, I love you!”
A friend of his said, “He was very young to die, but in his short life he achieved so much for God and his work must have been finished when God called him home.” Romulo was only thirty-nine. Three months before his death, he received an award from the World Evangelical Fellowship.
Pastor Saune’s martyrdom spurred Peruvian Quechua Christians top new heights of faithfulness. Church growth is expected to continue after his death.

Four American Missionary-Martyrs of El Salvador

2006-07-07T21:43:00.000-07:00

In December, 1981, four American missionaries were murdered by the El Salvadoran death squad. Three of them were nuns, and one is a laywoman who volunteered to work in El Salvador as a missionary. One of the nuns, Sr. Ita Ford, was the niece of Bishop Francis Xavier Ford, who was killed by the Communists in China.
All four missionaries were engaged in medical and relief work, often distributing aid from USAIF and Catholic charitable organizations. In regions with very few priests, they organized prayer meetings and administered the Sacraments in appropriate ways. They also raised the consciousness of the people and taught them about justice and their rights. In a letter to her friend, Sr. Dorothy Kazel wrote, “I was especially impressed with what you had to say about the ‘middle class nature of US nuns’ work’ - and how important it is to serve the poor and oppressed. I believe that wholeheartedly - that's why I'm here in El Salvador.”
They were horrified with the murders and mutilations they met daily. One of the nuns, Sr. Maura Clarke, wrote, “My fear of death is being challenged constantly as children, lovely young girls, old people are being shot and some cut up with machetes and bodies thrown by the road and people prohibited from burying them. A loving Father must have a new life of unimaginable joy and peace prepared for these precious unknown, uncelebrated martyrs.”
Even though she was horrified by the situation, Sr. Clarke decided to stay in El Salvador. “I want to stay on now,” she wrote. “I believe now that this is right...Here I am starting from scratch but it must be His plan and He is teaching me and there is real peace in spite of many frustrations and the terror around us and the work, etc. God is very present in His seeming absence.”
Jean Donovan, the 27-year-old lay missionary, wrote to her friend weeks before she was killed, “Several times I have decided to leave El Salvador. I almost could except for the children, the poor bruised victims of this insanity. Who would care for them? Whose heart would be so staunch as to favor the reasonable thing in a sea of their tears and helplessness? Not mine, dear friend, not mine.” Jean's time in El Salvador led her to those fundamental challenges of the meaning of life, of faith, in a world torn by injustice and violence against the poorest, the most vulnerable. It was a personal challenge.
The four missionaries informed the military authorities about their missionary work to avoid any misunderstandings. They made it clear that they were in El Salvador to help everyone, whatever their faction or political affiliation may be. But they were told that the Catholic Church was “indirectly subversive because it’s on the side of the weak.”
On December 2, 1980, Srs. Dorothy Kazel and Jean Donovan picked up Srs. Ita Ford and Maura Clarke in the airport, who just came from Nicaragua after an assemble for Maryknoll missionaries. After leaving the airport, their van was commandeered at a road block by members of El Salvador's National Guard. They were taken to an isolated location, abused and shot, then buried in a shallow grave along a roadside.
The missionaries also knew what they are about to face. Sr. Ita Ford read a message which Archbishop Oscar Romero said about Christian life in El Salvador, “Christ invites us not to fear persecution because, believe me, brothers and sisters, the one who is committed to the poor must run the same fate as the poor, and in El Salvador we know what the fate of the poor signifies: to disappear, be tortured, to be held captive - and to be found dead.”

Reaching the Unreached (Five Protestant Missionaries)

2006-07-07T21:42:00.000-07:00

In the dense rain-forests of Ecuador, on the Pacific side of the Andes Mountains, lives a tribe of Indians who call themselves the Huaorani ("people" in their language, Huao), but whose neighbors have called them the Aucas ("savages" in Quechua). For many generations they have been completely isolated from the outside world, disposed to kill any stranger on sight, and feared even by their head-hunting neighbors, the Jivaro tribe. In 1955, four missionaries from the United States who were working with the Quechas, Jivaros, and other Indians of the interior of Ecuador became persuaded that they were being called to preach the Gospel to the Huaorani as well.
The five missionaries have been wondering how they could reach the unreached Aucas. The missionaries learned the Auca language through Dayuma, a girl who fled from the tribe after her father was killed by a rival tribe. They also studied maps and waited for the proper time to reach the Aucas. On October 2, 1955, Nate Saint wrote, “We decided it was the Lord’s time.” The mission was about to start.
The missionaries would fly with their plane over the Auca settlement and send gifts to the people. Calling through a loudspeaker, Nate Saint, one of the missionaries, would shout out in the Auca language, “We like you! We like you! We have come to visit you!”
After three months of air-to-ground contact, during which they made far more progress than they had hoped, the missionaries decided that it was time for ground contact. They located a beach that would serve as a landing strip, about four miles from the village, and decided to go in on Tuesday 3 January 1956. After some discussion, they decided to carry guns, having heard that the Huaorani never attacked anyone who was carrying a gun, and having resolved that they would, as a last resort, fire the guns into the air to ward off an attack, but would shoot no-one, even to save their own lives.
That Tuesday, the missionaries went to the Auca settlement and had some friendly Auca visitors. On Saturday, no one showed, and when the plane flew over the village, the Huaorani seemed frightened at first, but lost their fright when presents were dropped. On Sunday, the missionaries were never heard of again. Their families feared the worse for them. A search party was made by Wycliffe missionaries. To their surprise, the bodies of the missionaries were seen floating on the river. They were speared to death.
Why did the Huaorani suddenly turn hostile? Much later, one of the Huaorani who had helped to kill the five martyrs explained that the tribe, who had had almost no contact with outsiders that did not involve killing or attempted killing on one side or another, wondered why the whites wanted to make contact with them; and while they wanted to believe that their visitors were friendly, they feared a trap. After the killings, they realized their mistake. When they were attacked, one of the missionaries fired two shots as warnings, and one shot grazed a Huaorani who was hiding in the brush, unknown to the missionaries. It was therefore clear that the visitors had weapons, were capable of killing, and had chosen not to do so. Thus, the Huaorani realized that the visitors were indeed their friends, willing to die for them if necessary. When in subsequent months they heard the message that the Son of God had come down from heaven to reconcile men with God, and to die in order to bring about that reconciliation, they recognized that the message of the missionaries was the basis of what they had seen enacted in the lives of the missionaries. They believed the Gospel preached because they had seen the Gospel lived.
Dayuma, the girl who taught the missionaries about the Auca language, returned to her tribe. She told her family who welcomed her, “Just as you killed the five men on the beach, Jesus was killed for you.” The families of the martyred missionaries came to the Auca settlement and made friends with the murderers of the missionaries. They told them about Christ, and they accepted Him as their saviour. One of the Auca killers even baptized Nate Saint’s son and daughter. Tona, one of the killers, volunteered to be a missionary. He was killed by members of the other tribe, and he became the first Auca martyr. Before being killed, he said to his murderer, “I forgive you. This is for your benefit.”
Months after the martyrdom of the missionaries, Protestant Mission Societies were flooded with young people who volunteer to take the place of the martyred missionaries and work in the Ecuadoran jungle.

Greatest Protestant martyr of the Twentieth Century (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

2006-07-07T21:41:00.000-07:00

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor of the Confessing Church in Germany, returned to Germany after staying for a while in New York to serve as a pastor among the German émigrés. His friends in New York advised him not to leave, but he persisted. While on the ship aboard for Germany, he wrote, “I. . . made a mistake in coming to America. I must live through this difficult period of our national history with the Christian people of Germany. I will have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people.”
Ever since the beginning of Nazism, Bonhoeffer was already taking a hard line against the new Reich. He was involved in setting up the Protestant Confessing Church, which was a Church subversive to Nazism’s anti-Christian doctrines. When He returned to Germany, he headed an illegal seminary for Confessing Church pastors. The Gestapo also banned him from preaching; then teaching; and finally any kind of public speaking. Bonhoeffer also led the Confessing Church in protesting against the Nazi’s treatment against the Jews.
During this time, Bonhoeffer worked closely with numerous opponents of Adolf Hitler. Many of his friends in the resistance are plotting to assassinate Hitler, but Bonhoeffer refused to participate with them. He said, “I can never again serve as a pastor if I am to participate.” The plan didn’t succeed, just like the other plans on Hitler’s life. In the meantime, Bonhoeffer was helping Jews escape into Switzerland.
On April 5, 1943, the Gestapo came to Bonhoeffer’s house. They said, “Come with us,” and took Bonhoeffer with them away in a car. He was imprisoned in Tegel Military prison. He was kept there for six months before his arrest warrant was delivered. Many more attempts against Hitler’s life sprung up, but Bonhoeffer was not involved in any of it. His brother and two brothers-in-law were also imprisoned, accused of collaborating with the plot against Hitler’s life.
One morning, Bonhoeffer and other prisoners were herded into a van and driven towards the southeast. Unknown to the prisoners, they were all going to be condemned to death. The next Sunday, on April 8, Bonhoeffer held a brief worship service in a schoolhouse. After the service, they were taken to Flossenberg and condemned to death. Bonhoeffer spent the whole night in prayer and preparation for his death, which would come about the following day.
The next day, Bonhoeffer and his companions were stripped of their clothes and forced to walk up to the gallows, where they were hanged. Weeks after his death, the war ended.

Do not touch the sisters and the children (Elise Rivet)

2006-07-07T21:39:00.000-07:00

Elise Rivet, or Mother Elisabeth of the Eucharist in religion, was the superior general of the Sisters of Saint Elisabeth congregation in France. When France was defeated in the war, Mother Elisabeth engaged in the actions of the resistance movement in France. She agreed to hide the weapons of the resistance fighters in their convent. She also sheltered Jewish women and children with the help of Cardinal Gerlier. The Jewish women were given religious habits to conceal their Jewish identities.
In 1944, she was denounced to the Gestapo under suspicion of hiding weapons. When the Gestapo came to the convent to conduct a search, Mother Elisabeth only said to them, “Do not touch the sisters and the children.” The Gestapo found the hidden arms quickly. Fortunately, the other nuns hid Mother Elisabeth’s notebook, where her contacts with the resistance fighters are written.
Mother Elisabeth, together with another nun, Mother Marie of Jesus, were arrested and imprisoned in Fort Montluc in Lyons. From there she was taken to Ravensbrück on July 28, 1944. Mother Elisabeth, who was too weak for heavy labor, was sent to work with the knitting machines. She protected her fellow prisoners from abuse and maintained their dignity. She recited the rosary everyday and prays every Sunday prayers said during Mass. Once, a nurse gave her good food. Mother Elisabeth shared the food together with her fellow prisoners.
On March 26, 1945, Mother Elisabeth was sent to Uckermark, a place where those who were marked for death were sent. On March 30, on Good Friday, she volunteered to go to the gas chamber in the place of a mother.

The White Rose Martyrs

2006-07-07T21:38:00.000-07:00

Hans Scholl and Alexander Schmorell, medical students of different religions, were introduced to each other in the fall of 1940. Scholl was a Protestant while Schmorell was Orthodox. The two young men shared their interests together. Then, they realized that they both shared disgust against Hitler, the Nazis and the Reich. The two young men were soon joined by Sophie Scholl, Hans’ younger sister, Christoph Probst, a married student, and Willi Graf, a devout Catholic. Professor Kurt Huber, their professor in philosophy, joined them too.
Hans and Alex wrote the first two leaflets of the new organization. The leaflets were signed with a “White Rose”. The leaflets criticized a regular German who just sat back and did nothing to combat the Nazi regime. After the two leaflets, three more leaflets were made, with a more striking message. Here are some quotes from their leaflets:
“Therefore every individual, conscious of his responsibility as a member of Christian and Western civilization, must defend himself as best he can at this late hour, he must work against the scourges of mankind, against fascism and any similar system of totalitarianism.”
“Every word that comes from Hitler's mouth is a lie. When he says peace, he means war, and when he blasphemously uses the name of the Almighty, he means the power of evil, the fallen angel, Satan.”
“Is your spirit already so crushed by abuse that you forget it is your right - or rather, your moral duty - to eliminate this system”
“We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace!”
In each of the leaflets, the White Rose members write, “Support the resistance! Distribute the leaflets!”
The White Rose members have to work in secret and made their activities oblivious even to their own families. They worked day and night duplicating the leaflets and sent the leaflets to chosen families seen in a telephone directory.
In early February, Hans, Alex and Christoph painted slogans near their school, the University of Munich, with the message “Down with Hitler!” This was the most dangerous activity of the White Rose.
On February 18, 1943, Hans and Sophie brought a suitcase of leaflets written by Professor Huber. worked quickly, dropping stacks of Kurt Huber's leaflets throughout the corridors. With time running out, the brother and sister hurried outside to safety. When they realized that a few more leaflets are left in the suitcase, Sophie climbed the grand marble staircase to the upper level of the hall and threw the remaining leaflets high into the air. The school janitor, a member of the Nazi party, saw this and called the Gestapo. The doors were locked and the Scholls were arrested.
Christoph Probst was arrested at the same time the Scholls were arrested. He was arrested while asking for permission from the army to visit his wife and new-born baby. The draft of Christoph's leaflet was found in Hans Scholl's pocket and, though Hans insisted he was given the draft by a stranger, the handwriting was matched to a letter from Christoph in the Scholl's apartment.
The Scholls and Probst stayed in prison for four days. During interrogation, Sophie was recorded to have said, “Somebody, after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don't dare express themselves as we did.” The three were found guilty and were guillotined a few hours later on February 22, 1943. Before their execution, Christoph Probst was baptized into the Catholic faith by a priest in prison. The executioners noted Sophie, who walked with courage to the guillotine. Before being killed, she told her executioners, “Your heads will roll too.”
After the arrest of the Scholls, a warrant of arrest had been made for Alex Schmorell. All his efforts to escape failed. He was arrested in an air raid shelter on February 24, 1943, when he was recognized. Professor Huber was arrested three days later. After his arrest, the University stripped him of his doctorate and his professorship. In trial, Professor Huber defended the members of the White Rose despite humiliations. The two were executed by the guillotine on July 13, 1943.
Willi Graf was arrested in his apartment with his sister in his apartment on the day Hans and Sophie were arrested. After months of Gestapo interrogations in a futile attempt to obtain the names of the co-conspirators, Willi Graf was executed by guillotine on October 12, 1943. In the farewell letter to his sister he had the following message to his friends, "They shall continue what we have begun."
The White Rose martyrs were considered as good models for the youth in World Youth Day, 2005. Monsignor Helmut Moll of Cologne said that if he would choose a model for the World Youth Day, “I would choose the White Rose youths — Orthodox, Protestant and Catholic students of Munich who, in 1942, fought to defend the dignity of man and religion in face of Nazism.” He added, “Our society is poor in Christian models; therefore, as the Pope has said, we need figures who are an example of faith, hope and charity. These martyrs are real models of faith who have something to say to all our young people.”

I lived for Christ and I'll die for Christ (Restituta Kafka)

2006-07-07T21:36:00.000-07:00

One of the first steps the Nazis took when they annexed Austria was to close over 1400 establishments that were under religious control. More than 200 convents were suppressed, all Catholic societies and youth organizations were disbanded, and numerous charitable institutions were seized. Sister Restituta Kafka, a nursing nun, was allowed to continue her work, but her hospital was put under the control of personnel loyal to the new government.
Sr. Restituta, a nun as well as an anaesthetist, had always carefully attended to the spiritual needs of her patients. Although religious acts were now forbidden in the hospital wards, she continued to pray, at least privately, with the sick, and see that they secretly received the last rites. The surgeon with whom she worked in the operating room was a fanatical Nazi, but he depended so much on her that at first he kept quiet about her forbidden religious interventions.
Sr Restituta made her total rejection of Nazism quite clear. She called Hitler “a madman” and said of herself, “A Viennese cannot keep her mouth shut.”
Not long afterward, however, when a new hospital wing was opened, Sister Kafka made bold to hang crucifixes in the rooms. She was also discovered making a copy of an anti-Fascist song. The surgeon now decided it was his patriotic duty to report her to the Gestapo. As a result, on Ash Wednesday, February 18, 1942, a group of SS storm troopers came to the hospital and arrested her. She refused to replace the crucifixes with pictures of Hitler, saying the Jesus is her only “Fuhrer.”
Sister Restituta was imprisoned for a year, but imprisonment did not change her character or her firmness. Although the food allowed her was meager, she gave most of it to others. Thus she saved the life of a pregnant mother and her baby. She remained faithful in prison. One of the first steps the Nazis took when they annexed Austria was to close over 1400 establishments that were under religious control. More than 200 convents were suppressed, all Catholic societies and youth organizations were disbanded, and numerous charitable institutions were seized. Sister Restituta Kafka, a nursing nun, was allowed to continue her work, but her hospital was put under the control of personnel loyal to the new government.
Sr. Restituta, a nun as well as an anaesthetist, had always carefully attended to the spiritual needs of her patients. Although religious acts were now forbidden in the hospital wards, she continued to pray, at least privately, with the sick, and see that they secretly received the last rites. The surgeon with whom she worked in the operating room was a fanatical Nazi, but he depended so much on her that at first he kept quiet about her forbidden religious interventions.
Sr Restituta made her total rejection of Nazism quite clear. She called Hitler “a madman” and said of herself, “A Viennese cannot keep her mouth shut.”
Not long afterward, however, when a new hospital wing was opened, Sister Kafka made bold to hang crucifixes in the rooms. She was also discovered making a copy of an anti-Fascist song. The surgeon now decided it was his patriotic duty to report her to the Gestapo. As a result, on Ash Wednesday, February 18, 1942, a group of SS storm troopers came to the hospital and arrested her. She refused to replace the crucifixes with pictures of Hitler, saying the Jesus is her only “Fuhrer.”
Sister Restituta was imprisoned for a year, but imprisonment did not change her character or her firmness. Although the food allowed her was meager, she gave most of it to others. Thus she saved the life of a pregnant mother and her baby. She remained faithful in prison. She said, “I lived for Christ, and I’ll die for Christ.”
After a year of trying to break this unbreakable woman, Martin Bormann, Hitler's own secretary, decided that it was necessary not only to punish Sister Kafka, but to make an example of her and show others that disobedience would not be tolerated. On October 28, 1942 she was sentenced to death by guillotine for “aiding and abetting the enemy in the betrayal of the fatherland and for plotting high treason.” On hearing her death sentence, One of the first steps the Nazis took when they annexed Austria was to close over 1400 establishments that were under religious control. More than 200 convents were suppressed, all Catholic societies and youth organizations were disbanded, and numerous charitable institutions were seized. Sister Restituta Kafka, a nursing nun, was allowed to continue her work, but her hospital was put under the control of personnel loyal to the new government.
Sr. Restituta, a nun as well as an anaesthetist, had always carefully attended to the spiritual needs of her patients. Although religious acts were now forbidden in the hospital wards, she continued to pray, at least privately, with the sick, and see that they secretly received the last rites. The surgeon with whom she worked in the operating room was a fanatical Nazi, but he depended so much on her that at first he kept quiet about her forbidden religious interventions.
Sr Restituta made her total rejection of Nazism quite clear. She called Hitler “a madman” and said of herself, “A Viennese cannot keep her mouth shut.”
Not long afterward, however, when a new hospital wing was opened, Sister Kafka made bold to hang crucifixes in the rooms. She was also discovered making a copy of an anti-Fascist song. The surgeon now decided it was his patriotic duty to report her to the Gestapo. As a result, on Ash Wednesday, February 18, 1942, a group of SS storm troopers came to the hospital and arrested her. She refused to replace the crucifixes with pictures of Hitler, saying the Jesus is her only “Fuhrer.”
Sister Restituta was imprisoned for a year, but imprisonment did not change her character or her firmness. Although the food allowed her was meager, she gave most of it to others. Thus she saved the life of a pregnant mother and her baby. She remained faithful in prison.
After a year of trying to break this unbreakable woman, Martin Bormann, Hitler's own secretary, decided that it was necessary not only to punish Sister Kafka, but to make an example of her and show others that disobedience would not be tolerated. On October 28, 1942 she was sentenced to death by guillotine for “aiding and abetting the enemy in the betrayal of the fatherland and for plotting high treason.” On hearing her death sentence, she said, "I lived for Christ, and I'll die for Christ."
She was later offered her freedom if she would leave her religious congregation, but she refused. When asked to commute her sentence, Martin Bormann expressly rejected the request, saying, “I think the execution of the death penalty is necessary for effective intimidation.”
A chaplain was allowed to attend Sister Kafka to the door of the chamber of execution but no farther. He reported hearing the swish and thud of the sharp steel down its tracks. She was the only nun to be sent to the guillotine by the Nazis in the German territories.

For our people (Edith Stein)

2006-07-07T21:35:00.000-07:00

Edith Stein, a convert to Catholicism from Judaism, entered the Carmelite order of nuns. There, she took the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She spent her life as a young person as a Gnostic, a woman seeking for truth. The truth she found in the Catholic Church, and she entered contemplative life in order to live the truth more fully. Cloistered in the convent, she worked on intellectual matters which concerned her spiritual formation.
The Nazis started persecuting the Catholic Church in the 1930’s. It was also the time in which the Communists in Spain killed priests and nuns, some of them from the Carmelite order. Sr. Teresa saw this as a salutary warning for the sisters in Germany of what might happen to them.
On Election Day, all the nuns were forced to vote in the convent, with the exception of Sr. Teresa, because of her Jewish background. Sr. Teresa was convinced that “the shadow of the Cross which is falling on” her people intensifies. She trusts “in the Lord's having accepted my life for all of them. I keep having to think of Queen Esther who was taken from her people precisely that she might represent them before the king. I am a very poor and powerless Esther, but the King who chose me is infinitely great and merciful.”
Out of fear for her other sisters in Cologne, Sr. Teresa transferred to a Carmelite convent in Holland, together with her sister Rosa, who was also a convert to Catholicism and lived in the convent with the sisters. There, she wrote to her prioress that she is offering herself “as a sacrifice of propitiation for true peace, that the dominion of the Antichrist may collapse, if possible, without a new world war. It is the twelfth hour. I know that I am a nothing, but Jesus desires it, and surely he will call many others to do likewise in these days.”
She expands on her willingness to offer herself to God, “Even now I joyfully accept the death which God has destined for me, in total submission to His most holy will. I beg the Lord to accept my life and my death for His honor and glorification, for all desires of the most holy hearts of Jesus and Mary and the Holy Church, and especially for the preservation, sanctification and perfection of our Holy Order, particularly the Carmel in Cologne and in Echt, for the atonement of the unbelief of the Jewish people and for this: that the Lord may be accepted by His own people and that His Kingdom may come in glory, for the salvation of Germany and for world peace, and finally for my relatives both living and dead, and all those whom God has given me: that none of them may perish.”
To a former colleague dying of cancer she writes, “I believe that such suffering, when it is accepted with a willing heart and carried to the end, is reckoned before God as a true martyrdom.”
When the Nazis invaded Holland, the Bishop advised Sr. Teresa and her sister to leave, but they preferred to stay, because the Nazis might attack the convent as a reprisal. On the first Monday of October 1941, Benedicta and Rosa report to the Police Commissioner in Maastricht to register as "non-Aryan" aliens. A few days later she writes, “A scientia crucis [knowledge of the Cross] can be gained only when one comes to feel the Cross radically. I have been convinced of that from the first moment and have said, from my heart, ‘Hail, Holy Cross our only hope!’”
A strong denunciation of the Nazi deportations of Jews is ordered to be read in all Catholic churches by Dutch bishops. A postwar report on this action explained that the Nazis had told Christian churches that baptized Jews would be exempted from deportation if the churches refrained “from further action on behalf of the rest of the Jews.” Top Nazi occupation officers meet in The Hague. The record of their meeting contains this paragraph, “Since the Catholic bishops have interfered in something that does not concern them, and deportation of all Catholic Jews will be speeded up and completed within the coming week. No appeals for clemency shall be considered.”
During the evening of August 2 1942, Gestapo agents enter the Carmel and demand that Edith and Rosa Stein leave with them in five minutes. The Mother Prioress' protestations and pleas have no effect. In haste and near-panic, the two women pack small bags, bid tearful farewells, and leave. Edith momentarily kneels before the Tabernacle, asks all for prayers and Mother Prioress for her blessing. She takes Rosa's hand as they move into the street and says, "Come, Rosa, we're going for our people." Edith and Rosa, along with several hundred other baptized Jews, are taken to assembly stations and then moved to the main transit-point in the North at Westerbork. During the following days. Sister Teresa is able to scratch off three notes which are smuggled out of the Westerbork camp. She said that everything possible is being done to set them free or avoid their deportation. Those who were to be deported seek consolation from the nuns imprisoned with them.
On August 6, they were loaded on trains to be sent to Auschwitz. Eyewitness reports describe Benedicta as calm and kind up to the time she and Rosa are sealed in a freight car headed East. The train passed through many cities Edith Stein knew very well, including the city of her very happy childhood, Breslau, on its way to Auschwitz. On August 9, 1942, she was killed in the gas chamber in Auschwitz together with other converts. After the deportation of the two sisters by the SS, a holy picture was found in their room with an inscription on the back by Rosa, offering her life for the conversion of the Jews.
Here is how Sr. Teresa spent her last days. Her former companion wrote of Sister Teresa in the concentration camp, “In the midst of cries of desperation, she moved among the women, offering comfort, help and peace, like an angel. Many mothers, almost insane, staring into space during the whole day, oblivious of their children, were overcome by despair. Sister Teresa took care of the little ones, washed them, combed their hair, fed them and nursed them. During the entire time she spent in the camp, she continued her work of charity, which filled everybody with admiration.”

Jesus, I offer my life for his (Zdenka Schellingova)

2006-07-07T21:34:00.000-07:00

When the Communist regime began in Slovakia, all convents were suppressed and it became illegal to wear a religious habit. Nuns were sent to hard work. The provincial superior of the Holy Cross Sisters asks sisters to comply with the authorities and offer no resistance. One of the nuns was Sr. Zdenka Schelingova, who worked as a nurse in the Bratislava Government Hospital.
During those times, many prisoners were sent to the hospital, including priests. On her own initiative, Sr. Zdenka risks giving aid to prisoners who are placed in the Bratislava government hospital, including several priests and a lawyer imprisoned for subversive activities. She helps with preparation of documents needed to escape. Later she admitted she was collaborating with others to help at least five priests escape certain death. Sr. Zdenka talked to one of those priests. The priest was ill and would be sent to Siberia after his health was restored to be killed. And so she acted at the risk of her own life: she slipped sleeping pills into the guard's tea, allowing the priest to escape. After he was free, Sr Zdenka went into the chapel and prayed, “Jesus, I offer my life for his. Save him!” She contacted other people who could help him escape by crossing the Danube.
Some days later, however, on 29 February 1952, when she tried to help three priests and three seminarians escape, her plan backfired and she was arrested. She was interrogated and suffered many humilations, including being brutally tortured by the police. She finally received a sentence of 12 years in prison and 10 years of civil rights' deprivation. The torture that she underwent left her body mutilated. Sr. Zdenka is diagnosed with breast cancer, has amputation of one breast without anesthetic or follow-up medical treatment
From 1952 until 1955 Sr Zdenka was transferred from one prison to another. She accepted torture and mistreatment with great humility; most difficult of all for her, however, was being deprived of the Holy Sacraments for the three years of her imprisonment.
On 16 April 1955, Sr Zdenka was released from prison by the President of the Republic so she would not die there (she had a malignant tumor in her right breast). When she returned to her congregation's motherhouse in Bratislava, she was not accepted because of the general situation of fear that existed at the time as well as the constant police surveillance; nor was she received in the hospital of Bratislava. Instead, a friend from Trnava took her in. Sr Zdenka was eventually accepted into the hospital of Trnava. On 31 July 1955, after receiving the Sacraments, Sr Zdenka died. She was 38 years old and is remembered as a true martyr of the faith. The police who tortured her later repented for his being merciless to the nun.

Martyr for the flock's safety (Vilmos Apor)

2006-07-07T21:29:00.000-07:00

On March 28, 1945, Russian soldiers reached Gyor, Hungary. Good Friday was near, and Bishop Vilmos Apor wrote in his diary, “'Good Friday was the day when the Redeemer of the World sacrificed his life for those he had remembered the day before in his prayer as High Priest, ‘Father, they were yours and you gave them to me. I took under my care those you had given me.’”
The bishop visited his priests, went to see nuns in their convents, and tried to prepare everyone for what was to come. Many frightened people sought refuge in Bishop Apor’s residence. His door was open for everyone in danger, and he was prepared to lay down his life for them. He sent the male refugees to his mansion in Szany and kept the women, children and elderly in his residence in Gyor. Since the siege of Gyor, the visits of the Russians to Bishop Apor’s residence became more and more frequent. He didn’t have a moment’s sleep, saying, “I must be awake in case anything happens.” He said his last mass on Maundy Thursday. His niece, who was with the bishop, described the mass like those of the early Christians in the Catacombs. On Good Friday, he only read the story of the Christ’s passion. On the same day, he said, “We must all die one day, and one had better sacrifice one's life for a good cause on a day like this.”
That evening, Russian soldiers came to the Bishop’s residence and asked for women to make them “peel potatoes.” The bishop knew what they meant, since they all wanted the women. Bishop Apor sent them the elderly men and women. Later, five drunk Russian soldiers returned. They saw one girl and chased her. Seeing this, Bishop Apor chased the soldiers away and shouted, “Out! Out of here!” The soldiers went to the exit and shot the bishop. The bishop’s nephew, who tried to protect him, was also wounded. Bishop Apor was shot three times. Seeing him, one of the women said, “Our father bishop, you have done this for us!” Bishop Apor replied, “Willingly, very willingly.” They took Bishop Apor on a stretcher and brought him to the hospital. Each time he met, Russians, Bishop Apor blessed them and said, “May God forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”
Bishop Apor was operated on immediately. On Easter Sunday, his health deteriorated. He received the last Sacraments. Before dying, the people around him wrote his last message:
“My warmest greetings to my priests. May they remain faithful to the Church! They should preach the Gospel courageously, help to rebuild our unfortunate Fatherland, and lead our poor, misled people back to the right road. I offer all my sufferings to make up for my own sins, and also for my priests, my followers, the country's leaders and my enemies! I ask God not to hold them responsible for the sins they committed against the Church in their blindness. I offer my sufferings for my beloved Hungary, and for the whole world. St Stephen, pray for the poor Hungarians.”
He died on the following day, Easter Monday, for his flock's safety.

The higher allegiance (Ivan Moiseyev)

2006-07-02T02:45:00.000-07:00

The son of Protestant peasant farmers, Ivan “Vanya” Moiseyev entered the army at eighteen to perform two years of required military training and service. Because he spoke openly of God, which was forbidden in the atheistic regime, Vanya was persecuted by his military supervisors.
Many times, he was challenged by his barracks to prove that God exists. The test was that God obtain leave for a certain sergeant. Leaves were hard to get. After asking God if he should accept the challenge, Vanya agreed. All night, he sat up with the sergeant explaining the things that he would need to know when he became a Christian. The next day, an authority from another town called and ordered the leave. The sergeant became a Christian and so did other men.
Once, after a discussion about God, Vanya was made to stand in the street throughout the whole night wearing their summer uniform.. The temperature at that time was thirteen degrees below zero. He obeyed the order and stood at the street the whole night, remaining faithful to God. Miraculously, he could see his officers and move his body despite the terrible cold. All throughout the ordeal, Vanya only prayed for his persecutors. For the next twelve nights, Ivan continued to stand in the street outside his barracks. Miraculously, he did not freeze, nor did he beg for mercy. Ivan continued to speak about his faith to his comrades and officers.
Soldiers around him were converted, impressed by his ardent faith. His commanders continued to interrogate him, trying to get him to deny Jesus. They put him in refrigerated cells. They clothed him in a special rubber suit, into which they pumped air until his chest was so compressed he scarcely could breath.
In his interrogation, Vanya testified, “I have one higher allegfiance, and that is to Jesus Christ. He has given me certain orders, and these I cannot disobey.”
At the age of 20, Ivan knew that the communists would kill him. On July 11, 1972, he wrote his parents, “You will not see me anymore.” He then described a vision of angels and heaven which God had sent to strengthen him for the last trial. A few days later, a coffin arrived at his parents' home, welded shut. Vanya's mother insisted it be opened. A brother, who belonged to the Communist party resisted, but the rest of the family prevailed. Vanya was barely recognizable. Witnesses, Christian and non-Christian alike, signed a statement which declared that his chest had been burned. His face and body were lumped and bruised. Heel marks marred his body. His heart was punctured in six places. Vanya had been beaten and stabbed six times on the chest, and then drowned.
His family did not know about all the things which happened to Vanya, but his letters and the testimonies of the other witnesses completed the puzzle and made the story of Vanya known.
Colonel Malsin, his commander, said, “Moiseyev died with difficulty. He fought with death, but he died as a Christian.”

I love you with all my heart (Abbot Iscu)

2006-07-02T02:42:00.000-07:00

Richard Wumbrand was an Evangelical pastor in Romania. He suffered years in Communist prisons for preaching the gospel. In his book about his experiences in prison, he wrote about Abbot Iscu, his former prisonmate. This is what he wrote:
“At my right hand was an Orthodox priest by the name of Iscu. He was an Abbot of a monastery. This man, perhaps in his 40’s, had been so tortured he was near to death. But his face was serene. He spoke about his hope of heaven, about his love of Christ, about his faith. He radiated joy.
“On my left side was the Communist torturer who had tortured this priest almost to death. He had been arrested by his own comrades.
“And so it happened that the Communist torturer who had tortured this priest nearly to death had been tortured nearly to death by his comrades. And he was dying near me. His soul was in agony.
“During the night he would awaken me saying, "Pastor, please pray for me. I can’t die, I have committed such terrible crimes."
“Then I saw a miracle. I saw the agonizing priest calling two other prisoners. And leaning on their shoulders, slowly, slowly he walked past my bed, sat on the bedside of his murderer, and caressed his head – I will never forget this gesture. I watched a murdered man caressing his murderer! That is love – he found a caress for him.
“The priest said to the man, ‘You are young; you did not know what you were doing. I love you with all my heart.’ But he did not just say the words. You can say ‘love,’ and it’s just a word of four letters. But he really loved. ‘I love you with all my heart.’
“Then he went on, ‘If I who am a sinner can love you so much, imagine Christ, Who is Love incarnate, how much He loves you! And all the Christians whom you have tortured, know that they forgive you, they love you, and Christ loves you. He wishes you to be saved much more than you wish to be saved. You wonder if your sins can be forgiven. He wishes to forgive your sins more than you wish your sins to be forgiven. He desires for you to be with Him in heaven. He is Love. You only need to turn to Him and repent.’ In this prison cell in which there was no possibility of privacy, I overheard the confession of the murderer to the murdered. Life is more thrilling than a novel – no novelist has ever written such a thing. The murdered – near to death – received the confession of the murderer. The murdered gave absolution to this murderer.
“They prayed together, embraced each other and the priest went back to his bed. Both men died that same night. It was Christmas Eve. But it was not a Christmas Eve in which we simply remembered that 2000 years ago Jesus was born in Bethlehem. It was a Christmas Eve during which Jesus was born in the heart of a Communist murderer.”

Grand Duchess Elizabeth

2006-07-02T02:41:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth of Russia was the Lutheran descendant of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Elizabeth married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the fifth son of Tsar Alexander II of Russia. Elizabeth found Orthodoxy increasingly absorbing, and in 1891 she adopted the faith. Although her life had assurance and all the comforts of eminence, it rested on fragile foundations. The Tsarist state maintained its grip over a changing society by repression. Talk of revolution persisted, and grew louder. Acts of terrorism mounted. On 18 February 1905, the Grand Duke Sergei was assassinated. This marked a turning point in Elizabeth’s life. Now she gave away her jewellery and sold her most luxurious possessions, and with the proceeds she opened the Martha and Mary home in Moscow, to foster the prayer and charity of devout women. Here there arose a new vision of a deaconate for women, one that combined intercession and action in the heart of a disordered world. She said, “I am leaving a glittering world where I had a glittering position, but with all of you I am descending into a greater world - the world of the poor and the suffering.”
When the revolutionary storm broke out she met it with amazing self-control and calm. She did not harbour even a shadow of ill feelings against the madness of the agitated masses. “The people are children, innocent of what is transpiring,” she remarked quietly. “They are led into deception by the enemies of Russia.” Nor was she depressed by the great suffering and humiliation that befell the royal family who were so close to her. She said, “It will serve for their moral purification and bring them nearer to God.”
She was admired by many revolutionaries because of her silence and simplicity. One of them even discussed about the Christian values of the revolutionaries. The revolutionary concluded, “Perhaps we are headed for the same goal, only by different paths.” Elizabeth thought that the palm of martyrdom was still far away from her. She said, “Obviously, we are not yet worthy of a martyr’s crown.” The Soviet government even supported the convent and granted them freedom. But more and more members of the royal family were being imprisoned.
Finally, the Grand Duchess was imprisoned in 1918. She was kept in a school with Sister Barbara, a nun from her convent, and some Grand Dukes. Nevertheless she did not lose her abiding firmness of spirit and occasionally would send words of encouragement and comfort to the sisters of her convent who were deeply grieving over her.
On the night of July 5, 1918, Elizabeth, Sister Barbara, and the other Grand Dukes were taken outside the city and buried alive in mine shafts. The results of later excavation there has shown that she strived until the last moment to serve the grand dukes who were severely injured by the fall. Some local peasants who carried out the sentence on these people, whom they did not know, reported that for a long time there was heard a mysterious singing from below the earth.

For the love of my mother (Laura Vicuna)

2006-07-02T02:40:00.000-07:00

Out of poverty and war casualties, Mercedes Pino Vicuña moved from Chile to Argentina with her two young daughters, Laura, nine; and Julia, six. Mercedes’ husband, Jose Vicuña, became a soldier in the Chilean Civil War died in exile. In Argentina, Mercedes had to be the illicit lover of Manuel Mora, a ranch owner, in order to survive. Manuel also provided for the education of Laura and Amanda under the guidance of the Salesian sisters in their boarding school. However, Manuel was a quarrelsome man without regard for morals. Mercedes, even as she was conscious that her immoral state prevented her from participating in the sacraments, saw to the Christian education and formation of her daughters.
The time came when little Laura was taught by the sisters about the sacrament of marriage. According to the teacher, “A man and a woman are joined together in God through the sacrament of matrimony… they have to be faithful to each other… it is a very grave sin for a man and a woman to live together when they are not married.” Hearing this, Laura fainted. When she recovered, it was still visible that she was shaken. She realized that her mother was in a state of sin. It was very painful for the girl. From that moment on, Laura never stopped praying for her mother, and even offering to God her life for her mother’s salvation. According to a priest, Laura often went in front of the altar “and with tears of joy and hope she offered herself as a holocaust to Jesus and Mary for the salvation of her mother.”
Laura’s vacations were unhappy ones. Even though Manuel Mora was kind with her, there was something in him that made the girl terrified. Each time she prayed, her mother would not join her and she was told to do it in secret. However, as Laura grew up, she became more and more attractive. Manuel noticed this and paid special attention to Laura. According to one witness, “He wanted Laura. Manuel Mora paid for her education in order to marry her.” Once, Laura refused to dance with Manuel during a ball. She was thrown out of the house and her mother was branded like cattle before Laura’s horrified eyes. As a consequence for her refusal, Manuel stopped paying for the girl’s education and ordered them to work as servants. The Salesian sisters gave Laura free education. Julia, however, stayed with her mother.
In the last months of 1903, Laura fell ill with tuberculosis. Because of this, she was sent back to her mother. Convinced that her sacrifice was about to be accepted, she said, “This is what Jesus asks of me: may his will be done.” The atmosphere in Mora’s ranch aggravated Laura’s delicate health. Because of this, Mercedes rented a small house near Laura’s school.
One night, in January 1904, Manuel Mora entered the house of Mercedes and demanded that the three return to him. Laura, who was already to weak to stand up, said, “If he stays, then I go to the sisters!” And with the little strength she had, Laura rose and proceeded to the door. Manuel grabbed the fleeing child and began to beat her. When it was all over, Laura was brought back to her bed. On January 22, she received her last sacraments and revealed her secret to her mother. She said, “Yes, Mamma, I am dying. I have asked Jesus for this… For almost two years I have offered my life for you… to obtain the grace for your return… Oh, Mamma, before I die, will you not give me the joy of seeing you repentant?” Poor, weak Merced broke down. She begged forgiveness of her daughter and promised to change her way of life, and she did so after Laura's death.
With her mission completed, Laura gently said, “Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Mary. I now die happily.” She slowly expired at the age of twelve. Mercedes secretly left Argentina, but she left Julia to the Salesian sisters. Manuel Mora was murdered by two brothers, and he died un-reconciled with the Church. Laura’s sacrifice was accepted, with her mother finally free.

Save the baby! (Gianna Beretta Molla)

2006-07-02T02:38:00.000-07:00

In September, 1961, during the second month of her fourth maternity, Gianna Beretta Molla noticed a swelling in her abdomen, which is unnatural in its existence. She had a check-up and discovered that a tumor was growing in her uterus. She was told that the tumor will endanger both her and the baby. She was given the choice between killing the baby and removing the tumor, or saving the baby and remove the tumor, which would cost her life. She chose the second choice and saved the life of the baby. She spent the next seven months attending to her family and practicing her job as a doctor.
Gianna surrendered herself to the will of God and prayed for the baby’s health. She knew she was about to die. She told her sister once, “Sister, I have come here, this time, to die.” A few days before giving birth to her child, she told Pietro, her husband, “If you must decide between me and the child, do not hesitate: choose the child—I insist on it. Save the baby.”
Gianna started delivering her child on the afternoon of April 20, 1962. But hours passed by until 11 in the morning, on April 21, when a caesarian cut was made. A beautiful healthy girl was born. Pietro named the girl Gianna Emmanuela: Gianna in remembrance of her mother and Emmanuela, which reminds them of “God with us.”
The people in the hospital testified to Gianna’s calm attitude, her serenity and her joy. In her last days, the only thing that bothered Gianna was the thought of leaving her children. She surrenders herself to suffering. However, she refused to be treated with narcotics, since she wanted to be conscious all the way to death. Every possible attempt to save her was made, but to no avail.
She begged to receive the Holy Communion, but she vomits each time she receive it. According to Pietro, he would hear his wife murmuring the name of Jesus in moments of pain. But Gianna never complained. If she is in pain, she would just bite a handkerchief. The nurse attending to her said, “She was aware of everything, when the effect of the anesthesia would come to an end she would remain quiet, aware, silent, in an attitude of listening, of prayer. . . When we used the thermometer or listened to her pulse, and doing any other service, she would let us do it, but with her look would make us understand that it was all of no avail.”
On the morning of April 26, she was brought home by an ambulance. But her relatives decided to take her to other relatives, since they do not have the courage to let the children see their dying mother. At eight o’clock in the morning, he closed her eyes as an act of saying “It is finished” to God. Her last words were the names of Jesus. She was only 39 years old.
In her funeral, Pierluigi, Gianna’s oldest son who was eight, asked his father, “Why is mother there? Is she mother? Does mother see me, touch me, think on me?” Pietro, moved by sadness, could not reply. In his innocence, Pierluigi consoled his father, “For mother there should be a golden little house!”
People in the world saw Gianna as an example for Christian motherhood. Those who petitioned for her sainthood said, “Such a mother and martyr who, out of love for God and in obedience to His commandment 'Thou shall not kill,' bears witness and exalts the heroism of a Christian wife and mother, sacrifices her life to say 'yes' to the Christian duty of love, and out of her respect for life, God's gift to men. This example of wife and mother is what we would like to propose today to the whole Church, at a time when egoism and violence are rampant. It has become very easy to kill, in both hidden and blatant ways. In this our world prone to introduce the legalization of abortion, the Servant of God, Gianna Beretta Molla has become a courageous example of Christian behavior.”
Gianna Beretta Molla was canonized on May 16, 2004, in the Vatican. Her daughter Gianna Emmanuela, her husband Pietro and other members of the family were in the canonization ceremony.

Martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and dignity

2006-07-02T02:36:00.001-07:00

On the morning of September 15, 1963, a member of the Ku Klux Klan threw a packet of dynamite sticks through the basement window of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The church was a rallying center for Blacks demanding for human rights. At about 10:25 AM, with 80 children walking into the basement assembly room for closing prayers after hearing the ironically-titled sermon, "The Love That Forgives" on the church's Youth Day, the bombs exploded. Four young girls were killed and twenty others were seriously wounded. The slain were Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, all fourteen, and Denise McNair, who was only eleven. They were changing into their choir robes when the bomb exploded.
The explosion blew a hole in the church's rear wall, destroyed the back steps and left standing only the frames of all but one stained glass window. The lone window to withstand the blast was one in which Jesus Christ was leading young children, although Christ's face had been destroyed. In addition, five cars behind the church were damaged, with two of them destroyed, while windows in the laundry across the street were blown out.
In the funeral of the four girls, Martin Luther King called them “martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity.” Then, he said to the parents of the girls:
“Your children did not live long, but they lived well. The quantity of their lives was disturbingly small, but the quality of their lices was magnificently big. Where they died and what they were doing when death came will remain a marvelous tribute to each of you and an eternal epitaph to each of them. . . . They died within the sacred walls of the church after discussing a principle as eternal as love.”

The Columbine Martyrs

2006-07-02T02:36:00.000-07:00

At 11:00 am, racist and neo-Nazi students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, planted bombs in the Columbine School cafeteria, but the bombs didn’t explode. So, the two armed themselves with guns and went around the school shooting targeted people, most especially Christians.
The first one to be shot was Rachel Scott, a seventeen-year-old girl who was having lunch with her friend. Rachel had a heart for everyone, especially for her two would-be murderers. First, Eric and Dylan shot Rachel at her legs, then approached her. She was asked, “Do you believe in God?” Rachel, who had talked to the two boys about God so many times, replied, “You know I do.” She was shot at point blank range at her head. Because of her faith, her love and her kindness, Rachel Joy Scott was killed. Rachel has been remembered for her ability to love others undeniably. At her funeral many were at a loss of words for this young girl who had reached so many lives.
After shooting some students outside the campus, the murderers then went to the school library. They killed more people there, including 19-year-old Cassie Bernall. When her murderers attacked the library, she began praying. When they came to her, they asked her, “Do you believe in God?” She replied, “Yes.” After saying this, she was shot to death.
It was Cassie's grandmother who first called the camera-shy high school junior a martyr, recalled Dave McPherson, the youth group director. ''I was with the family Tuesday. They waited all night, praying that she was hiding in a closet. When we first heard from Crystal about Cassie's last words, her grandmother said: `My God, my granddaughter was a martyr.'''
A day before she was killed, Cassie wrote in her journal, “I am not going to apologize for speaking the name of Jesus, I am not going to justify my faith to them, and I am not going to hide the light that God has put into me. If I have to sacrifice everything...I will. I will take it.”
In her journal, Rachel Scott wrote, “I want you to use me to reach the un-reached.” And God used her. She touched the lives of many Christians, encouraging them to witness and to testify boldly, without fear. Christians around the world have learned a valuable lesson from this 17 year old. The deep wound of Columbine has caused the youth of this nation to cry out for real answers. Rachel's family along with others connected to this tragedy are committed to providing some of those answers.

Purity at all cost (Maria Goretti)

2006-07-02T02:35:00.000-07:00

After a year of working in the farms of Nettuno, Luigi Goretti died of malaria in 1900. He left his wife, Assunta, as a widow to take care of their six children. Among those children was the ten-year-old Maria, who served as a great comfort to Assunta in her moment of grief. Many times, she would assure her mother, “Jesus would provide for us.”
Maria never complained about the household chores which were left for her. While Assunta worked in the farm, she would clean the house, cook meals, take care of her younger siblings, and many more. She acted maturely that she received the Holy Communion at the age of eleven. From that moment on, Maria promised to die rather than commit a sin. She promised “purity at all cost.” Girls of her age would often call her “the little old lady.”
Living with the Gorettis were Giovanni Serenelli and his eighteen-year-old son, Alessandro. Both of them also worked in the farm. Alessandro would often pleasure himself in reading adult magazines given to him by his father. Assunta would often be shocked to see dirty pictures in Alessandro’s room. But the religious atmosphere created by the Gorettis awakened some religious sentiment in Alessandro. joined in the Rosary that they recited as a family; on feast days he attended Mass, and he even went to confession from time to time. Alessandro was a nice person, though. He often spoiled Maria in front of everyone. But Maria was afraid of him, since she knew what he wanted. He liked Maria, and, according to him, he first noticed Maria’s beauty while praying the family rosary.
Unknown to Assunta, Alessandro keeps on proposing indecent proposals to Maria. Maria would refuse him, saying, “No, never! It is a sin. . . You would go to hell!” but Alessandro threatened her, “If you tell anyone about this, I’ll kill you!” So, Maria kept silent and would give way for her tears when in moments of fear.
Assunta started noticing that Maria would act in a weird manner. She begged her mother not to leave her alone in the house, but didn't dare clearly expose to her mother the grounds for her fear There was no childish playfulness left in Maria. The cares of the world clouded her eyes with sadness. Her night prayers become longer. She examined her conscience repeatedly for occasions of sin, her small body trembled with fear and bitter sobs. But Maria would always assure her that she was fine.
On July 5, 1902, before everyone went to work in the farm, Alessandro handed Maria his shirt for mending. Maria again asked her mother, with tears, not to leave her alone. Not having obtained any further explanation, Assunta believed it to be a childish whim, and did not give any consideration to this repeated plea.
At about three in the afternoon, Alessandro asked Assunta to drive the oxe for him for a while. Then, he went to the house. He passed by Maria, who was alone with her sleeping baby sister, Teresa. She was mending his shirt on the landing near the entrance of the house. When Maria saw him, she was terrified. But Alessandro passed by her. Maria thought she was safe, until Alessandro called her. “Tell me what you want, or I will not follow you,” said Maria. Faced with resistance, Alessandro grabbed Maria by the arm to the kitchen. Little Teresa began to cry. But the cries of Teresa and Maria’s screams were not heard outside.
He gagged Maria tried to undress her. He showed Maria his knife and said., “Don’t try to stop me or I’ll kill you.” Maria trembled with fear, but she would rather die than commit sin. “Purity at all cost” is what was taught to her before her communion. She fought Alessandro like a tigress. She managed to free herself from the gag and shouted, “Don't do it… It's a sin… You will go to Hell!!” Alessandro began stabbing Maria and left her for dead. He locked himself in his room as if to sleep. But he heard Maria calling out for her mother, so he returned and stabbed her more to finish her. Finally, Maria fell unconscious. He thought she was dead and returned to his room.
Giovanni, who was sleeping beneath the stairs, heard Teresa crying. He thought it was due to Maria’s neglect, so he climbed the stairs and entered the house. In it, he saw Maria, lying unconscioussly in the pool of her own blood. He called Assuinta to the house. Assunta and the neighbors rushed to the house. Seeing her daughter brutalized in such a manner, Assunta fainted.
After regaining her consciousness, she asked Maria, “Maria, what happened? Who did this to you?” Maria replied, “It was Alexander, Mama... Because he wanted me to commit an awful sin and I would not.” Maria was laid tenderly on a bed while a neighbor summoned the ambulance.
Assunta tried to soothe her daughter's agony as the ambulance wagon bumped along on that torturous trip to the hospital in Nettuno. The doctors attempted to repair the extensive damage, but could give Assunta no encouragement. Each time Maria remembered Alessandro, she would scream in terror. She was operated on for two hours without anaesthetic. The doctors found 14 major stab wounds and more minor ones.
In the hospital, Maria prayed, “Jesus, you have suffered so much for me, please help me in my suffering for you.” A doctor said to a priest in the hospital, “Father, you have found an angel. I’m afraid we would leave behind a corpse.” The priest asked Maria if she would like to join the Children of Mary. Maria said she wanted to. So, the priest placed around her neck the Miraculous Medal. Maria kissed the medal and prayed, “Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.”
Maria’s mother was permitted to be by her bedside. Maria comforted her, saying, “Mother, my dear mother, I am well now… How are the little brothers and sisters doing?” Then, Maria asked for water, even just a drop. Assunta told her, “My poor Maria, the doctor won't allow it, it will make you worse.” Then Maria said, “Is it possible that I can't have a drop of water.” After glancing at Jesus on the cross, who said “I thirst,” Maria resigned herself in peace to God’s will. She never ceased praying and offering herself to Our Lady.
The next day, a priest came to give Maria her last sacraments. Before he gave her Viaticum, he asked her if she forgave her murderer with all her heart. Maria replied with no hesitation, “Yes, I too, for the love of Jesus, forgive him ... and I want him to be with me in Paradise ... May God forgive him because I already have forgiven him.”
The end was nearing. She was heard to call out, “Papa.” Finally, after a last appeal to Mary, she entered into the immense joy of Paradise. It was the 6th of July, 1902, at three o'clock in the afternoon. She died kissing a crucifix.
Alessandro was arrested a few hours after the murder. A mob tried to lynch him, but the police protected him. He was sentenced to thirty years of imprisonment. He spent his life in prison in an unrepentant manner. All efforts to convert him were in vain.
But one night, he had a dream of Maria in paradise. She offered him some flowers and, when he received the flowers, they turned into flames. The next day, he wrote to the bishop, “I regret my crime so much more, that I am aware that I have taken the life of a poor innocent girl who, up to the last moment, wanted to save her honor, sacrificing herself rather than give in to my criminal desire. I publicly beg pardon from God and from the poor family for this great crime committed. I want to hope that I too will obtain my pardon, like so many others on this earth.” The bishop went to Alessandro and told him that Maria forgave him. When he learned this, he sobbed, “Maria forgave me?” Then he burst into tears. He went to confession and confessed the crime. Because of his good conduct, he was soon released.
After his release, he went to Assunta, who was now in Corinaldo. Hardly, he begged for her forgiveness. “Assunta, will you forgive me?” Assunta placed her hands on his head, caressed his face and gently said, "Alessandro, Marietta forgave you, Christ has forgiven you, and why should I not also forgive. I forgive you, of course, my son! Why have I not seen you sooner? Your evil days are past, and to me, you are a long-suffering son.” It was Christmas at that time. That evening, the neighbors were surprised to see Alessandro and Assunta, side by side, at the mass at Maria’s shrine. From that time on, members of the Goretti family lovingly called him “Uncle Alessandro.”
There was great devotion to Maria after her death. Many people who sought her intercession had their prayers answered. In 1947, Maria was beatified. Alessandro was one of the witnesses in the process to make her beatified and canonized. He was the only witness to the climax of Maria’s life, the one which happened in the kitchen of their house on July 5, 1902.
Assunta and Alessandro were present in Maria’s canonization in 1950. Assunta must have had many thoughts and mixed emotions as she listened to His Holiness, Pope Pius XII deliver this homily. More than 250,000 people had gathered in the piazza, St. Peter's Square on the evening, June 24, 1950 to participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, to pray, and to honor Assunta’s canonized daughter.
Alessandro, though forgiven by Assunta, was not accepted by the community. He lived as an outcast and became a gardener for the Capuchin monks. The brothers in the monastery did not only accept him as a servant, but as a brother. Before dying in 1969, he wrote:
“I'm nearly 80 years old. I'm about to depart. Looking back at my past, I can see that in my early youth, I chose a bad path which led me to ruin myself. ”My behavior was influenced by print, mass-media and bad examples which are followed by the majority of young people without even thinking. And I did the same. I was not worried. ”There were a lot of generous and devoted people who surrounded me, but I paid no attention to them because a violent force blinded me and pushed me toward a wrong way of life. ”When I was 20 years-old, I committed a crime of passion. Now, that memory represents something horrible for me. Maria Goretti, now a Saint, was my good Angel, sent to me through Providence to guide and save me. ”I still have impressed upon my heart her words of rebuke and of pardon. She prayed for me, she interceded for her murderer. Thirty years of prison followed. If I had been of age, I would have spent all my life in prison. I accepted to be condemned because it was my own fault.
“Little Maria was really my light, my protectress; with her help, I behaved well during the 27 years of prison and tried to live honestly when I was again accepted among the members of society. ”The Brothers of St. Francis, Capuchins from Marche, welcomed me with angelic charity into their monastery as a brother, not as a servant. I've been living with their community for 24 years, and now I am serenely waiting to witness the vision of God, to hug my loved ones again, and to be next to my Guardian Angel and her dear mother, Assunta. ”I hope this letter that I wrote can teach others the happy lesson of avoiding evil and of always following the right path, like little children. I feel that religion with its precepts is not something we can live without, but rather it is the real comfort, the real strength in life and the only safe way in every circumstance, even the most painful ones of life.”

We are dying because we wear the cassock (51 Claretians)

2006-07-02T02:33:00.001-07:00

On July 20, 1936, an anti-clerical mob attacked the house of the Claretian missionaries in Barbastro, shouting, “Death to the priests and destruction to religion! We have to finish with all of them!” The whole community gathered at the sound of the bell and met the crowd in the inner courtyard. The mob was shouting at the missionaries, looking for their hidden “weapons.” The priests replied, “There are no politics here, we are religious.”
Since they did not find any arms, they jailed the three superiors of the community in the municipal prison. The prison was a small and dirty room without proper ventilation. Imprisoned with the priests are some devout Catholics, who, like them, are imprisoned for the faith.
Calm and modest, the rest of the community were herded to the jail. Some of them had smiles on their lips. One person who saw them reverently genuflected and took of his hat “as if a Corpus Christi procession was passing by.” They were imprisoned in the auditorium of a former seminary of the Piarist Fathers.
The three superiors were put on a sham interrogation. They were asked, “Where do you hide your weapons?” Fr. Leoncio Perez showed his rosary and said, “I don’t have any other weapon other than this.” They were executed by a firing squad on August 2, 1936, with other priests and Catholics in Barbastro’s cemetery.
At the windows of the auditorium, people were gathering day and night shouting at the prisoners the most absurd slanders and wild threats. But they pardoned and prayed. Their guards entertained themselves every now and then by pretending to be about to shoot them. It is not hard to imagine the dreadful kind of life they had to live during those hottest months of summer. And it was only made worse by the fact that they were provided with a miserable ration of water. When one spiteful woman overheard the militiamen forwarding a request for water for the prisoners in the auditorium, she snarled, “Are you going to give them water? Why give them anything at all? Better to give them some lye, to make them hurry up!”
Prostitutes and other wretched women were sent in to the auditorium to seduce the prisoners, promising them freedom if they joined them. But the prisoners turned their backs on them and prepared themselves for martyrdom. Many of the girls would leave in ill humour because of their failure to seduce anyone. Among those prostitutes was a woman called Trini “la Pallaresa”, who was obsessed with one of the seminarians, Esteban Casadevall. Trini openly stated, even in front of the other imprisoned religious, that it was a 'real pity' to see that such a good looking seminarian, 'such a handsome young kid' should have been led astray like this, and that she would try to free him from death if she could talk to him alone. She vowed that she would be on the watch for him whenever he left the auditorium. Casadevall, who was exemplary for his modesty and was seemingly unaware of all this, came and went “without paying the least attention to her or even batting an eye at the flattering words and gestures she directed toward him.”
One seminarian, Salvador Pigem, was offered freedom. He asked his captors, “Will you save me with all my companions?” The captor replied, “No, only you.” “Well then, I don’t accept your offer. I prefer to die a martyr with them.”
The captives stood firm in piety and purity. They spent their time praying together in small groups, and took advantage of every opportunity to confess and receive Holy Communion. They begged God to forgive their persecutors. They also scrawled messages to be communicated to the outside world, on scraps of paper, on the walls, on wooden planks, and even on the lid of the piano. “We die happy,” they wrote. “We ask God that our blood may not give rise to vengeance. We are dying because we wear the cassock.” “Workers, we martyrs die loving and forgiving you. Many of us have offered our lives that you may be saved.” “Lord, forgive them.” “Father, save them, for they know not what they do.”
On August 12, the six eldest Claretians were killed in the cemetery of Barbastro. Before the firing started, the martyrs had been offered one last chance to apostatise. Afterwards they received the coup de grace in the temple. Then they were left there to bleed to death, so a not to soil the truck or the roadway with blood. The other seminarians in the auditorium were filled with hope and gladness, since their time to die for Christ is drawing near.
The next day, 20 seminarians were called out. On hearing their names, they jumped and hugged each other with joy. They kissed their ropes and forgave their executioners. Those whose names were not called looked on with respect. The seminarians were loaded on to the truck which was heading for the place of execution. At the start of the journey, joyful shouts and songs of praise turned the scene into an impressive manifestation of faith. However, they were silenced by infuriated guards who beat them with rifle butts. At the place of execution, they were told, “For the last time, if you renounce your religion and come with us, we will spare your lives!” The seminarians answered, “Never do we! Heaven as close and sure as it is now. Long live Christ the King!” The seminarians in the auditorium heard the shots which rang out from the cemetery. They began praying for their brothers and rejoiced for their martyrdom.
That morning, two Argentinean seminarians were singled out from the prisoners and released. One of the would-be martyrs, Ramon Illa, told them, “How poor and unhappy you two must be, not to be able to die as martyrs for our Lord.” However, it was thanks to the two seminarians that the story of the martyred community of Barbastro was made known.
The remaining seminarians were told that they were going to be killed on the 14th, but it didn’t happen as they were told. Instead, they were to be killed on the next day. It was a fitting day for the seminarians since it was the feast day of the Assumption. On the dawn of August 15, the truck in which the seminarians would be loaded parked in front of the auditorium. When the names of the next twenty prisoners who were going to be killed on that day were called out, they were asked, “Where would you rather go, to the front and fight against fascism, or to the firing squad?” Knowing that fighting with the republicans would mean abandoning their faith, they replied, “We would rather die for God and for Spain.” They were bound with wires and tourniquets by pair. They were bound tightly that their wrists bled, but none of them complained. Before they were loaded in the truck, they were given again the offer to fight with the fascists and renounce their faith, but everyone remained silent. When the truck reached the place of execution, the seminarians were beaten with rifle butts. As they were being shot to death, a witness says “they never stopped repeating ejaculatory prayers.” After the execution, one witness of the execution reported hearing the executioners saying, “The young seminarians could all have been saved, if they'd only taken off those cassocks and denied their faith.”
On August 18th, a Tuesday, the last two seminarians, Jamie Falgarona and Atanasio Vidaurreta, were killed for their faith. The two seminarians had been staying as patients in the local hospital, along with Brother Joaquin Munoz, since the evening of July 20th. The doctors kept them there as long as they could, because they knew that as soon as they left they would be condemned. Finally, on the evening of August 15th, they had to release them, and they went off to occupy a cell in the municipal jail. Brother Munoz, who was disabled by different ailments, was released. The death of the last two brothers completed the glorious crown of the fifty-one Claretian Martyrs of Barbastro.

Even for you, there is a blessing (Elias Socorro Nieves)

2006-07-02T02:33:00.000-07:00

During the Cristero rebellion, Augustinian Fr. Elias Socorro Nieves kept himself on the margin of the revolutionary movement that in ways barely echoed among the local population which was very distant ideologically and geographically from the socio-political problematic underlying the revolution. At the end of 1926 when persecutions of the Church broke out, despite his timid character, instead of obeying the government order to reside in the big urban centers, he established himself in a cave near the hill of La Gavia, assuring his faithful in this way of religious assistance, usually under the cover of night. In the fourteen months during which that situation lasted, someone to administer the sacraments or celebrate daily Mass was never lacking.
In March, 1927, Fr. Nieves was captured by government forces in a village near his parish after the captain in charge threatened to torture the villagers if they did not reveal the priest’s whereabouts. Two ranchmen, the Sierra brothers, who refused to leave him were arrested with him. A wealthy Catholic offered a large bribe for the release of the three prisoners, but the offer was not accepted.
Once interrogated, he declared his status as a priest. He also had the occasion to discuss religious topics with two of the officials who had custody of him, but his luck had run out.
At dawn on 10 March 1928 the military and prisoners set out in the direction of the small urban center of Cortazar upon which La Cañada depended. In his first order, the captain, facing the troops, gave the order to execute the two companions of Fr. Nieves, who after going to confession to Fr. Nieves died valiantly proclaiming Christ the King as victor. At the next station which was connected to a beautifully landscaped mesquite, near the town, the captain addressed Fr. Nieves, saying “Now it is your turn; let us see if dying is like saying Mass.” To which the servant of God responded, “You have spoken the truth, because to die for our religion is a pleasing sacrifice to God.” He requested a few moments to collect his thoughts, then gave over his watch to the captain.
Nieves gestured to the soldiers, “Kneel down, I will give you the blessing of a priest – and along with it my pardon, for you do not know what you are doing.” The soldiers knelt down and made the sign of the cross as the priest blessed them. Then, he turned to the captain and said, “Even for you, there is a blessing.” This angered the captain that he drew his pistol and shot him on the spot.

We cannot leave these Christians (Five Rwandan Nuns)

2006-07-02T02:32:00.000-07:00

Five nuns from the congregation of the Daughters of Resurrection were killed in their convent in Busasamana, near the Rwanda-Congo border on January 7, 1998. A convent watchman and the wife of a lay-Catholic leader were also killed. Two sisters survived the massacre, but one nun, Sr. Devota, died after suffering from a coma. The identities of the attackers were not known.

In December, 1997, a bishop advised the nuns to leave the convent for another in a safer region. But the mother superior, after consulting the other sisters, said, “We are united among ourselves and with the people. We are afraid, but do not feel that there is any danger as yet. You know that in Rwanda lay people are not allowed to distribute communion. We cannot leave these Christians without communion and abandon them unless the danger is great. Our work has nothing to do with politics and harms no one. We hope that nothing serious will happen.”

On the night of January 7, 1998, attackers surrounded their house around midnight and broke through an iron door. They immediately dragged down four nuns and hacked them to death. A fifth, who threw herself down at the assassins' feet pleading for mercy, was also murdered.

One possible explanation for why they were targeted may be that they had reportedly provided lodging at the convent to people whose houses had been burned by RPA soldiers.

According to Rwandan Bishops, the ethnicity of the nuns doesn’t matter as there were both Tutsi and Hutu sisters among those killed at the convent. “The sisters were living together, and they were of all ethnic groups,” they said, adding that it was not an attack against the church itself. Anyone living in the region where the nuns lived are already facing the risk of death.

They died because they loved us (Five American Nuns)

2006-07-02T02:31:00.000-07:00

During the Liberian Civil War in 1992, the missionaries who chose to stay with their people knew that they are putting themselves in great danger. Among those missionaries were the five American missionary nuns from the Adorers of the Precious Blood congregation. The five nuns enjoyed a good relationship with the people of Gardnersville. They ran a school and a clinic in service to the people. For months it had been clear that the deteriorating situation posed grave danger to the nuns, for that matter to anyone in the way of the shelling and the vicious hand-to-hand combat that distinguished Taylor's westward advance. The sisters resolved to stay in order to serve the people who had nowhere to go, fully conscious of the danger. Sr. Agnes Muller, one of the five nuns, said, “That's where God is. Right there, in that struggle, in that hassle.”

On the night of October 20, 1992, a security guard from the convent said he was worried about his family. Two of the sisters, Barbara Ann Muttra and Joel Kolmer, agreed to drive him home. On their journey, they picked up two stranded soldiers. While they were driving along, shots rang out and killed the passengers of the car, including the two nuns.

When the two nuns did not return to the convent, the others feared the worst, but the fighting prevented a search party from going out. Besides, they had to look for the aspirants and the refugees in the convent.

On the afternoon of October 22, soldiers from Charles Taylor’s troops entered the convent and took the black refugees away from the convent. They told the blacks that they are going to kill the whites. The nuns pleaded for their lives but were ignored. The soldiers demanded the keys to the car that remained at the convent. Sr. Kathleen McGuire handed them over and was shot. The soldiers then demanded money from the other two sisters. Informed that there were no U.S. dollars at the convent, the soldiers shot Srs. Agnes Mueller and Shirley Kolmer, killing both of them.

To date no one has been brought to justice in the killings of the five nuns. But their presence in Liberia lives on. In the villages where the nuns served, girls under the age of 2 today are likely to answer to Agnes, Barbara, Joel, Kathleen, or Shirley.

“These five angels of peace came to our country to minister to our people, to heal our wounds, to educate our people, and to bring to our people a fuller, fruitful and spiritual life,” wrote Archbishop Michael Francis of Monrovia in 1993. “They died because they loved us.”

I will continue my work (Tumisa Gudina)

2006-07-02T02:30:00.000-07:00

Tumida Gudina was the secretary general of the Mekane Jesus Church, a Lutheran Chruch, in Ethiopia. During the Marxist persecution in Ethiopia, the police arrested Gudina and brought him to the dreaded police station, which was known for it’s cruelty to the prisoners. After searching for him, his family discovered where he was kept, but the police won’t release him. A few days later, the police brought him to Asilla city and asked him to collaborate with them in giving the impression to the Western world that the Church and State relations are good and so that the West would send money to Ethiopia in the name of Gudina.

He was released, but was rearrested again in 1979. He was going to Wolissa, a small village where he usually preached, to conduct a worship service. But among the faithful are policemen dressed in civilian clothes. The next day, he and his wife reported this to the police. But the policemen arrested him on the spot. They asked him again to collaborate with the Marxist government, but he refused. His sixteen-year-old daughter was arrested, but they were soon released due to pressure from the faithful.

The faithful never ceased in asking Gudina to hide. But Gudina told them, “No, I will continue my work. I am in the hands of the Lord. He is my refuge and strength.”

On July 28, 1979, he was arrested again. The morning before he was arrested, he held a worship service and preached about the message from the Gospel, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?” (Matther 5:13) Then, at evening, he held a Bible study seminar. When he returned home, he was arrested together with his wife. His wife was soon released, and Gudina was no longer seen again. Each time his wife asked anyone if they saw Gudina, everyone would say, “We do not know.”

Gudina’s wife, Adele, was rearrested and imprisoned for ten years. After her release, her family continued looking for Gudina. A former police told them the place where Gudina was buried. According to him, Gudina was strangled to death the day after his arrest and buried on the spot.

In his funeral, the secretary general of the World Lutheran Federation said, “Gudina did not die in vain. The Church continues to be the voice of the voiceless, the friend of the poor.”

If the Madonna saves us, we will return to work in Congo (Francesco Spoto)

2006-07-01T04:48:00.000-07:00

In August, 1964, Francesco Spoto, the general superior of the Missionaries of the Poor, visited the missionaries in Congo despite the civil war. A few days after his arrival in the mission in Biringi, the Simba rebels occupied the city. The other missionaries adviced Fr. Spoto to leave the country and return to Italy, but he refused to leave his brothers in trouble. He added, "What good would it bring me? I cannot, I do not have to leave."

The situations worsened in November. Fr. Spoto wrote in his diary that he and his confreres lived in "fear and anxiety."On November 14, the rebels arrested Fr. Spoto and the four other missionaries. Fr. Spoto was beaten by the rebels and was mortally wounded. He prayed, "Lord, I offer my life to you, but sve my confreres!"After a few days, the missionaries escaped and hid in the bushes. They lived in the so-called "green catacombs." They hid in the savana for twenty days. Fr. Spoto suffered alot in the ordeal. He told his confreres, "Pray, pray alot. If the Madonna saves us, we will return to work here in Congo." Fr. Spoto's health aggravated. He died on December 27, 1964.

On June 26, 2006, the Vatican recognized his martyrdom as authentic, thus declaring him venerable and opening the way for his beatification.

I am ready to die for them because they are children of God (Rani Maria Vatallil)

2006-06-30T02:59:00.000-07:00

Maryam Vatallil was born to a Catholic family in Kerala. Her decision to enter religious life was objected by members of her family, but her grandmother said, “Why do you oppose Marykunju joining the convent? Is she not going for a noble cause? How many parents desire that children become priests and nuns? But does that happen? The vocation to the religious life is not given to all. God gives it only to some.” Joining the Franciscan Clarist congregation, she took the name Rani Maria. As a nun, she worked among the poor and helped alleviate their lives. She was met with opposition by men in power. One nun remarked about her, “Sr. Rani Maria mostly worked among the adivasis and among those who were marginalized by the society. They loved her as a mother because it was for the first time that they saw a person who shared their life, lived with them and acted in their favour. Her nature was not one that would run away from difficulties and oppositions.”

Sr. Rani Maria faced opposition from those in authority. For example, in Odgady, she protected the poor people whom she had helped from abusive money-lenders. Sr. Rani made the poor people aware of their rights. She was faced with opposition from the money-lenders, but she continued serving the poor.

During the 1994 elections, the police arrested many innocent poor people. Sr. Rani worked for them, hired a lawyer and had them released. The angered police and a political leader sought of ways to kill the nun. They knew that she would be going to Kerala to visit her parents.

On February 25, 1995, Sr. Rani was on a bus bound for Kerala. A hired murderer in the bus stabbed Sr. Rani repeatedly. The bus stopped, and the people left out of fear. Then, he dragged Sr. Rani outside the bus and continued stabbing her until she died. She died crying out the name of Jesus. She died in the midst of the people, many of whom she knew, some of them whom she did help. But they could not do anything. The murderers abandoned her body and ran away.

About 12,000 people took part in Sr. Rani’s funeral. Because of Sr. Rani’s death, the missionaries gained the trust of the people and found it easier to work with them. In the year 2002, the nuns visited Sr. Rani’s murderer, who was in prison. It was the day before the feast of "Rakshabandhan'. 'Rakshabandhan' is a feast of sisters. A sister would tie 'Rakhi' (hand ring) on her brother's hand and the brother assumes the responsibility to protect his sister. This ceremony fosters the love and unity between brothers and sisters. Sr. Selmy, Sr. Rani’s sister, tied the rakhi on the hands of the murderer as a sign of forgiveness. They ate together, and Sr. Selmy assured the murderer that she forgives him.

Sr. Rani once said, “I am deeply convinced that I am called to work for the poor and the oppressed. I am ready to die for them because they are children of God and as such our sisters and brothers.”

I am a soldier of Christ (Roy Pontoh)

2006-06-30T02:58:00.000-07:00

It was in January, 1999. Fanatic Muslims were coming to attack a group of Christian teens who gathered in a university for a Bible study meeting. The older men decided to hide the teens. Cars came to rescue the young people, but there were no enough cars for them. Four adults left the children to get more cars, but they did not return. The men were attacked by the Muslim crowd and two of them were killed.

Before long, the mob reached the University. They found many of the teens and forced them to come out of hiding. Roy Pontoh was forced from his hiding place and made to stand before the mob.

“Renounce your Jesus or we will kill you!” they threatened. Roy was terribly frightened. Though trembling, he answered, “I am a soldier of Christ!” At this, one of the Muslims attackers swung a sword at his stomach. The sword hit the Bible Roy held and ripped into it, knocking it out of his hand. The man's next swing sliced open Roy's stomach. His last word was “Jesus.”

The mob dragged Roy's body out and threw it in a ditch. Four days later, his family found it. Even though they are wrecked with grief, Roy's parents stand proud of their son, who stood strong in his faith to the end.

For leaving the safety and comfort of home and convent to work as rural missionaries among poor farmers (Four nuns)

2006-06-30T02:57:00.000-07:00

Sisters Mary Consuelo Chuidian, Concepcion Conti, Virginia Gonzaga, and Catherine Loreto were on board the M/V Doña Cassandra when it sank in shark-infested waters off the coast of Northeastern Mindanao, Philippines. Survivors told of the four Sisters praying, distributing life vests, helping children put theirs on, instructing other passengers to hasten towards the life rafts and to be ready to abandon ship, not calculating how little time they had to save themselves – until time did run out. These sisters worked as rural missionaries in Mindanao. There, they defended the rights of the people abused by the military, and they themselves were often suspected as subversices.

Sister Mary Consuelo Chuidian, superior of the Davao Community, had volunteered to document the first case of hamletting, Vietnam-style, in Laac, Davao del Norte. She chaired the Women’s Alliance for True Change, was coordinator of the Rural Missionaries for Southern Mindanao, and was active in the associations of women religious in Davao and Mindanao. Her leadership inspired her community to be open to victims of every kind, especially those of Martial Law.

Sister Mary Concepcion Conti, a member of the Davao Community, had organized and headed the Community-Based Health Program in the Diocese of Tagum. She sought to train rural health workers, thus empowering them to attend to the basic health needs of the poor. She was an exceptional teacher and learner who brought her skills to her Mindanao mission.

Sister Mary Virginia Gonzaga, superior of the Sapad Community in Lanao del Norte. She had organized the Young Christian Workers in her home city and later, as a religious, worked among slum dwellers and migrant workers before she went to the Sapad mission among Christians and Muslims.

Sister Mary Catherine Loreto, 39, a member of the Davao Community, at the time of her death was coordinator of Task Force Detainees in her area. Hers was the most difficult challenge of standing up for those harassed by the military and their families, with the risk of herself falling under suspicion.

Their names were listed among other Filipinos who fought the Marcos regime. A citation read:
“For contributing to the protest movement against the Marcos dictatorship and human rights abuses, as street parliamentarians and religious superiors heading and implementing education, health, rehabilitation and justice programs, both through legal and extra-legal means;
For leaving the safety and comfort of home and convent to work as rural missionaries among poor farmers, indigenous peoples and Muslims in remote areas of Mindanao, thus becoming active witnesses to the Church’s mission to serve the poor, deprived and oppressed at the height of state repression of the Church”

The missionary from Modena (Luisa Guidotti Mistrali)

2006-06-30T02:55:00.000-07:00

Luisa Guidotti Mistrali is a member of the Catholic Action in Modena, Italy. She finished the course of medicine and joined the Association of Women Doctor Missionaries because of her dream to become a missionary in Africa, just like her brothers. Her dream was fulfilled when she was sent to work in Rhodesia, presently called Zimbabwe. In her first three years, she worked in different hospitals while studying the culture and language of the natives. In 1969, she was sent to the All Souls Hospital in Mutoko, a poor hospital with only six huts and two washrooms. But because of help from God and her friends, she managed to turn the straw huts to buildings of masonry and founded a school for African nurses and an orphanage. In one of her letters, she wrote, “I am becoming a Shona (the Rhodesian tribe) and I am proud.” Her special concern were the abandoned lepers in the neighboring villages, whom she visited twice a week. The lepers saw in the Italian doctor a sweet and loving sister. But her love was often criticized. The hospital committee further alleged that Dr. Guidotti was over-spending on non-leprosy drugs and “unnecessary” travel expenses.

In 1976, during the civil war, Dr. Guidotti was arrested for helping a wounded guerilla boy without handing him over to the police. The crime accused to her was a serious one and is punishable by death. Dictator Ian Smith even called her the “white terrorist.” But Dr. Guidotti was apolitical and took no sides in the government conflict. Her hospital is always open for everyone. She was released four days later and was not allowed to go near the mission hospital or perform her job as a doctor. But because of international protest, Dr. Guidotti was fully acquitted of her crimes.

Dr. Guidotti’s life was spared from the dangers of the civil war, but out of love for her people, she returned to the hospital, where she was the only doctor. This brought her to greater risks of danger. Dr. Guidotti was left alone with the African nurses, since Sr. Caterina Savini, the head nurse, went back to Italy for a serious operation. She feels the weight of solitude, but she totally abandons herself to God’s will.

On July 6, 1979, Dr. Guidotti was driving her marked ambulance alone. She was going back to the hospital after bringing a woman to the hospital in Nyadiri. On the way home, she was stopped by a government police. She was shot from both sides of the road.

Her funeral was attended by a huge crowd of affected mourners, both black and white. She was seen as an example of the missionary spirit and charity, even to the point of death.

In the name of God: Stop the repression! (Oscar Romero)

2006-06-30T02:54:00.000-07:00

In being the archbishop of San Salvador, one has to follow a careful tradition of being quiet about the elite and the abuses committed in the country. At first, everyone thought that Oscar Romero, the newly appointed archbishop, would follow the tradition. The new archbishop was a shy and reserved man. Romero, together with other bishops, drafted letters of protest against the government, which was to be read at all the masses. In it, they lamented over the fact about the government’s brutality against the peasants and the persecutions against the Catholic Church.

The new archbishop remained the same until the assassination of his friend, the Jesuit Rutilio Grande, who worked with the activists in El Salvador. From that day onwards, he became outspoken in defending his flock. The archbishop said that Grande is “Salvador’s first Christian martyr, a dedicated man of God who worked for the very poor.” The archbishop then pronounced excommunication on all who would commit violence against a priest. Romero demanded investigation for his friend’s murder, since the bullets found in his body may be from weapons by the military.

Romero finally realized that the Church do not have any influence on the government. Romero issued a letter of protest to be read in all Sunday Masses inside and outside the archdiocese.

As an act of protest, the bishops had all Catholic schools and churches closed for three days, and only one mass would be held next Sunday, to be held in the Cathedral. Romero realized that by taking this action, he would alienate himself from the landowners and the authorities, whom he had befriended. But Romero stood up against them. Even though he was reproved by the Papal Nuncio for his actions, he continued with his plan.

All the priests of the archdiocese of San Salvador attended the mass, and an estimated 100,000 faithful attended the mass. It was the largest single show of strength in El Salvador’s history, and also a death sentence for Romero. The bridges between Romero and the oligarchy started burning.
The violence was not only concentrated on radical priests, but also on the innocent peasants. Once, the soldiers used the village church in Aguillares as their barracks and desecrated it. Romero told the president, “I do not understand how you can publicly declare yourself Catholic by upbringing and conviction yet allow these unspeakable outrages on the part of the security forces in a country that we call civilized and Christian.”
It thus became obvious that the government was not for the people. With the continued killings and brutalities against the peasants and priests. Romero and the Church became targeted by the government for attack. They betrayed the Church and the people.

Romero was once thrown in jail for trying to protect a priest who was hostaged. He began receiving death threats, but he never paid any attention to them. For him, defending his flock is more important than his life. He is a true shepherd willing to lay down his life for his sheep.

Pressure against the Church and the poor continued. The White Warrior Union, a group of landowners, said that they would kill more priests. The government also denounce militant priests as “communists.” Among those who were branded as “communists” was Romero.

Some of the bishops in El Salvador also criticized Romero for his outspokenness. One said that Romero was only claiming to defend human rights, but he only wanted to be a “Latin American Jimmy Carter.” Romero knew that he had failed in many ways. But he was sure that he wasn’t guilty of the accusations thrown against him by his fellow bishops. Once, during a meeting, he raised a question about the silence of the bishops, “What have we done to prevent the murder of more than twenty teachers and the recent death of our fellow priest Fr. Rafael Palacios?” This question reminded them of God’s question to Cain when he murdered Abel.

Once, he set out for Rome for a beatification. Romero told Pope John Paul II about the problems his country is facing and called for specific replies. The Pope said he agreed with Romero, but he reminded him of the importance of unity of the bishops. While he was in Rome, the violence continued. Twenty-five people who were demonstrating in front of the Cathedral were killed by the police. When he went back to El Salvador, Romero issued a statement, saying, “As archbishop of San Salvador, I call on the consciences and hearts of those responsible not to continue their unyielding and intransigent position, but to yield and seek a way to break as soon as possible this endless chain of bloody deeds. What matters now is not to show the nation and the world who is stronger or the winner but who is more responsible and humane, capable of stopping this spiral growth of violence.” This plea only fell on deaf ears.

More bloodshed continued, and Romero reminded the Christian faithful of their vocations, “If ever they take our radio, suspend our newspaper, silence us, put to death all of us priests, bishops included, and you are left alone – people without priests – then each one of you will have to be God’s microphone. Each of you will have to be a messenger, a prophet. The church will always exist as long as even one baptized person is left alive!”

Romero stated in a homily, “The shepherd does not want security while security is no given to his flock.” Once, the president offered Romero anything he wanted as protection, even a bulletproof car. He respectfully declined the offer, saying it was an “anti-pastoral witness where I to ride in such safety while my people are so insecure.”

Meanwhile, the government continued to show some promising and modest signs o improvement. He noticed that the government was starting to respect human rights. But the government was overthrown by a new military government. They started abusing the people again. Romero wrote a letter to President Carter of the US to stop sending military support to the repressive military of El Salvador.

Romero felt that his end is coming near. In his last Sunday Mass, he said in his homily:
“er. igent position, but to yield andcall on the consciences and hearts of those responsible forront of the Cathedral were killed byGod’s law must prevail which says: Thou shalt not kill! No soldier is obliged to obey an order against the law of God. No one has to fulfil an immoral law. It is time to take back your consciences rather than obey orders of sin. The Church, defender of the rights of God, the law of God, of human dignity, cannot remain silent before such abomination. We want the government to understand seriously that reforms are worth nothing if they are stained with so much blood. In the name of God, and in the name of this suffering people, whose laments rise to heaven each day more tumultuous, I beg you, I beseech you, I order you in the name of God: Stop the repression.”

The following Monday, March 24, 1980, Romero went to his confessor to receive the sacrament of Confession. He said, “I want to feel clean in the Lord’s presence.” That evening, he said mass in a funeral at the Divina Providencia Cancer hospital. As he was saying mass, he was shot by a gunman connected with the highest members of the El Salvadoran military. His last homily served enough for the military.

Viva Cuba! Viva Cristo Rey (Rogelio Gonzalez Corzo)

2006-06-30T02:52:00.000-07:00

When Fidel Castro came to power, Rogelio Gonzalez Corzo, a young man and a member of the Cuban Catholic lay association of students and young professionals, the Agrupacion Catolica Universitaria, became disillusioned by Castro’s redirection of the Revolution and realized that the government was marching swiftly toward Communism. The Catholic Church in Cuba did not hesitate to criticize the new government. It made it clear that it rejected communism and the majority of Catholics began to actively oppose the enthronement of the communists. The pro-communist government had hardened its attitude toward religion and embarked on an increasingly strident and aggressive campaign against the Church. Many young Catholic intellectuals and students believed that the time for armed resistance had finally arrived, and began to plot against the government. Among those students was Rogelio, who dreamed of a Christian civilization in Cuba. He joined the underground resistance group and took the name “Francisco” as his identity. Because of is involvement with the resistance, he had very little time to be with his fiancée, Dulce.
Rogelio lived through six months of the fighting, minute by minute, never resting, to provide the resistance that he felt God had prepared him for. His spiritual depth and stature came to the fore during these darkest of times. In many respects he had to set himself apart from the world in which he had previously lived. Rogelio, or “Francisco,” was one of the most important men in the resistance, a prime target of Cuban intelligence which recognized his prowess and ability.

Rogelio was arrested on the afternoon of Saturday March 18, 1961. A number of leaders of the underground were meeting in a supposedly “safe house” to discuss plans to intensify the sabotage campaign that had been rocking the country. But since the previous fall, they were already being surrounded by Castro’s heavily armed agents.

Rogelio Gonzalez Corzo spent his last hours in a secluded section of La Cabana known as the “chapel.” Here an eyewitness has reported that he spent his time giving Christ’s comfort and strength to the other six prisoners also condemned to death.

On the morning of April 20, Rogelio was executed in la Cabana, after a summary and secret trial. His last words were “Viva Cuba, Viva Cristo Rey!” He began a final Viva to the Agrupacion Catolica Universitaria, but the discharge of bullets interrupted that Viva and ended his earthly life. He was among the many lay faithful who died proclaiming their faith.

Paul died that I might live (Paul Carlson)

2006-06-30T02:51:00.001-07:00

Dr. Paul Carlson, a medical Evangelical missionary, was among the American and Belgian hostages by the Simba rebels in Stanleyville, Congo. He was arrested by the rebels on the charge of spying. Before his arrest, he usually told the people through radio, “To follow Jesus means to be willing to suffer for him.”

He was always beaten, tortured and mocked. Sometimes, he was even marched outside to be executed, but his life was always spared. On November 20, 1064, Dr. Paul Carlson and seven other American hostages were brought to the Victoria Hotel. The missionary and his prisonmates enjoyed a close bonding with each other. Dr. Carlson said, “I can’t think about the future. I can just live one day at a time and trust the Lord for that day.” The next day, they were told that they were going to be shot to death because of the bombardment in Banalia by Belgian and American paratroopers. The Simbas usually pointed their rifles on the hostages and left if anyone of them looked back.

On the morning of November 24, 1964, the Simba rebels throughout Stanleyville herded their hostages on the streets at the sound of he planes. The rebels were using the hostages as shields. Then, the rebels opened fire on their hostages. The hostages ran towards a wall and jumped over it. Dr. Carlson motioned to a fellow hostage to jump off the wall first. The fellow hostage, Charles Davis, successfully jumped over the wall and stretched his hands towards Dr. Carlson. But it was too late. Dr. Carlson fell back to the street, dead.

Some of the hostages were killed or wounded. Those who survived were taken away by the Belgians. Stanleyville was already liberated from the Simba rebels. Charles Davis, who survived the massacre, recalled, “By letting me go first, Paul died that I might live.”

Shoot those idiots who won't separate! (40 Seminarians)

2006-06-30T02:51:00.000-07:00

“There were very many of them, a hundred it seemed to me. They entered our dormitory, the one of the three classes of the senior years, and they shot in the air four times to wake us up.... Immediately they began to threaten us, and moving between the beds they ordered us to separate, Hutus on one side and Tutsis on the other. They were armed to the teeth: rifles, grenades, pistols, and knives. But we stayed together as a group. Then their leader lost patience and gave the order: ‘Shoot these idiots who won't separate.’ They fired the first shots at the ones under the beds. As we lay in our blood, we prayed and begged pardon lot those who were killing us. I heard the voices of my companions who were saying, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ Deep within, I uttered the same words and offered my life into God's hands.” This was the testimony of Jolique Rusimbamigera, a survivor of the massacre which happened on the dawn of April 30, 1997, in the minor seminary in Buta, Burundi.

Even before the massacre, the seminarians made it a point to live in Christian fraternity, despite their different racial backgrounds and the tribal war going on outside the seminary. For them, love of Christ and of their neighbors was more important than ethnic backgrounds. The seminarians had just finished an Easter retreat before they died. Fr. Nicolas Niyungeko, rector of the seminary in Bura, wrote of the seminarians, “At the end of the retreat, this class was enlivened by a new kind of spirit, which seemed to be a preparation for the holy death of these innocents. Full of rejoicing and joy, the word in their mouths was "God is good and we have met Him." They spoke of heaven as if they had just come from it, and of the priesthood as if they had just been ordained. One realized that something very strong had happened in their heart, without knowing exactly what it was. From that day on, they prayed, they sang, they danced to church, happy to discover, as it were, the treasure of Heaven.”

It was about five in the morning on April 30 when the rebels arrived the seminary. They went into the room and woke up the seminarians with sounds of gunshots. The seminarians became afraid and hid under their beds. “Separate yourselves!” they shout. “Hutus on one side and Tutsis on the other.” The students immediately understood what that meant. If they followed the rebels’ orders, their Tutsi classmates would be massacred in front of their eyes. They refused, remaining under the beds, as the rebels continued to shoot at them. When the students didn’t move, the rebels threatened to use machetes to kill all of them. The students crawled out from under the beds and moved, together, outside the dormitory. The students still refused to separate into two groups. Angry and willing to wait no longer, the rebels threw a grenade into their midst and shot them with their guns, killing 40 of them and wounding many others. One of the martyrs was a student who tried to bring his wounded friend to the hospital, but was killed on the way.

Jolique said that the martyrdom of his brothers was a miracle, everyone was prepared. To the question how he feels about the murderers, Jolique replied, “I pray that the sacrifice of the murdered students and our suffering will lead the soldiers who caused this suffering to their own conversion.”

I do not want to go and commit this sin (Anuarite Nengapeta)

2006-06-30T02:45:00.000-07:00

On November 29, 1964, the Simba rebels went to the convent of the Holy Family Sisters and reassured the terrified sisters that they received orders from higher authorities to bring the sisters to a safer place. Quickly, the sisters prepared their baggage and joined the rebels. About four o'clock in the afternoon, the truck carrying the thirty-four sisters started off. While they recited the Rosary, the rebel soldiers sang ambiguous songs.

Arriving at Isiro, the community was led to the residence of Colonel Yuma Deo. That night, all the sisters, except for Sister Marie-Clementine Anuarite Nengapeta, were moved again, this time to a nearby house called “the blue house.” One of the Simba leaders, Colonel Ngalo, with the help of a soldier named Sigbande, tried to convince Anuarite to be his wife. Fearful but defiant, she categorically and repeatedly refused, even after the furious soldiers isolated her and threatened her with death. Mother Léontine attempted to defend her but in vain. Meanwhile, the other nuns in the blue house refused to eat without the presence of their mother superior. Colonel Pierre Olombe brought along sisters Banakweni and Marie-Lucie, to report the situation to Colonel Ngalo who asked for his help in seducing Anuarite. Sure of his success, Olombe accepted. At supper time, Anuarite shared a dish of rice and sardines with Mother Xavéria but could not eat much. She warned her sisters not to drink the beer provided by the Simbas because they were in mortal peril. She declared that she was ready to die defending her virginity. Later that night, Colonel Olombe, with a group of Simbas, sent the nuns to bed, allowing them to sleep in one room as long as Anuarite remained behind. Very troubled and anxious, Anuarite asked the mother superior to pray for her. Olombe again pressured her to yield to Ngalo's request. Then he changed his mind and decided he wanted Anuarite for himself. When she categorically refused, he hurled insults at her but she remained defiant.

Colonel Olombe forced the two sisters into the vehicle, but both of the nuns resisted. Sister Anuarite cried out, “I do not want to go and commit this sin; if you want, you can kill me!” Olombe then started to hit the two nuns savagely with the butt of his rifle. Sister Anwarite said to him, “I forgive you, because you do not know what you are doing.” With one arm broken and her face swollen, Sister Anwarite repeated before losing consciousness, “This is what I wanted.” The Simba who were witnesses of the scene, thinking that Olombe had lost his mind, took his rifle, but he, misunderstanding their action, cried out, “Simba! come quick, they want to kill me.” Two young Simbas came running, bayonnettes in hand. “Stab this sister, thrust the knife into her heart!” Four or five times or even more, they pierced her through, as she lay groaning. Olombe then took his revolver and shot a bullet into Sister Anwarite's chest, which was still breathing. She expired on December 1, 1964, at one o'clock in the morning. After the murder, Olombe calmed down and had Sister Bokuma transported to the hospital. The other religious were transferred under cover to Wamba.

At the end or rebellion, Colonel Olombe was imprisoned and sentenced to five years of imprisonment. After being released, he had nothing and came to the nuns for food,--the same nuns whom he had freed after killing their colleague in Isiro. Sister Léontine gave him what he requested saying, “Sister Marie-Clementine forgave you; we must follow her example.”

If i had the misfortune of denying God, I would die of grief (Maria de la Luz Camacho)

2006-06-30T02:36:00.000-07:00

Maria de la Luz Camacho, a young single woman, was a member of the Franciscan Third Order. She was also the head of the Catholic Action in her parish. As early as the age of 15, she started teaching children catechism underground. She wanted to be called the “Maria of Coyoacan” after Mary, the sister of Martha, who was one of Jesus’ disciples. She worked tirelessly collecting clothes and funds for the poor, teaching catechism and literacy.

Maria was a young woman, very pretty and vibrant. She loved to act and put on plays. She loved to work with children and taught religion through the organization of the Catholic Action that provided religious formation for young children. She was extremely dedicated and many came to learn from her. She loved the Eucharist and took advantage of any opportunity she could to receive and to spend time before the Blessed Sacrament. In 1932 the persecutions began again in Mexico and churches were being set on fire in protest of people practicing their faith. Catholics lived in fear. One night Maria dreamt that she had to choose between dying for her faith and being happy. Her friends asked her, what was her response in the dream and she responded, “God would give the grace to be faithful to him and besides, if I had the misfortune to deny God, I should die of grief.”

In December, 1934, Tomas Garrido Canabal, the former governor of Tabasco, sent young thugs to Coyoacan to burn down the church there. At that time, a children’s mass was going on in the church. On hearing the news, Maria dressed in her best garments. Together with her sister, she rushed to the church to protect it with her own body. The thugs, who were drunk, kept shouting blasphemies. Many people who saw how brave Maria was joined her in protecting the church.. One by one, the children inside the church escaped. A friend of hers asked her to leave, but she wouldn’t. They all began to shout, "Long live Christ the King! Long lives the Virgin of Guadalupe!" But the Reds charged and shouted, 'Long live the Revolution!" and a bullet was shot through her breast. It was reported that she died with peace on her face on the steps of the Church she loved with her life.

Shortly before the firing began, a young man approached the young woman standing so fearlessly in front of the church. "Miss Camacho, please go to safety," he begged with tears in his eyes. He risked censure from his companions, but wasn't this the same lady who, misguided thought she was, had prepared him so lovingly and carefully for his First Communion? Truly, God was only a myth, but Miss Camacho had been kind. He could not bear the thought of killing her, even if her foolish beliefs led her to take such a stand against the power of the state. "Please leave," he begged. Maria refused his tearful request with sad reproachfulness in her beautiful eyes. There were children in the church, and time must be bought for their safety. Her brave stance indicated that any who entered the church with evil intent would do so only over her dead body.

Thousands of people came to her wake. She had been laid on a bed of flowers and the priest who had known her so well told the people not to cry and reminded them that she had entered heaven and was now interceding for them. She was a martyr. The archbishop of Mexico, His Excellency D. Pascal Diaz Barreto said at her funeral, “Hail to the first martyr of the Catholic action!” “Hail,” the crowd repeated, “Viva Cristo Rey!” Maria lived the motto of the Mexican Catholic Action to the fullest, “Apostolate, Eucharist, and Bravery.”

Spare those who have wives and children (Eleven Nuns)

2006-06-30T02:20:00.000-07:00

In June, 1941, the Soviet-controlled village of Nowogrodek fell into the hands of the Nazis. The most immediate act of the Nazis was to take the Jews and kill them. The twelve Sisters of the Holy Family were allowed to put their religious habits on, since they were not allowed to do so during the Soviet occupation of the village. They were once again allowed to enter their convent, which had been bombed by the Soviets. But the killings of the Jews never stopped in Nowogrodek. As the Jews were being slaughtered in the center of the town, a band played a Johann Strauss’ waltz. Next to the Jews, the Communist sympathizers were killed.

In July 1943, life became increasing difficult and violence resumed. Arrests followed. Because of their sympathies and work amongst those detained and sentenced to death, the sisters had come to the attention of the Gestapo.

Situations worsened on July 25, 1943, when a group of men were arrested by the Gestapo. The prisoners were sentenced to die. The sisters all expressed their desires to give their lives for the safety of the men. Together, they prayed, “O God, if sacrifice of life is needed, accept it from us who are free from family obligations. Spare those who have wives and children.” Almost immediately, the Nazis changed their lans and sent the prisoners to concentration camps, and the prayers of the nuns were accepted. When the life of the rector was threatened, the Sisters renewed their offering saying, “There is a greater need for a priest on this earth than for us. We pray that God will take us in his place, if sacrifice of life is needed.”

On July 31, a Nazi civilian approached Mother Stella, the superior of the community, and told her that the nuns were to report to the comissar’s office. Mother Stella feared the worse, but she and her sisters reported to the office, with the exception of Sr. Malgorzata, who chose to stay with the priest and pray. After going to the office, the nuns were seen no more.

A few days after the disappearance of the nuns, Sr. Malgorzata dressed in civilian clothing and went to the woods, where she saw that digging had gone recently. There, she saw her eleven sisters, all shot to death. Their bodies were exhumed after the war.

Finally, because of some witnesses, what happened to the sisters was known. The sisters, after reporting to the barracks, were kept in a small room. That night, they were loaded into a truck and brought to the woods. But because of the shepherds staying that night, the Nazis went back and kept the nuns in the basement of the church and waited for the shepherds to leave. When they have left, the Nazis once again brought the sisters to the woods and shot them to death nearby a grave. It was said that on the next day, a drunk soldier kept repeating, “You should have seen how they went, those sisters.”

She offered herself consciously to the holocaust (Maria Skobtsova)

2006-06-30T02:19:00.000-07:00

When Paris fell to the Nazis, Maria Skobtsova, an Orthodox nun from Russia, joined some colleagues in preparing and dispatching food parcels and funds to families of more than a thousand Russian émigrés who were imprisoned by the Nazis. She also hid Jews and forged documents for them. Although the danger to her personal safety increased daily, she never stopped helping those who needed it most, including many Jews. As the persecution and imprisonment of the Jews in Paris grew, Mother Maria helped to smuggle in food to those already in the camps. Eventually, she became involved with the Jewish Resistance in Paris.

In 1942, 6,900 Jews were rounded up and kept for five days in Paris’ sports stadium. Mother Maria managed to enter the stadium and, with the help of some garbage collectors, smuggled out several Jewish children out in garbage bins.

Because she was so well known in Paris as a defender of the poor and persecuted, and because of her defiant attitude toward the Nazis, it was perhaps inevitable that Mother Maria herself was finally arrested and later imprisoned. In response to the accusation that Mother Maria was helping Jews, her mother, Sophia, told the Gestapo, “My daughter is a genuine Christian, and for her there is neither Greek nor Jew, only individuals in distress. If you were threatened by some disaster, she would help you too.” Arrested with her were Iura, her son from a previous marriage, and Father Klepinin, an Orthodox priest who was Mother Maria’s chaplain.

Mother Maria was brought to Ravensbruck concentration camp, a camp for women. Working alongside other inmates she endured great physical hardship that took its toll on her health, and eventually resulted in her death. Yet throughout it all, she remained steadfast, true to her calling, and uncompromising in her love for God and her fellow human beings.

Finally, Maria, her health broken, could no longer pass the roll call on Good Friday in 1945. She was killed in the gas chamber on the next day, Holy Saturday. She voluntarily went to the gas chambers in order to prepare her companions for death. On Easter Sunday, the day after her death, Ravensbruck was liberated by the International Red Cross.
A witness said about Mother Maria, “She offered herself consciously to the holocaust . . . Thus assisting each one of us to accept the cross . . . She radiated the peace of God and communicated it to us.”

The angel of Dachau (Engelmar Unzeitig)

2006-06-30T02:18:00.000-07:00

Engelmar Unzeitig, a newly-ordained Marianhill priest, was arrested by the Nazis for defending the Jews in his sermons. In 1941, he was deported to Dachau, a concentration camp for political prisoners. Dachau itself was called the “largest monastery in the world” because of the great number of priests deported there during the war. There, Catholic and Protestant prisoners united and prayed together and helped each other.

Despite the hellish atmosphere in Dachau, Fr. Engelmar regarded it as a school of holiness. He once wrote to his sister, “What sometimes appear as misfortune is often the greatest fortune. How much a person learns only through experience in the school of life? We should feel and experience for others, I think, the lack of peace in the world and help them to true peace. Then we are not surprised if God takes from us some tings which are dear and precious to us.”

When not engaged in labor, he would help and encouraged the other prisoners, especially the Russian Communists. He gained their trust and developed a friendship with them.

He survived four years in the camp, but he might have survived more years in the camp, had it not been for a terrible outbreak of typhoid. Those who were infected were sent to a special barrack, where they were left to die without dignity. A call went out for volunteers who would take care of the sick prisoners. Twenty priests stepped forward, including Fr. Engelmar.

The priests who volunteered knew that they won’t get out of the barracks alive. All but two prisoners died while taking care of the sick. In the seemingly God-forsaken place, the priests brought the presence of God and administered to the sick the sacraments. The guards would not enter the barracks, so the priests found the place as a haven to practice their religion.

Witnesses testified to Fr. Engelmar as an “angel of mercy” who poured out himself in tireless service to his companions. Within six weeks in the barracks, he contacted the typhoid. Still, he continued hearing confessions. He died on March 2, 1945, the day after his thirty-fourth birthday. A few weeks later, the Americans liberated the camp.

I will go for her (Marianna Biernacka)

2006-06-30T02:15:00.000-07:00

Before the Nazi occupation of Poland, Adolf Hitler is said to have authorized his commanders to kill “without pity or mercy, all men, women, and children of Polish decent or language. Only in this way can we obtain the living space we need.” During their occupation of Poland, the Gestapo would round up and kill Polish civilians in retaliation for any Germans killed by the resistance.

In July 1943, the Nazis conducted a mass arrest in the city of Lipsk as an act of reprisal for the Germans who were killed during the resistance. The names of Stanislaw Biernacka, together with his pregnant wife Anna, were in the list of those who were going to be killed. The Biernacka family were never politically active and poorly educated. Hence you can imagine their deep surprise when German soldiers knocked at their door to arrest Stanislaw and Anna Biernacka.

Early in the morning, the armed soldiers came to arrest Stanislaw and Anna. Stanislaw’s fifty-five-year-old mother, Marianna, fell on her knees and asked the Nazis to take her instead of Anna. Marianna was a simple woman, for whom God and his laws are the most important value, even more important than freedom. She said as the soldiers were taking the couple, “She is already in the last weeks of her pregnancy. I will go for her.” At first, Anna objected. But Marianna told her, “You are young, you must live.” The Nazis released Anna and took Marianna together with her son to the prison in Grodno.

According to witnesses, Marianna spent her time in prayer. While in prison, she requested for a rosary and a pillow. A parcel was sent to her, but it was not known if the parcel reached her. On July 13, 1943, she was shot to death together with her son and 48 other people in Naumowicze, near Grodno. Marianna Biernacka’s selfless sacrifice saved the life of her daughter-in-law and her grandchild.

You act according to the orders of men, but we act according to the orders of God (SongKhon Villagers)

2006-06-30T02:13:00.000-07:00

Catholics in Thailand were persecuted in the thirties up to the forties during the Franco-Thai war. The Catholic religion was seen as a French religion and an enemy to the nation. Many Thai Catholics were forced to renounce their faith. Persecution was especially strong in Songkhon, a Catholic village near the Mekong River. When the police came there, the French parish priest was expelled. Two nuns, Sisters Agnes Phila and Lucia Khambang, and a catechist, Philip Siphong Onphitak, felt responsible for Catholic community and were in charge of the village school.

Philip gave both moral and physical support to the worried people by visiting each house, praying with each family and speaking words of encouragement and strengthening their faith. The police were naturally furious at this act of rebelliousness and decided to get rid of Philip. So in early December 1940 the police sent a letter to Philip supposedly from the Sheriff of Mukdahan, requesting him to go to Mukdahan to meet the Sheriff. The people were suspicious and they warned Philip about the false letter and not to trust the police. They also told Philip that the police had every intention of killing him. However this good man told the people that if that was the case, then he would be ready to die for his faith. Eventually he set out with the police for Mukdahan. Actually when they got the poor man into the forest, the police shot him dead. It was December 16, 1940.
.
The Catholics in the area felt greater fear and persecution after the loss of Philip, whm they called “the great tree.” The police fired their guns in the air, threatening to kill the Christians. But there are two more pillars left to support the Church in Songkhon, Sisters Agnes Phila and Lucia Khambang. The two sisters run the parochial school and continue to teach the children in the village catechism. They felt that their time to sacrifice their lives for the love of God is drawing near.

The two nuns were ordered not to wear their religious habits, and the two agreed since the reason given to them was that the religious habit is wore only by Europeans and the country is in a state of war. The sisters agreed, but they did not renounce their faith and they continued teaching the children catechism.

On Christmas day, the policemen passed by the convent of the sisters. They caught them teaching children catechism. Lu, the chief police, told the sisters, “I have told you many times not to speak about Jesus. You must not mention God in Thailand, otherwise I will kill you all!”
Sister Agnes said to him, “Mr. Policeman, do you mean to say that you will kill us all because we are Catholics and loyal to our Catholic Faith. Do you really mean that, Mr. Policeman?"

Lu replied, “Yes, I do. I will kill all of you if you continue to talk about God like this.”

Sister Agnes exclaimed, “Be sure you have enough guns and bullets then!”

"Oh yes," rejoined Lu, "we have enough guns and bullets to kill all of you."

Then be sure you polish the barrels of your guns lest the bullets get stuck," countered Sister Agnes

"We will." And the police left them.

Later that day, the police gathered all villagers to the Church. They were told that they were given orders from higher authorities to kill whoever will not renounce their faith. A sixteen-year-old girl, Cecilia Butsi stood up and said, “I am willing to die for my faith!” Cecilia assisted Agatha Phutta, the cook of the sisters, in the convent kitchen. Cecilia was reprimanded by her mother for her boldness, and she, together with other girls, later went with the sisters to the convent.

That night, Sister Lucia became ill. She became restless and fearful. She felt that the moment for her witnessing had already come. She dressed in her religious habit. Sister Agnes felt moment for her to give testimony to her faith is already drawing near. She dressed in her religious habit and wrote a letter to the police in behalf of Sr. Lucia and the other girls in the convent. She wrote:

“We ask you to carry out the order on us....Please delay no longer.... Please carry out the order. We are ready to give back our lives to God who has given them to us. We do not wish to be preys of the devils. Please carry out the order. Open the door of heaven for us so that we may confirm that outside the religion of Christ no one can go to heaven. Please do it. We are well prepared. When we are gone, we will remember you. Take pity on our souls. We will be grateful to you for it. On the last day, we will see each other face to face.”

The two sisters, Agatha Phutta, and the other girls spent the whole night praying and preparing themselves for martyrdom. Some girls with the sisters left out of fear of being killed, while two girls, Bibiana Khampai, 15, and Maria Phon, 14,voluntarily went to the convent the next day to die as martyrs. Some girls were sent by their parents to the sisters to die as martyrs. One of the girls said, “By the time I arrived, I saw Sr. Agnes, Sr. Lucia, Cecilia Butsi, Bibiana Khampai, Cecilia Suvan and, Maria Phon all in prayer.”

At three in the afternoon, the police came to the convent and asked those in it to renounce their faith. Everyone refused. So, they were taken to the cemetery and shot to death. Two girls were saved. One was taken away by her father and another one escaped when she was not hit by bullets. Before the women were shot, Sister Agnes said to the policemen, “You may kill us but you cannot kill the Church and you cannot kill God. One day the Church will return to Thailand and will flourish more than ever. You will see with your own eyes that what I am now saying will come true. So we thank you from our hearts for killing us and sending us to Heaven. From there we will pray for you.” The martyrs died praying and singing hymns. Six martyrs died that day. They were the nuns; Agatha Phutta, the convent cook; Cecilia Butsi; Bibiana Khampai and Maria Phon, teenage girls.

On October 22, 1989, Pope John Paul II formally beatified the seven Thai Catholics. Deeply touched by their fidelity, the pope said that Blessed Philip Siphong exemplified the missionary zeal that is incumbent upon all of us by virtue of our baptism. He quoted Sister Agnes' letter to the policeman, “We rejoice in giving back to God the life that He has given us.... We beseech you to open to us the doors of heaven… You are acting according to the orders of men, but we act according to the commandments of God.” Sentiments like these, said John Paul II, resembled those of the early Christian martyrs.

We all came to China to bring you the good news of salvation of Jesus Christ (Missionaries in Shansi)

2006-06-30T02:07:00.000-07:00

In March, 1900, the empress appointed Yu Hsien, a Boxer supporter and an anti-Christian, as the government of the Shansi province in Northern China. Yu Hsien told the people to accuse the Christians of false crimes. But no one did what the governor told them, since the Christians and the missionaries are good people. Since the people were reluctant to do so, Yu Hsien allied himself with the Boxers. Yu Hsien made this proclamation, “The European religion is wicked and cruel, it despises the spirit and oppresses people. All (Chinese) Christians who do not sincerely repudiate it will be executed ...Christians, hear and tremble! Give up this perverse religion! Let all Christians fear and obey: the Boxers will not hurt persons - it is this religion they hate.”

When Yu Hsien was appointed as the governor of Shansi, Franciscan Bishop Gregory Grassi became concerned for the lives of the nuns working in the Catholic mission. But Mother Hermine, the superior of the nuns, told him, “Excellency, for the love of God, do not stop us from dying with you. We fear neither death nor the tortures with which the governor’s rage threaten us. We came here to practice charity and to shed, if need be, our blood for the love of Jesus Christ.” All seven were prepared for their martyrdom. In one of her letters home, one of the nuns, Sister Marie Amandine Jeuris, wrote, “The news is not good, danger is approaching, but we are peaceful. We are in God’s hands. May His holy will be done. When this letter reaches you, perhaps we may already be dead. But rest assured that before we go, we have already offered our lives and our health for the non-Christians. When we came, we knew we would have to suffer. I am neither worried nor sad. I confide myself to God’s care and I pray him to console and fortify the martyrs and those who have to suffer for His name.”

Concerned for the future of the seminarians, Bishop Grassi closed the seminary and ordered the seminarians to return to their homes and save their lives for priesthood. On their way home, five were arrested by the Boxers. They were asked to renounce their faith, but they refused. Because of this, a “canga” (a heavy wood which is placed around the neck, an instrument of torture) was placed around their necks and they were insulted the whole night. The next day, they were released. They returned to the missionaries and refused to leave them anymore, wishing to die with them as martyrs.

On June 27 the Boxers burned the compounds of the Protestant missionaries. The missionaries, together with other native Christians, sought refuge in a Baptist school some miles away. After reaching the school, one of the missionaries, Edith Coombs, realized that she left to schoolgirls in the burning compound. She returned and took the two girls away. After coming outside, Ms. Coombs was pushed back into the house. The two girls saw the missionary burn to death.

There were thirty-two missionaries in the missionary school. With them were native Christians who were too loyal to leave them. Everyday, stones were thrown to the school and insults were hurled to the refugees of the school. They all waited for protection from the governor.

On July 5, the Catholic missionaries, together with a group of Chinese servants, an old woman and some orphans, were arrested. They were herded in a building, which was nearby Yu Hsien’s house, called “Inn of Heavenly Peace.” The missionaries were allowed to say mass. The seminarians would go in the courtyard and play games. One of the priests reprimanded them and asked them to pray and prepare themselves for martyrdom. One of the semiarians, the fifteen-year-old John Wang, said, “Aren’t we going to paradise?”

On the afternoon of July 9, a great crowd was gathered in the palace of Yu Hsien. A great event is going to happen. Then, a group of Protestant missionaries, together with some of their children, were led into the court. Mr. Farthing, an English Baptist missionary, led the group. His wife clung to him, but he set her aside and went forth to the executioners. He was finished with one strike of a sword. The four other missionaries followed him. Yu Hsien got impatient and ordered the soldiers to help the Boxers in killing the missionaries. Three more male missionaries were killed.

What happened next was a moving scene. After the men were killed, the executioners took the women and their children. Mrs. Farthing had hold of the hands of her children who clung to her, but the soldiers parted them, and with one blow beheaded their mother. The executioner beheaded all the children and did it skillfully, needing only one blow, but the soldiers were clumsy, and some of the ladies suffered several cuts before death. Mrs. Lovitt was wearing her spectacles and held the hand of her little boy, even when she was killed. She spoke to the people, saying, “We all came to China to bring you the good news of the salvation by Jesus Christ; we have done you no harm, only good. Why do you treat us so?” A soldier took off her spectacles before beheading her.

Next, the Catholics were brought in. Bishop Grassi gave a general absolution to all those who were imprisoned, in order to prepare them before they die. A mock trial was performed, where Yu Hsien asked the missionaries about Christianity and their mission. Bishop Francis Fogolla, on behalf of the other missionaries, said, “We never wronged anyone. On the contrary, we have done good to many.”

After hearing this answer, Yu Hsien hit Bishop Fogolla with his fist and shouted, “Kill them! Kill them!” The soldiers stormed in immediately and brutally dragged the victims out in front of the governor's court; they drew blood with their swords and savagely carried out the executions, with more or less cruelty depending on their skill, the sharpness of their weapons, and the hatred that motivated them. Bishop Grassi and Bishop Fogolla were the first to fall, then the missionaries, the seminarians and the laymen. While they were carrying out their butchery, the nuns braced themselves awaiting their turn. Having removed their veils, they covered their faces, leaving their necks bare for the executioners to cut them off. The youngest nun, Sister Maria della Pace, started chanting the “Te Deum”, which was then followed by the other nuns. Sr. Maria della Pace, only twenty-four, had already experienced persecutions under her father, who had a very difficult character and would not tolerate any religious practice. Her mother, who suffered very much under her father, died when Sister Maria was still ten, and her father abandoned them. The nuns, after seeing the massacre, were then beheaded.

Then, Mr. Pigott, and his party were led from the district jail which is close by. He was still handcuffed, and so was Mr. Robinson, another missionary. He preached to the people to the very last, when he was beheaded with one blow. Mr. Robinson suffered death very calmly. Mrs. Pigott held the hand of her son, even when she was beheaded, and he was killed immediately after her. The ladies and two girls were also killed. The last to be killed were a group of lay people. At the end, the Boxers, fearing vengeance, fired their guns into the air to put any spirits to flight. The martyrs all died calmly, except for the children who cried in pain. According to a witness, what shocked him most was to see the nuns sing while they were being killed.

While the massacre was taking place, a blood-red globe was seen from the distant city of Tsetinfu—200 km. away—in the direction of Taiyuan, emitting several flashes of light which changed continuously into balls of fire. Another witness reported that as she and the other Christians were praying, they heard a beautiful music and an orderly row of banners came towards them from Taiyuan, where the missionaries were killed. They took this as a sign that the missionaries had been killed and they encouraged each other, thinking that their time to die would also come. The next day, the soldiers announced that the missionaries had been killed.

The remains of the martyrs of Shansi, after being mocked by the Boxers, the soldiers and the mob until the late evening, were flung into a common pit by the city walls, near the Eastern Gate.

When the news of their tragic deaths reached Rome Sept. 22, Mother Mary of the Passion, the foundress of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, tearfully announced it to the community, “The house of Taiyuan has been destroyed and all the sisters killed. They are now my Seven Sorrows and Seven Joys. Now I can truly say that we have seven genuine Franciscan Missionaries of Mary.”

When the remains of the martyrs were exhumed, it is said that the earth was covered with a white blanket of snow, so that the new governor, impressed by such a sight, announced, “These foreigners were really good people, heaven itself is taking part in their funeral.”