Martyrdom is the sacrifice of one’s life for another person or religious ideal. Since Roman times, the Catholic Church has repeatedly faced periods of great attacks resulting in the martyrdom of many believers.
During the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass mention is made of many of the early martyrs of the Church. In the First Eucharistic Prayer, (the Roman Canon) the names of the Apostles and a number of popes and consecrated virgins are prayerfully intoned. Nearly all of these saints were martyrs for the faith. So from the very beginning of the Church, as the theologian Tertullian states, the blood of the martyrs has been the seed bed of the Faith.
While it is easy to think of martyrdom as a dark period from ancient times, Christians throughout the world are being martyred on a massive scale today. In fact, the recently concluded 20th century was a time of unparalleled suffering for the faith. The amount of martyrs dying for Christ in the 20th century dwarfs the number of all martyrdoms prior to 1900. Catholic scholar Professor Robert Royal has masterfully gathered an immense amount of information on the great sacrifice for the faith of these 20th century martyrs. The name of this powerful work is: "The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century: A Comprehensive World History."
Dr. Royal begins with an account of the savage persecution of the Church in Mexico during the 1920s. When the Mexican Revolution of 1910 finally ended, the first presidents of the country were violently anti-Catholic.
President Plutarco Calles in particular attacked the Church with vengeance. This venomous hate by Calles came from his total acceptance of Karl Marx’s ignorant idea that religion was "the opiate of the people." As a result, Calles began passing laws to strip Holy Mother Church of Her schools and social ministries. Following this was a direct attack on the clergy and the faithful. Calles may have been an evil, misguided leader, but he meant what he said. The clergy was to be killed or exiled and the faithful cowed into submission. So in this deeply Catholic country, visited by the Virgin of Guadalupe, Calles ordered the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands of faithful Catholics. So violent was this assault that in some states in Mexico all the dedicated priests were either martyred or driven into hiding. Nor did Calles spare the laity in his hate-filled war on Catholicism. Writers, catechists, teachers, housewives and even children were executed by his wrath filled attempt to build the "workers’ paradise."
But the most famous martyr of this blood filled time was Father Miguel Pro. After successfully dodging the government agents determined to execute him, Father Pro was captured. The government decided to film his execution to prove the uselessness of Catholicism. So before being shot, with his arms extended like His Master’s on Calvary, Father Pro uttered the words that will always defeat the forces of Satan: "Viva Christo Rey." (Long Live Christ the King)
By the 1930s the terrible direct attack on the Church had ended in Mexico and a semblance of balance returned to the country. Father Pro’s magnificent testimony to Jesus Christ still endures as a witness to the faith of the Mexican people.
Professor Royal gives accounts of martyrdoms in Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, Ukraine, Latin America and parts of Asia and Africa. In all of the faith-filled example of millions of Christian martyrdoms, the perseverence of Christians is repeatedly chronicled. I hope you get an opportunity to purchase this insightful title for your personal reading. Bishop Bruskewitz has warned the faithful in Nebraska that a time of suffering may be upon us in the United States. If that occurs, let us pray that we, like Father Miguel Pro will cry out "Viva Christo Rey."
