The Catholic Martyrs
Mexican and Polish MartyrsLets talks about the Catholic Martyrs. The parallels between the Mexican Catholic Martyrs of the 20th Century and Polish Catholic Martyrs cannot be ignored. At the Warsaw Monument to the 300,000 Jews that were taken from there to Concentration Camps and to nightmare, torture and death, we read a sign: "Those who ignore History are doomed to repeat it." Like the Word and Christ Himself, this is not Ancient History. This has always been and always will be.What makes a people, through persecution after persecution, bounce back? What makes them willing to die for their Church to become Catholic Martyrs? What we discovered was the word Solidarity. In Poland, this was their cry - Solidarity! Father Jerzy Popieluszko was the Priest of Solidarity in Poland.Furthermore, there were two more Catholic Martyrs in Poland in the Second World War period of Nazi conquist. These were the famous Martyrs of Auschwitz,
Saint Maxmilian Kolbe
and Saint Edith Stein.
Saint Maxmilian Kolbe had the largest Franciscan complex, 800 brothers and priests, in the history of the Franciscan order located just outside Warsaw. In Mexico the workers too, in the 1940's, had a cry - Solidarity! How did they fight off the atheistic god of Communism that unions often extol? They had one thing in common - Solidarity! Only their Solidarity was in the hands of the Mother they loved, Mary Most Holy. Irish Catholic MartyrsIreland is an enchanted land, famous for its shamrocks and harps, leprechauns, shillelaghs, and green-eyed coleens, lightly sprinkled with freckles on skin as white as milk. It is called the Emerald Isle, and the national color is green; Ireland is lush green, almost tropical in certain areas. The Irish people are always pictured as being gay, musical, with the love of all things festive. In our mind's eye, we see them as being Bing Crosby or Barry Fitzgerald, of "Going My Way".And it is also the land of Catholic Martyrs - the Irish MartyrsAmerican Martyrs
There was so much blood shed to evangelize this continent, the rivers and streams ran red with the blood of the Martyrs who died that we might this day have the Faith.We visited Midland, Ontario, Canada, and the Shrine of the North American Martyrs, the Blackrobes, the Jesuit missionaries from France who came to evangelize, knowing they would never return to their families. Rene Goupil was martyred for making the sign of the Cross on a child's forehead. St. Isaac Jogues held up under the most horrendous torture and yet chose to return to the natives he loved. To this day, he is considered Apostle of the Indians. Another Martyr, St. John Lalande risked his life to go and evangelize to the natives, after he was told his only chance of survival was to stay inside his tent. Because of their love and dedication to the Church and the Indians to whom they ministered these Catholic Martyrs gave the last ounce of their blood. They are known as the North American Martyrs Summary of links on this page:
|
