St. Stephen became the first martyr for the Faith when the Jews killed him by stoning him to death for refusing to renounce Jesus Christ.  St. Peter was crucified upside down after being falsely accused.  St. Lawrence was roasted alive for refusing to renounce the Faith.  St. Saturninus was dragged through the streets behind a wild bull until he died. St. Valentine was beaten with clubs before he was beheaded. Countless others who held to the truth died as sport for the howling mobs. St. Alphonsus Liguori wrote that nearly 11 million died as a result of the persecutions by the Roman Empire.   

 

Not much has changed since then.  St. Boniface, the patron of Germany, was martyred  while converting the pagan tribes.  St. Thomas Becket was assassinated in the sacristy for refusing the errors of the English king.  St. Edmund Campion was hung, drawn and quartered (cut into little pieces while alive) for working to restore the Faith to England.  St. Isaac Jogues had his fingers chewed from his hands, was beaten, and skinned alive before being killed by the Iroquois.  St. Charles Lwanga was burned alive by the King of Uganda.  Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro was shot to death by the Masonic Mexican government.  St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan priest, was denied food and water for 14 days and then killed by an injection of carbolic acid at Auschwitz. 

 

There have been so many more such as those who fell in battle defending Christendom from the Vikings, the Moslems, and the Magyars, or who died fighting for the Faith during the Crusades, or who were persecuted and brutally tortured and starved by the Communists in the Soviet Union, and nowadays in the People’s Republic of China.

 

The persecution today is more insidious.  It works by making us forget those who lived, suffered, and died for us, and this persecution causes us to hate our own.  It twists and distorts the teachings of the Church while silencing, ostracizing, ridiculing and name calling those who speak and teach the Faith and our history.  It offers us false doctrines that sound good and make us feel good while pampering us with material things and wearing us out with worldly cares. It lies about the Church by pointing to supposed errors.

 

The ultimate sacrifice of saints and martyrs for the Faith made possible the growth of the Church and the salvation of souls while building the societies in which the Faithful lived.  The witnesses to the Faith also built schools and hospitals.  They stopped abortion and feticide and the killing of infant girls.  They ended prostitution.  They taught the rich and the powerful how to care for the poor and the weak.  They reminded rulers that their power came from God and that the material and spiritual welfare of the ruled was their responsibility.  They kept learning and culture alive.  They built stable, good economies. They brought compassion and brotherhood to peoples.  They taught the truth that our lives may be ordered so that we come to know, love, and serve God so that we may be with Him when this life is done.

 

Placing our hope in the secular authorities and experts of today is a mistake.  These people hold false, anti-Catholic views of the nature of things and of the very purpose of life. If we do not hold to the Truth then the destruction of our communities, our families, and ourselves is certain.  Most importantly, we will lose eternal life. 

 

So, remember our history as a Church, and know the Faith.  And, remember, too, the words of St. Justin.  Before being scourged and beheaded, he said: “No right-minded man forsakes truth for falsehood.”