By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM
Part 6
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). No other people have proved their love for Jesus Christ more than the Catholic martyrs. From the Colosseum during the first three centuries of pagan persecution to today’s Islamic persecution in many countries, from the lions of the Colosseum to the murderous ISIS of today, Catholic martyrs have always been the most magnificent flowers in God’s garden of heroism.
Pagan historians record that in the days of the Nero’s persecution (AD 64-68), a “vast multitude of Christians were put to death” (Tacitus, Annals, X, 44). Tacitus lived between 55 and 120.
Some were thrown to wild dogs, others crucified, and others burned alive in Nero’s garden parties to illuminate his dances. Fifty years later, Pliny, known as the younger, governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor (today’s Turkey), reported to the Emperor Trajan how he was perplexed and impressed by the Christians’ resolve, numbers, and influence in the territories under his command. What a difference from today’s multitude of ecumenical “Christians” living in indifference to Christ’s teachings!
On our side, St. Justin Martyr wrote around the year 150 that “there is not a single race of men, whether Barbarians or Greek, or whatever name they may be called, or of wagon-dwellers or shepherds or nomads in tents, among whom prayers and Eucharists are not offered to the Father and Maker of the Universe through the Name of the Crucified Jesus” (Dialogue With Trypho, n. 117).
Tertullian, in his usual daring tone, boasted: “We (Christians) are but of yesterday, and we have filled every place among you: cities, islands, fortresses, towns, marketplaces, the camp itself, tribes, companies, the palace, the Senate, the Forum, we have left to you nothing but the temples of your gods” (Apologia 37).
But the big expansion came about when the emperor himself — Constantine — converted in the early fourth century. At that time, about one-twelfth of the Roman world was Christian — and the Roman world was huge! Numbers grew even more when one-half of the Roman world became Christian about the year 400. By 430 paganism was practically gone, and an imperial document affirmed it.
The growth of the Catholic Church was not only numerical — it was also social. More and more people from the higher classes of society were baptized.
Here is my point: Such an incredible expansion was not due to merely natural causes. First of all, in the eyes of the world, the founder of the new religion was a poor tradesman from Galilee. His apostles were a group of fishermen and a tax collector. People were surprised at the wisdom and knowledge of the apostles, in spite of being such “uneducated men” themselves (Acts 4:13).
Again, the doctrine they preached demanded effort from the new believers, abhorrence of idols, chastity, obedience, and charity, and the pagan world did not esteem such things.
It was Tertullian who, in the year 197, coined the famous sentence, “The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church.” God our Lord could have prevented their martyrdom, of course, but He had other plans. In His unfathomable Providence, He left a message for mankind to last until the end of the world: The Church founded by Jesus Christ would not grow due to fire and sword in wars of conquest, like Islam, but through divine grace.
How else would those in pagan kingdoms, peoples and tribes in the Roman Empire choose to die for the belief in the divinity of a Man they never knew? Why should people sunk into materialism, lust, pride, revenge, and almost unable to have a concept of a Deity, be persuaded to smash to pieces the long-worshiped idols of their “gods” — which were nothing but wood and stone, and which symbolized the forces of nature and their basest passions?
Why should they abandon their ancient religion, which flattered their sensuality, with its noble temples, stately rituals, days of public amusements and orgies, in order to follow a band of ignorant people who, in the eyes of the world, led a joyless life awaiting an after-death life, and who prayed before the symbol of a man who died in Jerusalem as a public malefactor?
Everything, from the natural point of view, was against the growth of Christianity. But the blood of the martyrs watered the Earth and left its seed everywhere; the more Christians were martyred, the more pagans became Christians! What a lesson for the lukewarm Catholics of our days who shrink from becoming involved in works of evangelization!
The persecutions of Christianity in the first three centuries, if seen from the points of view of the brutality and determination of the pagans, on the one hand, and the numbers, fortitude, and determination of the victims on the other, form a unique and unparalleled chapter in human history.
It began in the year 64 and ended in 313 with the Edict of Milan. Christians suffered persecutions that lasted on and off for half of that period of time. A time of calm was followed by a time of violent persecution, to be followed by another time of calm and another time of persecution. On ten separate occasions the hostility of the Roman Empire broke out with special violence.
Although the exact number of martyrs is impossible to calculate, it is estimated to be between 100,000 and 200,000 people. But it was not only death that the martyrs suffered: They and their families would also be persecuted socially and economically, suffering confiscation of goods and property. They would be falsely accused to the judges, expelled from work in public offices, imprisoned, tortured, banished to slave labor in mines.
I wonder how many of today’s comfortable Catholics who sometimes find going to Mass a trifle burdensome, who love meat on Fridays and cannot possibly fast on Good Friday, would not be among the first ones to deny Christ and burn incense before the idols.
The fortitude of the martyrs was miraculous indeed. The persecutions extended over three centuries; people of every age and rank suffered, including small children; in the face of torture, crucifixion, burning, they remained constant, uninterested in the attractive promises made to them if they gave up, and prayed for the salvation of those who martyred them. They were Christ alive on the cross once again!
But the persecution of Christians did not end on 313. That year saw the end of the Roman persecution. The blood of martyrs is seed of the Church, and the imitation of Christ’s Passion from the tribunal of the Sanhedrin to the cross on Calvary continued, even until this day.
Next article: Martyrdom across the centuries.
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(Raymond de Souza is an EWTN program host; regional coordinator for Portuguese-speaking countries for Human Life International [HLI]; president of the Sacred Heart Institute, and a member of the Sovereign, Military, and Hospitaller Order of the Knights of Malta. His website is: www.RaymonddeSouza.com.)
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