- Feb 5, 2002
- 187,778
- 68,840
- Country
- United States
- Gender
- Female
- Faith
- Catholic
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- US-Others
Every few months I have a little chuckle while drinking my morning coffee and reading my devotional. It happens on the feast days dedicated to a martyr and his or her companions.
To be clear, I do not think martyrdom is funny. It’s that God has found a way to remind me every so often in the liturgical calendar of the change he’s rendered in my heart.
There are quite a few times throughout the year that we remember these cohorts: St. Paul Miki and companions (Feb. 6); St. Charles Lwanga and companions (June 3); St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, St. Paul Chông Hasang and companions (Sept. 20); and St. Ursula and companions (Oct. 21), to name but a few.
“Those poor people,” I used to think. “All of them martyrs but only one or two remembered by name. To die that kind of death, but the one next to you gets the recognition ...”
And were they memorable deaths: the Japanese missionaries with Miki were crucified with their heads fastened upright; Lwanga and his companions were burned alive; the Korean martyrs were tortured and beheaded; and Ursula and the 11,000 virgin martyrs were ambushed by soldiers in Cologne, Germany, after returning from a pilgrimage to Rome.
Continued below.
angelusnews.com
To be clear, I do not think martyrdom is funny. It’s that God has found a way to remind me every so often in the liturgical calendar of the change he’s rendered in my heart.
There are quite a few times throughout the year that we remember these cohorts: St. Paul Miki and companions (Feb. 6); St. Charles Lwanga and companions (June 3); St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, St. Paul Chông Hasang and companions (Sept. 20); and St. Ursula and companions (Oct. 21), to name but a few.
“Those poor people,” I used to think. “All of them martyrs but only one or two remembered by name. To die that kind of death, but the one next to you gets the recognition ...”
And were they memorable deaths: the Japanese missionaries with Miki were crucified with their heads fastened upright; Lwanga and his companions were burned alive; the Korean martyrs were tortured and beheaded; and Ursula and the 11,000 virgin martyrs were ambushed by soldiers in Cologne, Germany, after returning from a pilgrimage to Rome.
Continued below.
Identifying with the ‘nameless companions’ who were Catholic martyrs
“All of them martyrs but only one or two remembered by name. To die that kind of death, but the one next to you gets the recognition ...”
angelusnews.com
