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Dear John,

You are more than correct sir!

In fact, the majority of martyrdoms, especially contemporary ones, are done by ideologists who target Christians.

They hate Christians in accordance with their ideology - that doesnt make their hatred any less real or their victims any less the true saints they are.

The Pope is a scholar who has always dealt in precise distinctions etc.

As with all theologians and philosophers, a good dose of social science is always needed!



Cheers,

Alex

Dear Zenovia,

Yes, St Joan of Arc was canonized so late precisely due to the controversy surrounding her death.

There were those who wanted her to be declared a martyr - but she was killed by Catholics.

The same issue comes up in the cause of Savonarola of Florence and some others.

She was canonized but not declared to be a martyr even though she died at the stake. The Eastern Church declares such as passion-bearers and that would be a good term for the West to adopt.

Alex

Dear Charles,

You know I hate to disagree with you!

Pope John Paul actually beatified many more than he canonized - he did that deliberately with the view to supporting the LOCAL Church throughout the world.

We should remember that until his papacy, about 90 percent of all canonized Latin saints came from the three main Latin countries of Italy, Spain and France not to mention the papacy itself that was dominated by the Italians.

The fact that Pope John Paul took it upon himself to beatify local saints throughout the world, often in conjunction with his international trips, was done to bring Rome closer to Home - and he did that magnificently.

By doing beatifications himself, which are canonizations of saints with a local or regional cult only, he gave them and the local churches they represent a significance and honour everyone appreciated!

Alex

Among my favorite Saints are the Martyrs of Gorcum, Holland. And among these martyrs I particularly like Saint Andrew Wouters whose story, together with the other martyrs, is below.
May we all experience the intercession of these and all Holy Martyrs, known and unknown.
Silouan, Mary's monk

The Martyrs Of Gorcum

Today, when many Catholics seem to regard the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist as inconsequential (they wouldn't mind if the bread were just bread, really), and when many seem to regard the Pope's headship of the universal Church as a kind of embarrassing error (they wouldn't mind if the Pontiff were just a Chairperson, really) - at such a moment it may be good for us to recall the careers of a group of Catholics who realized, when asked to disavow the Eucharist and the papacy, that they minded very much. They minded so much that the threat of death - and the promise of life, if they would acquiesce could not move them.

They were 19 priests and brothers suddenly put to the test one day when their routine was shattered by an unexpected act of war, and they are known as the Martyrs of Gorcum. Gorcum was a little town on the seacoast of Holland, and one June day in 1572 it became the scene of a religious drama with mortal consequences. Holland, like all of Europe at the time, was fragmented religiously and disordered politically; under the rule of Spain, Holland was restively seeking national independence. Europe was in the throes of Reformation and Counter-Reformation, and even a peaceful village of farmers and fishermen such as Gorcum might be touched by these wider currents. Gorcum had a couple of Catholic parishes and a Franciscan friary, but the next town, Briel, was largely Calvinist.

On June 26, 1572, a kind of private armed force under the Baron de la Marque sailed into Gorcum and took over the town. Called the Watergeuzen (the Sea Beggars), they were, frankly, pirates, but they were also staunch Calvinists whose anti-Spanish politics meshed comfortably with their anti-Catholic theology. These freebooters were convinced that Catholicism had to be wiped out, and they began rounding up all the priests and brothers they could find.

We know the names of these sudden prisoners: Fr. Leonard Vechel, pastor of Gorcum, and his curates, Fr. Nicholas Jannsen and Fr. Godfrey van Dunyan. The guardian of the Franciscan friary, Fr. Nicholas Pieck, was captured, and his priests with him: Fr. Jerome van Weerden, Fr. Anthony van Hoornaer, Fr. Anthony van Weert, Fr. Theodore van der Ems, Fr. Godfrey van Mervel, Fr. Nicasius Jannsen, and Fr. Anthony van Willehad, who was about ninety years old. With them were two lay brothers, Cornelius van Wyk and Peter van Assche. Also captured were an elderly Augustinian canon, Fr. John Oosterwyk, and two Norbertine priests, Fr. Adrian van Hilvarenbeek and Fr. James Lacops (a problem religious, rebellious, defiant of authority, and most unobservant of his religious duties). There was also a Dominican father, John van Hoornaer, who when he heard of the trouble came to aid his brethren. He was seized after conducting a clandestine baptism in the woods.

To this group of prisoners for the faith was added perhaps the most unlikely saint to win Heaven since Dismas the Good Thief. Fr. Andrew Wouters was a diocesan priest who had not been rounded up but voluntarily joined his priestly confreres in captivity. Fr. Wouters had not been faithful to his promise of chastity and had led a scandalous life that was notorious all over the parish and beyond. Not previously a very spiritual man, he nonetheless showed himself a man of spirit by taking his place among the prisoners. When his past failures were thrown in his face by his captors as a disgrace to his calling and a negation of his creed, he looked them in the eye and said, "Fornicator I always was, heretic I never was."

The commander of the Sea Beggars had the prisoners taken by boat to Briel where they were mocked by being forced to process around the town square singing the Litany of the Saints. Calvinist ministers were brought in to interrogate the Catholic clergymen so that they could be harangued with the "new discoveries" of Calvinist theology. The ministers zeroed in on the Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. They utterly denied it, declaring that Communion is only a memorial meal, and that it is not necessary to have priests ordained by bishops standing in the Apostolic succession in order to have a Eucharist. The prisoners in response would not deny one iota of the Catholic Church's doctrine on the Blessed Sacrament.

By now the people and magistrates of Gorcum were clamoring for the return of their priests. The Calvinist admiral was flooded with letters and appeals to spare the lives of the captive clergymen, among them an order from the Prince of Orange not to execute them and a plea from Fr. Pieck's two brothers to spare his life. At this the pirate-admiral proclaimed that they could all go free if they would publicly state that the pope is in no way the head of the church. The Gorcum priests and their companions adamantly refused to do so. They stood their ground courageously.

What might these men have to say if they could hear today some of the defiant and disgruntled personnel of the Church who fabricate doctrines that sound closer to the doctrines of the captors than those of the captives? What might they think of those "Catholics" who belittle and demean the Holy Father and create their churchlets in which there is no higher authority than themselves? What would they think of private and public "alternative eucharists" by women religious who utter virtually the same theology as the Calvinist interrogators did in Briel?

The admiral ignored every plea, and martyrdom came swiftly. Just after midnight on July 9, 1572, the admiral sent an apostate priest who had quit his priesthood to bring the prisoners to their place of execution on the outskirts of Briel. When they arrived at what was left of a former monastery, they were taken to a turf shed. Here the apostate priest helped to hang them from the roof beams. By dawn every one of them was dead. Fidelity to their faith and their allegiance to the Holy Father had cost these men the ultimate price.

They were cut down and their bodies dumped into an inglorious grave where they remained, unhonored, for over forty years. During a truce between Spain and Holland, permission was granted to exhume the bodies and to bring the sacred remains to Brussels, where they were enshrined in a Franciscan church. Pope Pius IX declared these loyal supporters of the papacy and Magisterium to be saints in 1867.

The priests and brothers of Gorcum dangled from the roof beams for their faith in the Real Presence and the authority of the pope. Their belief in the Eucharist and the papacy echoed the belief of Peter in Jesus, the trust of the fisherman (who was to become the first pope) in the Savior Who was to institute the Eucharist. In the sixth chapter of St. John's Gospel, when Jesus said that His followers must eat His flesh and drink His blood, many turned away. When Jesus asked Peter if he too would turn away, Peter said, "To whom shall we go, Lord? Thou hast the words of eternal-life."

"We might be praying to St. Edna the Cleaning Lady. "

Well, there is actually St. Hunna the Holy Washerwoman.

The idea was that, during the reign of JPII (now gloriously reigning in Heaven. May his memory be eternal) that even every day Catholics can be saints. Yes, even sinners.

According to Catholic theology, martyrdom is like baptism. There was a Catholic martyr in the early church (I think they have since removed him from the calendar) St. Adauctus, that is, "the added one". St. Felix was being led to execution, and this person in the crowd (They don't know him name) declared that he too was a Christian, and they executed him along with St. Felix.

A Norbertine priest who had left the church, during the Reformation,later repented and was martyred with a group of other priests in Holland.

A Dominican priest who went as a missionary to Moslem territories, was tortured and relapsed. He not only left the faith and became a Moslem, but married a Moslem girl. He later repented, and was martyred.

In order for a person to prove martyrdom is a long process. Sometimes politics get in the way. But all of these martyrs are examples to us in times of tribulation, as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews says. (I believe it to be St. Paul, but don't let it get around.)

Dear Friends,

Let us also remember that when Orthodoxy glorified the New Martyrs of the soviet yoke, it declared ALL of them, known and unknown.

To this day, and for a long time still, lists of new Martyrs are presented for inclusion into the calendar and 19 further saints were added to the growing roster in April.

To be a Martyr, one need not be like a holy venerable desert Father.

Anyone in the state of grace who is killed because of hatred for Christ is eligible.

In fact, there is an Orthodox canon established by St Peter Mohyla of Kyiv that when a church is attacked by enemies during a Divine Liturgy, the priest or bishop serving at the altar has the right not to run away but stay where he is.

Should he be killed there, he is to be immediately placed in the calendar of saints and martyrs . . .

Alex

"In fact, there is an Orthodox canon established by St Peter Mohyla of Kyiv that when a church is attacked by enemies during a Divine Liturgy, the priest or bishop serving at the altar has the right not to run away but stay where he is.

Should he be killed there, he is to be immediately placed in the calendar of saints and martyrs . . ."

What about Deacons, Altar boys, those in Minor Orders, Cantors, and the congregation?

Now Alex, I know you delight in being disagreeable. I think there was a good bit of PR and theater that went into events surrounding the late pope's trips. It's no secret that I admire Pope Benedict and I consider him to be God's great gift to the Church in our time. I trust his good sense and judgement.

Dear Charles,

I like the current Pope too!

But what I don't really like is any effort to try and contrast him with Pope John Paul II - let's remember he was his right hand man and if he was strongly in disagreement with what the Pope was doing with his trips, you can be sure Pope John Paul would have heard about it.

Pope John Paul II had his special mission and his character was suited to it - the current Pope's character is anything but.

J2P2 was a people person who loved going out to the crowds etc.

I saw him up close on two occasions - and I saw people, including non-Catholics being "wowed" by him - including my agnostic uncle of the Korean war who saw all the coverage of the World Youth Day in Toronto and wanted to go out to see the Pope. Believe me, that in itself is a miracle sufficient to get that Pope canonized, if I had any say in the matter.

As for our Pope Benedict, I'm getting a special framed picture of him for my study wall, to be flanked by two antique papal coat of arms wooden pieces . . .

I've never done that for any Pope, including Pope John Paul II!

So THERE . . .

Alex

Dear Incogneat,

Yes, the canon doesn't mention others, but I'm sure if they stood by to defend the church, that would help their Cause along!

In fact, the Greek-Catholic Martyrs of Pratulin, beatified by the "Papal Saint Machine" were 13 Ukrainian/Ruthenian Greek-Catholic lay people who ringed their parish church as Russian Tsarist troops approached.

They were shot where they stood and immediately a cult grew up around them - a cult strong enough to attract Rome's attention and lead to their beatification.

It is interesting that the same set canons by St Peter of Kyiv also includes directions for priests and bishops regarding Eucharistic miracles experienced during the Divine Liturgy.

"Should the Holy Communion on the Altar take on the form of real Flesh and real Blood or should it take on the form of a small Child in the Chalice, then know, o Priest, that this is no longer Holy Communion, but God's miracle to indicate His displeasure at the lack of faith by someone or others in the Church at that time. You are to cover this with the altar cloths and continue with the Liturgy, returning back to see if the miracle has changed back into the forms of Bread and Wine. If not, and there comes the time for the Communion of the faithful, then you are to take other bread and wine and recite the Eucharistic Canon over it and distribute these Holy Gifts to the people."

Alex

Here is the link to St. Hunna the Holy Wahserwoman.

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=3823