From its earliest days, enemies of the Church have unleashed vicious oppression and mistreatment but martyrs of the faith have responded with courage and heroism, even in the face of persecution, suffering, and death.
Jesus had commanded his Apostles to spread the Gospel as witnesses, or martyrs, to make the truth of God known to everyone in the world.
Joined to Jesus who suffered first, martyrs give witness to his Death and Resurrection. Martyrdom is the highest form of testimony to the faith revealed by God and professed by the Catholic Church.
Filled with the Holy Spirit and with sincere love, strong faith, and firm trust in God, Martyrs permit their own deaths at the hands of men, confident in the hope of Jesus’ promise of the Resurrection and Everlasting Life.
The first Christian martyr was St. Stephen who was stoned to death for his faith in Jesus. Except for St. John, all of the Apostles were martyred.
Acknowledging that the fortitude of those who died for their belief strengthened and preserved the faith for those who came after them, the early Christian writer Tertullian said, “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.”
Early Christian martyrs worshipped at the gravesites of martyrs and later built churches in their names over their tombs. Relics of martyrs and other saints can be found in the altars of Catholic churches even today.
Christian martyrs continue to shed their blood. Men, women, and children from all over the world have been killed, and more Christians were martyred in the 20th century than the previous nineteen centuries combined.
The Catholic Church celebrates the feast days of martyrs, usually on the date that they were killed. As a reminder of their blood that was shed, the liturgical color is red.
Inspired by Christian martyrs who bravely handed on the faith before them, today’s Catholics have a responsibility to generously share their faith and to spread the Gospel by their words and actions, even in the face of hostility.
The Church celebrates the blood of the martyrs:
Preserving and increasing the faith for others:
Witnessing to Christ until death:
“Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”
Luke 21: 12-19
Blood that becomes the seed for great blossoming:
Death that leads to new growth:
Blood that makes the Church fertile:
Let us think a moment about this scene: Saul and Stephen, the persecutor and the persecuted. There seems to be an impenetrable wall between them, as hard as the fundamentalism of the young pharisee and the stones thrown at the man condemned to death. And yet, beyond appearances, there is something stronger that unites them: indeed, through Stephen’s witness, the Lord is already preparing in Saul’s heart, unbeknownst to him, the conversion that will lead him to be a great Apostle. Stephen, his service, his prayer, the faith he proclaims, his courage, and especially his forgiveness at the point of death, are not in vain. It was said, at the time of the persecutions – and today too it is right to say it – “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christians”. They seem to end in nothing, but in reality, his sacrifice plants a seed that, going in the opposite direction to the stones, plants itself in a hidden way in the breast of his worst rival.
Pope Francis, Angelus Address, 26 December 2023
Persecution that has led to apostolic fruitfulness:
Pursuing priestly education during persecution:
Missionary paths. The Holy Spirit is the protagonist, “the principal agent of the whole of the Church’s mission.” It is he who leads the Church on her missionary paths. “This mission continues and, in the course of history, unfolds the mission of Christ, who was sent to evangelize the poor; so the Church, urged on by the Spirit of Christ, must walk the road Christ himself walked, a way of poverty and obedience, of service and self-sacrifice even to death, a death from which he emerged victorious by his resurrection.” So it is that “the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church 852
Crowned by the glorious blood of martyrs:
Blood that unites the Church:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
Experiencing Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration:
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