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Today marks the 8-year anniversary of the tragic murder of Father Jacques Hamel, a French Catholic priest killed by two Islamic terrorists while celebrating Mass in a church in the small town of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, a suburb of Rouen in France. According to eyewitness accounts, Hamel’s last words before getting his throat slashed were “Va-t’en, Satan,” meaning in English “Get away, Satan.”
Hamel is widely regarded as Europe’s first 21stcentury martyr. His story is compelling for countless reasons, but perhaps the strongest being that the attack on Hamel is symbolic of the multitudinous, increasing, and brutal assaults suffered by the Catholic Church over the past several decades.
Father Jacques Hamel
It’s a harsh fact that Catholics of this age face a particularly virulent hatred. Across the globe, Catholic churches are being burned, religious statues are being desecrated, laity are being threatened, and priests are being kidnapped, tortured, and killed. I’m not talking about the events of 2nd century Christians; I’m talking about today.
Hamel was born on November 30, 1930, in the commune of Darnètal in Normandy, France’s northern region. At the time of his death, he was serving as a parish priest in the Archdiocese of Rouen. On the morning of July 26, 2016, Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean, who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq, slaughtered Hamel before being shot dead by police. Both men were 19 years old.
Why are Catholic priests and churches so vulnerable? What is at the root of their loathing? The Catholic writer Joseph Massey, in his July 11, 2024, Twitter/X post, answers these questions:
Continued below.
catholicexchange.com
Hamel is widely regarded as Europe’s first 21stcentury martyr. His story is compelling for countless reasons, but perhaps the strongest being that the attack on Hamel is symbolic of the multitudinous, increasing, and brutal assaults suffered by the Catholic Church over the past several decades.
It’s a harsh fact that Catholics of this age face a particularly virulent hatred. Across the globe, Catholic churches are being burned, religious statues are being desecrated, laity are being threatened, and priests are being kidnapped, tortured, and killed. I’m not talking about the events of 2nd century Christians; I’m talking about today.
Hamel was born on November 30, 1930, in the commune of Darnètal in Normandy, France’s northern region. At the time of his death, he was serving as a parish priest in the Archdiocese of Rouen. On the morning of July 26, 2016, Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean, who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq, slaughtered Hamel before being shot dead by police. Both men were 19 years old.
Why are Catholic priests and churches so vulnerable? What is at the root of their loathing? The Catholic writer Joseph Massey, in his July 11, 2024, Twitter/X post, answers these questions:
Massey is correct. Catholic churches are targets precisely because it is in these churches that our sacraments reside.
Continued below.
The War on Catholicism: The Story of Europe’s First 21st Century Martyr
Today marks the 8-year anniversary of the tragic murder of Father Jacques Hamel, a French Catholic priest killed by two Islamic terrorists while celebrating Mass in a church in the small town of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, a suburb of Rouen in France. According to eyewitness accounts, Hamel’s...
