The Courage of the Martyrs

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Revelation tells us how the dragon is defeated, and it is not by armies: “They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; love for life did not deter them from death” (Revelation 12:11). The victory belongs to the Lamb. Those who share it are the ones who would not let go of him.

The word martyr means witness. Most of us will never be asked for our blood. All of us are asked for our testimony. The martyrs show us what that looks like when it costs everything.

Those who would not bow

The three young men in Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar set up a golden statue and commanded all to worship it at the sound of the music, on pain of the furnace. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered that God could save them, “But even if he will not, you should know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statue which you set up” (Daniel 3:18). Their golden statue foreshadows the image of the beast in Revelation 13, and their answer is the pattern of every refusal since. Their courage did not depend on being rescued.

Eleazar. In the persecution of Antiochus, the old scribe was urged to pretend to eat forbidden meat to save his life. He refused, so as not to lead the young astray by a lie, and went to his death leaving “a noble example” (2 Maccabees 6:18–31). The beast's mark may not always be demanded with threats. Sometimes it is offered as a small pretense, an easy way out. Eleazar shows that even pretending is too much.

Blessed Franz Jägerstätter. In our own times, an Austrian farmer, husband and father of young daughters, and a Secular Franciscan, was ordered to swear an oath to Hitler and fight in his army. He refused, because his Catholic faith would not let him serve such a master. Many urged him to give way. The priests he consulted, and even his own bishop, counseled compromise and reminded him of his duty to his wife and children. On the night before he died he was offered one last chance: sign, and live. Like Eleazar, he would not pretend. Franziska, his wife, stood by his conscience. He was executed at Brandenburg on August 9, 1943, and the Church beatified him as a martyr in 2007. (See his page on A Great Sign.)

The martyrs of the last days. St. Cyril of Jerusalem taught his catechumens that the martyrs who stand against the Antichrist will be the greatest of all, because they will contend not with men alone but with Satan himself (Catechetical Lecture 15.17). St. Augustine added a consolation: even in the last persecution the Church will not be drawn away, and people will still be baptized (City of God XX.8).

Saints of our own age

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), a co-patron of this project, asked her prioress on Passion Sunday 1939 for leave to offer herself to the Heart of Jesus for true peace, “that the dominion of Antichrist may collapse, if possible, without a new world war” (Letter 296, March 26, 1939, in Self-Portrait in Letters). She died at Auschwitz in 1942. She did not wait for the end of the world to stand against its spirit. (See her page on A Great Sign.)

St. Rose of Lima, another co-patron, knew that the road to heaven passes through the Cross: it “is the only true stairway to paradise, and without the cross they can find no road to climb to heaven” (read in the Office of Readings on her feast, August 23).

The twentieth century had more martyrs than any before it: under the Nazis, under Communism, in Mexico, in Spain, in Africa and Asia. Their witness is a promise. Grace was enough for them, and it will be enough for us.

Courage is a grace

No one should trust their own strength. St. Peter swore he would die with the Lord, and denied him that same night. Courage in the hour of trial is a gift we ask for now, in every Our Father: “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” The Church explains that we pray for “the grace of perseverance” until Christ returns (CCC 2854).

“Do not be afraid of anything that you are going to suffer… Remain faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).

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