The Martyrs of Rome

Today the Church remembers the First Martyrs of the Church in Rome.

Orate pro nobis.

These women, men, and children, whose names and numbers are known only to God, save for two, were Christians martyred in the city of Rome during Nero's persecution in 64 AD . The event is recorded by both Tacitus and Pope Clement I, among others.

Rome had long had a large Jewish population, mostly traders and their families. The Jewish couple Priscilla and Aquila, who were tent makers from Pontus, had lived in Rome until the emperor Claudius ordered all the Jews to leave the city, where Paul later met them in Corinth. Suetonius mentions the expulsion of the Jews was due to disturbances in the city within the Jewish community as disputes were being raised between those Jews who were disciples of Jesus and those who were not, the dispute noted by Suetonius as being about a Jew named "Chrestus", possibly a reference to Christ.

We must remember that at this time the community of the disciples of Jesus were almost entirely Jewish. It would be nearly a century before it became a majority Gentile phenomenon. The reasons for this are complex and I would need to write about it in its own post. The disciples called themselves followers of The Way, indicating that they were following the teachings of Jesus and were actively calling upon other Jews to follow the Way of Jesus in order to prepare for the coming Day of Judgement, which they expected to happen at any moment. The disciples of Jesus were not called "christians" outside of the Jewish community of Antioch yet. Other than the Acts of the Apostles, the use of the term "christian" to describe the disciples of Jesus is not seen in written form until a letter of Ignatius, c. 100 AD. Claudius died in 54 AD, and the Jewish population was allowed to return.

There were early Christians in Rome within a dozen or so years after the death of Jesus, though they were not the converts of Peter or Paul. It is probable that Jews coming from Israel to Rome had included a number of disciples of Jesus, and it was they who first preached the Gospel of Jesus within the Jewish community. Paul had not yet visited Rome at the time he wrote his Epistle to the Romans in 57-58 AD. When he did write his epistle, he wrote to a community of disciplines of Jesus who by then included both Jews and Gentiles.

In July of 64 AD, Rome was devastated by fire. Largely made up of wooden tenements, fire was a frequent occurrence in the city. Rumor blamed the tragedy on the unpopular emperor Nero, who wanted to enlarge his palace. He was known to be extravagant, impulsive, tyrannical, violent, and a madman. He murdered his first wife and even his own mother. Wanting to deflect blame for himself, and distract the people from the gargantuan tax burden his new pleasure palace was going to cost them, he accused the the disciples of Jesus. According to the historian Tacitus, many Christians were put to death "not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind." The crime of "hatred against mankind" was a euphemism for being antisocial, that is to say, you were actively working against the Roman state, aka sedition. This was the charge that led to the crucifixion of Jesus, as the Roman government could think of few greater crimes than to reject its divine authority.

Rounding up the disciples, some of them were sewn into the bellies of animals while still alive and then fed to wild dogs to be torn to pieces. Others perished by crucifixion, and others were covered in pitch and suspended from lampposts to serve as a nightly illumination, including famously at a banquet held by Nero as proof of the guilt of the disciples for the burning of Rome and his swift justice for the criminals responsible. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer, standing proud as a victorious general in a war against the enemies of Rome. Perhaps not surprisingly, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion amongst the Roman population for the horrors inflicted upon so many, children included. It became obvious that it was not, as it had been declared to be, for the public good, but to glut one man's psychotic cruelty, that they were being destroyed.

Peter and Paul were probably among the victims, as they are both traditionally believed to have been executed by Nero in this time frame.

Threatened by an army revolt and condemned to death by the senate, Nero committed suicide in 68 A.D., at the age of 31.

Today’s feast is strategically placed just one day after the Church honors Saints Peter and Paul, the two most notable martyrs during this Neronian persecution. By celebrating Saints Peter and Paul first, followed by a feast for every other martyr who died alongside them, the Church invites us to place ourselves not only in the shadow of Saints Peter and Paul, but also to join with these many unknown Christians who shed their blood for the Faith. Christians are the most persecuted people on the planet today. 359 million live in conditions if high hazard, 312 in conditions of extreme hazard. Every day, 15 Christian’s are martyred for their faith in Jesus, primarily in Muslim countries but also in Socialist/Communist regimes. For most of us, we will not likely face such danger, but the depth of resolve each Christian must have is the same. Every Christian, of every time and circumstance, must be so completely devoted to Christ that nothing, not even martyrdom, must deter us from our hope in the Risen Jesus or from our calling to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded us. And we can trust in his promise, that "surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age".

Almighty God, by whose grace and power your holy martyrs of Rome triumphed over suffering and were faithful even to death: Grant us, who now remember them in thanksgiving, to be so faithful in our witness to you in this world, that we may receive with them the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

SS. Peter and Paul

Today, the Church commemorates the solemnity of SS. Peter and Paul, Apostles and Martyrs.

Orate pro nobis.

Both St. Peter and St. Paul have their own special feast day, so why is their a solemn commemoration for them together? The reason is that this day recalls to our minds the fact that they both were martyred (some say on the same day) in Rome during Nero’s genocidal persecution of Christians. 

The significance of their martyrdom as the focus of this solemnity reveals this commemoration as one of remembering all who have been martyred for their faith in Jesus. 

Christians are the single most persecuted religious people on the planet. Most people have never heard that. I’ve been trying to raise awareness of this fact as a priest for 20 years. 

Open Doors, an organization that tracks persecution of Christians worldwide, provides direct support, and releases an annual report on the persecution of Christians (https://www.opendoors.org/en-US/persecution/countries/), notices an “alarming” increase in violence against Christians by Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa. In Nigeria, the number of religiously motivated killings jumped from 4,650 in 2021 to 5,014 in 2022 — making up 89% of all religiously motivated killings worldwide. The rest are by Socialist/Communist regimes. That means on average 15 Christians are martyred daily, mostly at the hands of Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa. 

The global Muslim jihadist assault is destabilizing countries in West and Central Africa as well as other nations around the world. Entire countries are at risk of collapse into extremist violence. 26 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa face high levels of persecution; half of these have violence scores in the “extremely high” range.

The global Muslim jihadist movement, which seeks to expand Sharia across not just the African continent, but the whole world, has forced Christians into constant motion, from their homes to displacement camps, or to other countries. The insecurity stemming from this experience of forced displacement makes Christians even more vulnerable to further violence. Christian girls and women, in particular, are targeted for sexual assault and being sold into slavery, while men are more likely to lose their lives, and boys are either sold into slavery or forced to become Muslims and jihadists.

Today, more than 360 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith. In Open Doors’ World Watch List top 50 alone, 312 million Christians face very high or extreme levels of persecution. Christians killed in 2023 so far have numbered 80% more than five years ago (3,066). 

As we go about our days, let us bear in mind the cost of being a disciple of Jesus, that for some it is a social norm and therefore not very costly, and for others it costs everything.

May we who live in nations where being a Christian is safe never forget the deadly plight of those who live daily in the valley of the shadow of death, and let us pray for their strength to remain faithful to the one who rose victorious from the grave.

Almighty God, whose blessed apostles Peter and Paul glorified you by their martyrdom: Grant that your Church, instructed by their teaching and example, and knit together in unity by your Spirit, may ever stand firm upon the one foundation, which is Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 

Amen.

St. Iranaeus

Today, the Church remembers St. Irenaeus (died about AD 202) who was a Greek Christian priest noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in what is now the south of France and, more widely, for the development of Christian theology by combatting what the Early Church was beginning to define as heresy and defining orthodoxy. 

Ora pro nobis.

Originating from Smyrna, now Izmir in Turkey, he had heard the preaching of Polycarp, who in turn was said to have heard John the Evangelist, an apostle of Jesus.

Chosen as bishop of Lugdunum, now Lyon, his best-known work is "On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis", often cited as "Adversus Haereses", an attack on gnosticism, in particular that of Valentinus. To counter the doctrines of the gnostic sects claiming secret wisdom, he offered three pillars of orthodoxy: the scriptures, the tradition handed down from the apostles, and the teaching of the apostles' successors. Intrinsic to his writing is that the surest source of Christian guidance is the church of Rome, and he is the earliest surviving witness to recognise all four gospels as essential. Irenaeus is also known as one of the first theologians to use the principle of apostolic succession to refute his opponents. Irenaeus' point when refuting the Gnostics was that all of the Apostolic churches had preserved the same traditions and teachings in many independent streams. It was the unanimous agreement between these many independent streams of transmission that proved the orthodox Faith, current in those churches, to be true.

The central point of Irenaeus' theology is the unity and the goodness of God. Irenaeus conceives of our salvation as essentially coming about through the incarnation of God as a man, Yeshua/Jesus. He characterizes the penalty for sin as death and corruption rather than “eternal damnation” (a much later concept). God, however, is immortal and incorruptible, and simply by becoming united to human nature in Jesus  He conveys those qualities to us: they spread, as it were, like a benign infection (his words - saying in another way the same thing as our being continuously sanctified and growing in grace by the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit). Irenaeus emphasizes that salvation occurs through Jesus’ Incarnation, which bestows incorruptibility on redeemed humanity (“…For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive…), rather than emphasizing what would also later develop in Western Christianity as the “penal substitutionary atonement” theory of His Redemptive death in the crucifixion.

Almighty God, you upheld your servant Irenaeus with strength to maintain the truth against every blast of vain doctrine: Keep us, we pray, steadfast in your true religion, that in constancy and peace we may walk in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 

Amen.

Fr. Jacques Hamel, Martyr

The Church remembers Père Jacques Hamel, Priest and Martyr.

Ora pro nobis. 

Jacques Hamel (30 November 1930 – 26 July 2016 A.D.) was a French Catholic priest in the parish of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray. On 26 July 2016, Hamel was murdered during the 2016 Normandy church attack by two Muslim men pledging allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant while he celebrated Mass in his church. During the attack, Hamel said "Satan, go!" when confronted by his killers.

Hamel was born on 30 November 1930 in Darnétal, France. At the age of six he became a choirboy in St. Paul's Church in Rouen and at 14 he entered the minor seminary. He served in the military for 18 months in Algeria. He did not wish to be an officer as he did not want to issue orders to other men to kill.

Hamel was ordained as a priest on 30 June 1958. He served as a vicar at the St. Antoine church in Le Petit-Quevilly from 1958, a vicar at the Notre-Dame de Lourdes church in Sotteville-lès-Rouen from 1967, a parish priest in Saint-Pierre-lès-Elbeuf from 1975, and a parish priest in Cléon from 1988. He joined the church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray in 2000. 

He officially retired at the age of 75, but was allowed to keep serving in the parish. As a result, he assumed his role as the parish's assistant priest from 2005 to his death.

With local imam Mohammed Karabila, the president of Normandy's regional council of Muslims, Hamel worked since early 2015 on an interfaith committee. After Hamel's death, Karabila described him as his friend with whom he had discussed religion and as also someone who gave his life for others.

The circumstances of his death have led him to be called a martyr by Christians, including Pope Francis, non-Christians, and the press. Calls to make him a saint started soon after his death. The canonization cause was officially opened at diocesan level in April 2017, after Pope Francis had waived the otherwise mandatory five-year waiting period for the opening of such causes.

Almighty God, by whose grace and power your holy martyr Jacques triumphed over suffering and was faithful even to death: Grant us, who now remember him in thanksgiving, to be so faithful in our witness to you in this world, that we may receive with him the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. 

Amen.

St. John the Baptist

Today, the Church commemorates the Nativity of St. John, the Baptizer, also called the Forerunner.

Ora pro nobis.

John was a contemporary and close relative (cousin) of Jesus who was known for calling the people of Israel to repent of their sins and to return to living their covenant with God faithfully, with baptism as a sign of repentance and renewal, and for his baptizing Jesus.

John the Baptist was born through the intercession of God to Zachariah and Elizabeth, who was otherwise too old to bear children. According to scriptures, the Angel Gabriel visited Elizabeth and Zachariah to tell them they would have a son and that they should name him John. Zachariah was skeptical and for this he was rendered mute until the time his son was born and named John, in fulfillment of God's will.

When Elizabeth was pregnant with John, she was visited by the Blessed Virgin Mary, her relative, and John leapt in her womb. This revealed to Elizabeth that the child Mary carried was to be the Son of God. 

This simple passage of Scripture shows the definitive Biblical understanding of when life begins: at conception, even as when the Angel Gabriel came to Mary to tell her that she would become pregnant and bear the Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.

John began public ministry around 30 AD, and was known for attracting large crowds across the province of Judaea and around the Jordan River. When Jesus came to him to be baptized, John recognized him and said, "It is I who need baptism from you."

Jesus told John to baptize Him anyway, which he did, whereupon the heavens opened, and the Spirit of God was seen like a dove. The voice of God spoke, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

John instructed his followers to turn to Jesus, calling Him the "Lamb of God" and these people were among the first Christians, including the Apostles Andrew and his brother Simon Peter.

Following his baptism of Christ, John's popularity grew so much that he alarmed King Herod. Herod ordered him arrested and imprisoned. John spoke with Herod on several occasions and condemned his marriage to his half-brother's wife.

This condemnation would be his downfall as King Herod promised to grant a wish to his daughter. In revenge for John the Baptist's condemnation of her mother's scandalous marriage to Herod, she asked for John's head. King Herod reluctantly obliged. John the Baptist died sometime between 33 and 36 AD.

“John the Baptist gave his life to preparing the way for Jesus. As we remember him today, let’s turn our gaze and prayers towards those precious people we know who – quietly, sacrificially and selflessly – call us to see the reality of God’s love and justice.” - Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury

Almighty God, by whose providence your servant John the Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of your Son our Savior by preaching repentance: Make us so to follow his teaching and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching; and, following his example, constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth’s sake; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. 

Amen.

St. Aquilina of Byblos, Martyr

Today the Church remembers St. Aquilina of Byblos, Martyr.

Ora pro nobis.

The Holy Martyr Aquilina, a native of the Phoenician city of Byblos, suffered under the emperor Diocletian (284-305 AD). Her parents raised her in Christian piety. When the girl was only twelve years old, she persuaded a pagan friend to convert to Christ. One of the servants of the imperial governor Volusian accused her of teaching others not to follow the official state religion of their fathers. The girl firmly confessed her faith in Christ before the governor and said that she would not renounce Him. Volusian tried to influence the young confessor through persuasion and by flattery, but seeing her confidence, he ordered her to be tortured.

They struck her upon the face, then they stripped her and beat her with whips. The torturer asked, “Where then is your God? Let Him come and take you out of my hands”. The saint answered, “The Lord is here with me invisibly, and the more I suffer, the more strength and endurance will He give me.”

They drilled through the martyr’s ears with heated metal rods. The holy virgin fell down as if dead. The torturer thought that the girl had actually died, and he gave orders to throw her body outside the city to be eaten by dogs.

By night, a holy angel appeared to Saint Aquilina, roused her and said, “Arise and be healed. Go and denounce Volusian, so that he and his plans may come to nothing.”

The martyr went to the court of the governor and stood before Volusian. Seeing Saint Aquilina, he was terrified and astounded, and called for his servants and ordered them to keep watch over her until morning.

In the morning he sentenced Saint Aquilina to death, saying that she was a sorceress and an insurrection it’s who did not obey the imperial decrees to worship the state and the emperor. When they led the saint to execution, she prayed and gave thanks to God for allowing her to suffer for His Holy Name.

A voice was heard in answer to her prayer, summoning her to the heavenly Kingdom. Before the executioner could carry out the sentence, the martyr gave up her spirit to God (293 AD). The executioner feared to disobey the governor’s orders, so he cut off her head although she was already dead.

Christians piously buried the martyr’s body. Later, her relics were taken to Constantinople and placed in a church named for her.

Almighty God, who gave to your servant Aquilina boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. 

Amen.

108 Polish Martyrs

Today the Church remembers the 108 Blessed Polish Martyrs.

Orate pro nobis.

The 108 Blessed Polish Martyrs were Roman Catholic Christians in Poland killed during World War II by the Nazis, either in the concentration camps or by mass slaughter on the streets. The group comprises 3 bishops, 79 priests, 7 male religious, 8 female religious, and 11 lay people. There are two parishes named for the 108 Martyrs of World War II in Powiercie in Koło County, and in Malbork, Poland.

The 108 Blessed Martyrs were beatified on 13 June 1999 by Pope John Paul II in Warsaw, Poland. 

List of Martyrs

Bishops

1. Antoni Julian Nowowiejski (1858–1941 KL Soldau), bishop

2. Leon Wetmański (1886–1941 KL Soldau), bishop

3. Władysław Goral (1898–1945 KL Sachsenhausen), bishop

Priests

1. Adam Bargielski, priest from Myszyniec (1903–1942 KZ Dachau)

2. Aleksy Sobaszek, priest (1895–1942 KL Dachau)

3. Alfons Maria Mazurek, Carmelite friar, prior, priest (1891–1944, shot by the Gestapo)

4. Alojzy Liguda, Society of the Divine Word, priest (1898–1942 KL Dachau)

5. Anastazy Jakub Pankiewicz, Franciscan friar, priest (1882–1942 KL Dachau)

6. Anicet Kopliński, Capuchin friar, priest in Warsaw (1875–1941)

7. Antoni Beszta-Borowski, priest, dean of Bielsk Podlaski (1880–1943, shot near Bielsk Podlaski)

8. Antoni Leszczewicz, Marian Father, priest (1890–1943, burnt to death in Rosica, Belarus)

9. Antoni Rewera, priest, dean of the Cathedral Chapter in Sandomierz (1869–1942 KL Dachau)

10. Antoni Świadek, priest from Bydgoszcz (1909–1945 KL Dachau)

11. Antoni Zawistowski, priest (1882–1942 KL Dachau)

12. Bolesław Strzelecki, priest (1896–1941 KL Auschwitz)

13. Bronisław Komorowski, priest (1889–22 March 1940 KL Stutthof)

14. Dominik Jędrzejewski, priest (1886–1942 KL Dachau)

15. Edward Detkens, priest (1885–1942 KL Dachau)

16. Edward Grzymała, priest (1906–1942 KL Dachau)

17. Emil Szramek, priest (1887–1942 KL Dachau)

18. Fidelis Chojnacki, Capuchin friar, priest (1906–1942, KL Dachau)

19. Florian Stępniak, Capuchin friar, priest (1912–1942 KL Dachau)

20. Franciszek Dachtera, priest (1910–23 August 1942 KL Dachau)

21. Franciszek Drzewiecki, Orionine Father, priest (1908–1942 KL Dachau); from Zduny, he was condemned to heavy work in the plantation of Dachau. While he was bending over tilling the soil, he adored the consecrated hosts kept in a small box in front of him. While he was going to the gas chamber, he encouraged his companions, saying "We offer our life for God, for the Church and for our Country".

22. Franciszek Rogaczewski, priest from Gdańsk (1892–1940, shot in Stutthof or in Piaśnica, Pomerania)

23. Franciszek Rosłaniec, priest (1889–1942 KL Dachau)

24. Henryk Hlebowicz, priest (1904–1941, shot at Borisov in Belarus)

25. Henryk Kaczorowski, priest from Włocławek (1888–1942)

26. Henryk Krzysztofik, religious priest (1908–1942 KL Dachau)

27. Hilary Paweł Januszewski, religious priest (1907–1945 KL Dachau)

28. Jan Antonin Bajewski, Conventual Franciscan friar, priest (1915–1941 KL Auschwitz); of Niepokalanow. These were the closest collaborators of St Maximilian Kolbe in the fight for God's cause and together suffered and helped each other spiritually in their offering their lives at Auschwitz

29. Jan Franciszek Czartoryski, Dominican friar, priest (1897–1944)

30. Jan Nepomucen Chrzan, priest (1885–1942 KL Dachau)

31. Jerzy Kaszyra, Marian Father, priest (1910–1943, burnt to death in Rosica, Belarus)

32. Józef Achilles Puchała, Franciscan friar, priest (1911–1943, killed near Iwieniec, Belarus)

33. Józef Cebula, Missionary Oblate, priest (23 March 1902 – 9 May 1941 KL Mauthausen)[

34. Józef Czempiel, priest (1883–1942 KL Mauthausen)

35. Józef Innocenty Guz, Franciscan friar, priest (1890–1940 KL Sachsenhausen)

36. Józef Jankowski, Pallotine, priest (1910 born in Czyczkowy near Brusy, Kashubia (died 16 October 1941 in KL Auschwitz beaten by a kapo)

37. Józef Kowalski, Salesian, priest (1911–1942) , priest beaten to death on 3 July 1942 in the KL Auschwitz concentration camp

38. Józef Kurzawa, priest (1910–1940)

39. Józef Kut, priest (1905–1942 KL Dachau)

40. Józef Pawłowski, priest (1890–9 January 1942 KL Dachau)

41. Józef Stanek, Pallottine, priest (1916–23 September 1944, murdered in Warsaw)

42. Józef Straszewski, priest (1885–1942 KL Dachau)

43. Karol Herman Stępień, Franciscan friar, priest (1910–1943, killed near Iwieniec, Belarus)

44. Kazimierz Gostyński, priest (1884–1942 KL Dachau)

45. Kazimierz Grelewski, priest (1907–1942 KL Dachau)

46. Kazimierz Sykulski, priest (1882–1942 KL Auschwitz)

47. Krystyn Gondek, Franciscan friar, priest (1909–1942 KL Dachau)

48. Leon Nowakowski, priest (1913–1939)

49. Ludwik Mzyk, Society of the Divine Word, priest (1905–1940)

50. Ludwik Pius Bartosik, Conventual Franciscan friar, priest (1909–1941 KL Auschwitz); of Niepokalanow. These were the closest collaborators of St Maximilian Kolbe in the fight for God's cause and together suffered and helped each other spiritually in their offering their lives at Auschwitz

51. Ludwik Roch Gietyngier, priest from Częstochowa (1904–1941 KL Dachau)

52. Maksymilian Binkiewicz, priest (1913–24 July 1942, beaten, died in KL Dachau)

53. Marian Gorecki, priest (1903–22 March 1940 KL Stutthof)

54. Marian Konopiński, Capuchin friar, priest (1907–1 January 1943 KL Dachau)

55. Marian Skrzypczak, priest (1909–1939 shot in Plonkowo)

56. Michał Oziębłowski, priest (1900–1942 KL Dachau)

57. Michał Piaszczyński, priest (1885–1940 KL Sachsenhausen)

58. Michał Woźniak, priest (1875–1942 KL Dachau)

59. Mieczysław Bohatkiewicz, priest (1904–4 March 1942, shot in Berezwecz)

60. Narcyz Putz, priest (1877–1942 KL Dachau)

61. Narcyz Turchan, priest (1879–1942 KL Dachau)

62. Piotr Edward Dankowski, priest (1908–3 April 1942 KL Auschwitz)

63. Roman Archutowski, priest (1882–1943 KL Majdanek)

64. Roman Sitko, priest (1880–1942 KL Auschwitz)

65. Stanisław Kubista, Society of the Divine Word, priest (1898–1940 KL Sachsenhausen)

66. Stanisław Kubski, priest (1876–1942, prisoner in KL Dachau, killed in Hartheim near Linz)

67. Stanisław Mysakowski, priest (1896–1942 KL Dachau)

68. Stanisław Pyrtek, priest (1913–4 March 1942, shot in Berezwecz)

69. Stefan Grelewski, priest (1899–1941 KL Dachau)

70. Wincenty Matuszewski, priest (1869–1940)

71. Władysław Błądziński, Michaelite, priest (1908–1944, KL Gross-Rosen)

72. Władysław Demski, priest (1884–28 May 1940, KL Sachsenhausen)

73. Władysław Maćkowiak, priest (1910–4 March 1942 shot in Berezwecz)

74. Władysław Mączkowski, priest (1911–20 August 1942 KL Dachau)

75. Władysław Miegoń, priest, commander lieutenant (1892–1942 KL Dachau)

76. Włodzimierz Laskowski, priest (1886–1940 KL Gusen)

77. Wojciech Nierychlewski, religious, priest (1903–1942, KL Auschwitz)

78. Zygmunt Pisarski, priest (1902–1943)

79. Zygmunt Sajna, priest (1897–1940, shot at Palmiry, near Warsaw)

Religious brothers

1. Brunon Zembol, friar (1905–1942 KL Dachau)

2. Grzegorz Bolesław Frąckowiak, Society of the Divine Word friar (1911–1943, guillotined in Dresden)

3. Józef Zapłata, friar (1904–1945 KL Dachau)

4. Marcin Oprządek, friar (1884–1942 KL Dachau)

5. Piotr Bonifacy Żukowski, friar (1913–1942 KL Auschwitz)

6. Stanisław Tymoteusz Trojanowski, friar (1908–1942 KL Auschwitz)

7. Symforian Ducki, friar (1888–1942 KL Auschwitz)

Nuns and religious sisters

1. Alicja Maria Jadwiga Kotowska, sister, based on eye-witness reports comforted and huddled with Jewish children before she and the children were executed (1899–1939, executed at Piaśnica, Pomerania)

2. Ewa Noiszewska, sister (1885–1942, executed at Góra Pietrelewicka near Slonim, Belarus)

3. Julia Rodzińska, Dominican sister (1899–20 February 1945, KL Stutthof); she died having contracted typhoid serving the Jewish women prisoners in a hut for which she had volunteered.

4. Katarzyna Celestyna Faron (1913–1944, KL Auschwitz); (1913–1944), had offered her life for the conversion of an Old Catholic bishop Władysław Faron (no relation). She was arrested by the Gestapo and condemned to Auschwitz camp. She put up heroically with all the abuses of the camp and died on Easter Sunday 1944. The bishop later returned to the Catholic Church).

5. Maria Antonina Kratochwil, SSND nun (1881–1942) died as a result of the torture she endured while imprisoned in Stanisławów.

6. Maria Klemensa Staszewska (1890–1943 KL Auschwitz)

7. Marta Wołowska (1879–1942, executed at Góra Pietrelewicka near Slonim, Belarus)

8. Mieczysława Kowalska, sister (1902–1941, Soldau concentration camp in Działdowo)

Roman Catholic laity

1. Bronisław Kostkowski, alumnus (1915–1942 KL Dachau)

2. Czesław Jóźwiak (1919–1942, guillotined in a prison in Dresden)

3. Edward Kaźmierski (1919–1942, guillotined in a prison in Dresden)

4. Edward Klinik (1919–1942, guillotined in a prison in Dresden)

5. Franciszek Kęsy (1920–1942, guillotined in a prison in Dresden)

6. Franciszek Stryjas (1882–31 July 1944, Kalisz prison)

7. Jarogniew Wojciechowski (1922–1942, guillotined in a prison in Dresden)

8. Marianna Biernacka (1888–13 July 1943), executed instead of her pregnant daughter-in-law Anna, offered her life for her and her unborn grandchild)

9. Natalia Tułasiewicz (1906–31 March 1945, died in KL Ravensbrück)

10. Stanisław Starowieyski (1895–1941 in KL Dachau)

11. Tadeusz Dulny, alumnus (1914–1942 KL Dachau)

Almighty God, by whose grace and power your Holy Martyrs of Poland triumphed over suffering and were faithful even to death: Grant us, who now remember them in thanksgiving, to be so faithful in our witness to you in this world, that we may receive with them the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Photos:

(Fr. Józef Kowalski, priest beaten to death on 3 July 1942 in the KL Auschwitz concentration camp)

(Sr. Alicja Jadwiga Kotowska, a nun killed protecting a group of Jewish children in 1939 in the mass murders in Piaśnica)

St. Barnabas

Today the Church remembers St. Barnabas.

Ora pro nobis.

Barnabas was born on the island of Cyprus into the family of the tribe of Levi, and he was named Joseph. Joseph was pious, he frequented the Temple, he strictly observed the fasts and avoided youthful distractions. During this time period our Lord Jesus Christ began His public ministry. Seeing the Lord and hearing His Divine Words, Joseph believed in Him as the Messiah. Filled with ardent love for the Savior, he followed Him. The Lord chose him to be one of His Seventy Apostles. The other Apostles called him Barnabas, which means “son of consolation.” After the Ascension of the Lord to Heaven, Barnabas sold land belonging to him near Jerusalem and he brought the money to the feet of the Apostles, leaving nothing for himself (Acts 4:36-37).

When Saul arrived in Jerusalem after his conversion and sought to join the followers of Christ, everyone there was afraid of him since he had persecuted the Church only a short while before. Barnabas, however, came with him to the Apostles and reported how the Lord had appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:26-28).

Saint Barnabas went to Antioch to encourage the believers, “Having come and having seen the grace of God, he rejoiced and he urged all to cleave to the Lord with sincerity of heart” (Acts 11:23). Then he went to Tarsus, and brought the Apostle Paul to Antioch, where for about a year they taught the people. It was here that the disciples first began to be called Christians (Acts 11:26). With the onset of famine, and taking along generous alms, Paul and Barnabas returned to Jerusalem. When King Herod killed Saint James the son of Zebedee, and had the Apostle Peter put under guard in prison to please the Jews, Saints Barnabas and Paul and Peter were led out of the prison by an angel of the Lord.

Later, when the persecution had quieted down, they returned to Antioch, taking with them his cousin  John, surnamed Mark. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the prophets and teachers there imposed hands upon Barnabas and Paul, and sent them off to do the work to which the Lord had called them (Acts 13:2-3). Arriving in Seleucia, they sailed off to Cyprus and in the city of Salamis they preached the Word of God in the Jewish synagogues.

On Paphos they came across a sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was close with the proconsul Sergius. Wishing to hear the Word of God, the proconsul invited the saints to come to him. The sorcerer attempted to sway the proconsul from the Faith, but the Apostle Paul denounced the sorcerer, who through his words suddenly fell blind. The proconsul believed in Christ (Acts 13:6-12).

From Paphos Barnabas and Paul set sail for Pergamum of Pamphylia, and then they preached to the Jews and the Gentiles at Pisidian Antioch and throughout all that region. The Jews rioted and expelled Paul and Barnabas. The saints arrived in Iconium, but learning that the Jews wanted to stone them, they withdrew to Lystra and Derben. There the Apostle Paul healed a man, crippled in the legs from birth. The people assumed them to be the gods Zeus and Hermes and wanted to offer them sacrifice. The saints just barely persuaded them not to do this (Acts 14:8-18).

When the question arose whether those converted from the Gentiles should accept circumcision, Barnabas and Paul went to Jerusalem. There they were warmly received by the Apostles and elders. The preachers related “what God had wrought with them and how He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27).

After long deliberations the Apostles collectively resolved not to impose any sort of burden upon Gentile Christians except what was necessary: to refrain from the pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood (Acts 15:19-20). Letters were sent with Barnabas and Paul, and they again preached at Antioch, and after a certain while they decided to visit the other cities where they had visited earlier. Saint Barnabas wanted to take Mark along with him, but Saint Paul did not want to, since earlier he had left them. A quarrel arose, and they separated. Paul took Silas with him and went to Syria and Cilicia, while Barnabas took Mark with him to Cyprus (Acts 15:36-41).

Having multiplied the number of believers, Saint Barnabas traveled to Rome, where he was perhaps the first to preach Christ.

Upon his return to Cyprus he continued to preach about Christ the Savior. Then his fellow Jews who rejected Jesus and who were increasingly enraged by the missionary pr eravjing of Barnabas, incited the pagans against him, and they led him out beyond the city and stoned him, and then built a fire to burn the body. Later on, having come upon this spot, Mark took up the unharmed body of Saint Barnabas and buried it in a cave, placing upon the saint’s bosom, in accord with his final wishes, the Gospel of Matthew which he had copied in his own hand.

Saint Barnabas died in about the year 62 AD, at age seventy-six. 

Almighty and everlasting God, we thank you for your servant Barnabas, whom you called to preach the Gospel to the people of Israel, Antioch, Rome, Asia Minor, and Cyprus. Raise up in this and every land evangelists and heralds of your kingdom, that your Church may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 

Amen. 

St. Ephrem of Edessa

Today the Church remembers St. Ephrem of Edessa, Deacon.

Ora pro nobis.

Ephrem the Syrian (c. AD 306 – 373) was a Syriac Christian deacon and a prolific Syriac-language hymnographer and theologian of the fourth century AD.

Saint Ephrem is especially beloved in the Syriac Orthodox Church, and counted as a Venerable Father (i.e., a sainted Monk) in the Eastern Orthodox Church. His feast day is celebrated on 28 January and on the Saturday of the Venerable Fathers. He was declared a Doctor of the Church in the Catholic Church in 1920.

Ephrem wrote a wide variety of hymns, poems, and sermons in verse, as well as prose exegesis. These were works of practical theology for the edification of the Church in troubled times. So popular were his works, that, for centuries after his death, Christian authors wrote hundreds of pseudepigraphal works in his name. He has been called the most significant of all of the fathers of the Syriac-speaking church tradition.

Ephrem was born around the year AD 306 in the city of Nisibis (now Nusaybin in Turkey), in the contested border region between Sassanid Assyria and Roman Mesopotamia, then-recently acquired by Rome.

Internal evidence from Ephrem's hymnody suggests that both his parents were part of the growing Christian community in the city, although later hagiographers wrote that his father was a pagan priest. Numerous languages were spoken in the Nisibis of Ephrem's day, mostly dialects of Aramaic. The Christian community used the Syriac dialect. The culture included pagan religions, Judaism and early Christian sects.

Jacob, the second bishop of Nisibis, was appointed in 308 AD, and Ephrem grew up under his leadership of the community. Jacob of Nisibis is recorded as a signatory at the First Council of Nicea in 325. Ephrem was baptized as a youth and almost certainly became a son of the covenant, an unusual form of syriac proto-monasticism. Jacob appointed Ephrem as a teacher (Syriac malp̄ānâ, a title that still carries great respect for Syriac Christians). He was ordained as a deacon either at his baptism or later. He began to compose hymns and write biblical commentaries as part of his educational office. In his hymns, he sometimes refers to himself as a "herdsman" (ܥܠܢܐ, ‘allānâ), to his bishop as the "shepherd" (ܪܥܝܐ, rā‘yâ), and to his community as a 'fold' (ܕܝܪܐ, dayrâ). Ephrem is popularly credited as the founder of the School of Nisibis, which, in later centuries, was the centre of learning of the Syriac Orthodox Church.

In 337 AD, Emperor Constantine I, who had legalised and promoted the practice of Christianity in the Roman Empire, died. Seizing on this opportunity, Shapur II of Persia began a series of attacks into Roman North Mesopotamia. Nisibis was besieged in 338, 346 and 350. During the first siege, Ephrem credits Bishop Jacob as defending the city with his prayers. In the third siege, of 350 AD, Shapur rerouted the River Mygdonius to undermine the walls of Nisibis. The Nisibenes quickly repaired the walls while the Persian elephant cavalry became bogged down in the wet ground. Ephrem celebrated what he saw as the miraculous salvation of the city in a hymn that portrayed Nisibis as being like Noah's Ark, floating to safety on the flood.

One important physical link to Ephrem's lifetime is the baptistery of Nisibis. The inscription tells that it was constructed under Bishop Vologeses in 359 AD. In that year, Shapur attacked again. The cities around Nisibis were destroyed one by one, and their citizens killed or deported. Constantius II was unable to respond; the campaign of Julian in 363 AD ended with his death in battle. His army elected Jovian as the new emperor, and to rescue his army, he was forced to surrender Nisibis to Persia (also in 363) and to permit the expulsion of the entire Christian population.

Ephrem, with the others, went first to Amida (Diyarbakır), eventually settling in Edessa (modern Şanlıurfa) in 363 AD. Ephrem, in his late fifties, applied himself to ministry in his new church and seems to have continued his work as a teacher, perhaps in the School of Edessa. Edessa had always been at the heart of the Syriac-speaking world, and the city was full of rival philosophies and religions. Ephrem comments that orthodox Nicene Christians were simply called "Palutians" in Edessa, after a former bishop. Arians, Marcionites, Manichees, Bardaisanites and various gnostic sects proclaimed themselves as the true church. In this confusion, Ephrem wrote a great number of hymns defending Nicene orthodoxy. A later Syriac writer, Jacob of Serugh, wrote that Ephrem rehearsed all-female choirs to sing his hymns set to Syriac folk tunes in the forum of Edessa. After a ten-year residency in Edessa, in his sixties, Ephrem succumbed to the plague as he ministered to its victims. The most reliable date for his death is 9 June 373 AD.

Pour out on us, O Lord, that same Spirit by which your deacon Ephrem rejoiced to proclaim in sacred song the mysteries of faith; and so gladden our hearts that we, like him, may be devoted to you alone; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 

Amen.

St. Columba

Today, the Church remembers St. Columba, Abbott of Iona.

Ora pro nobis.

Saint Columba (Irish: Colm Cille, 'church dove'; Scots: Columbkille - 7 December 521 A.D. – 9 June 597 A.D.) was an Irish abbot and missionary credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission, which followed the migration of Northeastern Irish colonists to the west coast of Scotland, which had been going on for hundreds of years. 

In early Christian Ireland, the druidic tradition collapsed due to the spread of the new Christian faith. The study of Latin learning and Christian theology in monasteries flourished. Columba became a pupil at the monastic school at Clonard Abbey, situated on the River Boyne in modern County Meath. During the sixth century AD, some of the most significant names in the history of Celtic Christianity studied at the Clonard monastery. The average number of scholars under instruction at Clonard was said to be 300. Columba was one of twelve students of St Finnian who became known as the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. He became a monk and eventually was ordained a priest. 

In 563, he travelled to Scotland with twelve companions (said to include Odran of Iona) in a wicker currach covered with leather. According to legend he first landed on the Kintyre Peninsula, near Southend. However, being still in sight of his native land, he moved farther north up the west coast of Scotland. The island of Iona was made over to him by his kinsman Conall mac Comgaill King of Dál Riata, who perhaps had invited him to come to Scotland in the first place. However, there is a sense in which he was not leaving his native people, as the Ulster Gaels had been colonising the west coast of Scotland for the previous couple of centuries. Aside from the services he provided guiding the only centre of literacy in the region, his reputation as a holy man led to his role as a diplomat among the tribes. 

There are also many stories of miracles which he performed during his work to convert the Picts, the most famous being his encounter with an unidentified animal that some have equated with the Loch Ness Monster in 565. It is said that he banished a ferocious "water beast" to the depths of the River Ness after it had killed a Pict and then tried to attack Columba's disciple named Lugne. He visited the pagan King Bridei, King of Fortriu, at his base in Inverness, winning Bridei's respect, although not his conversion. He subsequently played a major role in the politics of the country. He was also very energetic in his work as a missionary, and, in addition to founding several churches in the Hebrides, he worked to turn his monastery at Iona into a school for missionaries. He was a renowned man of letters, having written several hymns and being credited with having transcribed 300 books. One of the few, if not the only, times he left Scotland was towards the end of his life, when he returned to Ireland to found the monastery at Durrow.

Columba died on Iona and was buried in 597 AD by his monks in the abbey he created. In 794 the Vikings descended on Iona. Columba's relics were finally removed in 849 and divided between Scotland and Ireland. The parts of the relics which went to Ireland are reputed to be buried in Downpatrick, County Down, with Saint Patrick and Brigid of Kildare or at Saul Church neighbouring Downpatrick.

O God, by the preaching of your blessed servant Columba you caused the light of the Gospel to shine in Scotland: Grant, we pray, that, having his life and labors in remembrance, we may show our thankfulness to you by following the example of his zeal and patience; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. 

Amen.

St. Calliope, Martyr

 Today the Church remembers St. Calliope, Martyr.

Ora pro nobis.

By the age of twenty-one (by third century standards this made her middle-aged given that the average lifespan was 35-40 years, when most people were considered adults and were married at age 13), Kalliope had already passed the age at which most women married. Most marriages were arranged between parents, which indicates that her betrothed died young and her parents could not arrange another or they had never managed to arrange a marriage, probably because they were Christians in a time when being a Christian was illegal and opened Christians to persecution, deprivation, and death. Whatever the case,  Calliope seemed unworried about her unmarried state. She instead spent her days dedicated to her religion, with little thought to fitting in with hostile pagan society. 

Though considered to be middle-aged, just before her death many suitors asked for her hand. Perhaps she had inherited money or property, suddenly making her desirable despite her age. One pagan suitor sent word that were she to reject him in favor of another, especially a Christian, he would accuse her of being a Christian, and see to it that the pagan authorities would carry out their form of justice. Calliope did not hesitate to not only deny this suitor, but make it plain that she would not marry him even if he were a Christian—such a conversion, she said, could not be reliably authentic.

This put her at further odds with the Roman government who saw her as a traitor, in addition to being a Christian in a pagan land that regularly saw Christians persecuted and martyred. The spurned suitor followed through with his threat, and arranged for her to be brought before a magistrate, where she was accused of a variety of crimes ranging from mocking of the pagan state religion to treason against the state. 

According to tradition, the suitor paid a parade of witnesses to testify against Calliope in order to destroy her reputation. She was deemed guilty, and the rejected suitor stepped forth to offer a withdrawal of the charges against her if she would disavow Christ and become his pagan bride. The alternative was torture, and upon further refusal death.

Taken to the public square, she was bound to the post and mercilessly flogged until her clothing and flesh were in tatters. Her beautiful face was scarred with branding irons and salt was poured into her open wounds, and while the breath of life was still within her she was told to disavow Christ. When she persisted in the faith she was beheaded.

Almighty God, who gave to your servant Calliope boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. 

Amen.

SS. Peter, Walabonsus, Sabinian, Wistremundus, Habentius and Jeremiah, Martyrs

Today the Church remembers SS. Peter, Walabonsus, Sabinian, Wistremundus, Habentius and Jeremiah, Martyrs.

Orate pro nobis.

Peter, Walabonsus, Sabinian, Wistremundus, Habentius and Jeremiah are numbered among the Martyrs of Córdoba, forty-eight Christian martyrs who were executed under the rule of Muslim administration in Al-Andalus (name given to Spain under Islamic rule). The hagiographical treatise written by the Iberian Christian and Latinist scholar Eulogius of Córdoba describes in detail the executions of the martyrs for capital violations of Islamic law (sharīʿa), including apostasy and blasphemy. The martyrdoms recorded by Eulogius (the only contemporary source) took place between 850 and 859 AD, which, according to the Mālikī judges of al-Andalus, broke the treaty signed between Muslims and their Christian subjects.

In 711 AD, a Muslim army of Moors from North Africa invaded and conquered the territories that previously belonged to the Visigothic Kingdom of Spain, which comprised the Christian Iberia peninsula. Under their leader Tariq ibn-Ziyad, they landed at Gibraltar and brought most of the Iberian Peninsula under Islamic rule in an eight-year campaign. The Iberian Peninsula was called Al-Andalus by its Muslim rulers. When the Umayyad caliphs were deposed in Damascus in 750 AD, the dynasty relocated to Córdoba, ruling an emirate there; consequently the city gained in luxury and importance, as a center of Iberian Muslim culture.

Once the Muslims had conquered Iberia, they governed it in accordance with Islamic law (sharīʿa). Blasphemy and apostasy from Islam were both capital offenses. In the Islamic religion, blasphemy includes insulting Muhammad and the Muslim religion. Apostasy is the crime of converting away from Islam. Under Islamic law, anyone whose father is Muslim is automatically a Muslim at birth and will automatically be guilty of apostasy if they proclaim any faith other than Islam. Anyone found guilty of either blasphemy or apostasy is swiftly executed in accordance with the Islamic death penalty.

The forty-eight Christians (mostly monks) were martyred in Córdoba, between the years 850-859 AD, being decapitated for announcing their apostasy publicly and blaspheming against Mohammed.

Peter, Walabonsus, Sabinian, Wistremundus, Habentius and Jeremiah were all murdered on June 7, 851 AD. Peter was a priest; Walabonsus, a deacon; Sabinian and Wistremundus, monks of St Zoilus in Córdoba in Al-Andalus; Habentius, a monk of St Christopher's; Jeremiah, a very old man, had founded the monastery of Tábanos, near Córdoba. For publicly denouncing Muhammad they were executed under Abderrahman in Córdoba. Jeremiah was scourged to death; the others were beheaded.

Almighty God, who gave to your servants Peter, Walabonsus, Sabinian, Wistremundus, Habentius and Jeremiah boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

Saints Archelais, Thecla, and Susanna, Martyrs

Today the Church remembers Saints Archelais, Thecla, and Susanna, Martyrs.

Orate pro nobis.

Archelais, Thecla, and Susanna were Christian virgins of the Romagna region in Northern Italy. During the Diocletianic Persecution in the 3rd century AD, the virgins disguised themselves as men, cut their hair, and escaped to a remote area in Campagna in Southern Italy. They continued to live as ascetics, practicing fasting and prayer, using their God-given gift of healing, treating the local inhabitants, and converting many pagans to Christianity.

When the district’s governor heard about the virgins’ healings, he arrested them and brought them to Salerno. He threatened Archelais with torture if she did not offer sacrifice to idols, and when she refused, he ordered her “to be torn apart by hungry lions, but the beasts meekly lay at her feet”. The governor ordered the lions killed, and put the virgins in prison.

Archelais was tortured; first she was suspended from a tree, and then she was raked with iron utensils and hot tar was poured on her wounds. According to tradition, she prayed more loudly, “and suddenly a light shone over her and a voice was heard, ‘Fear not, for I am with you’ “. Her torturers also tried to crush her with a large stone, but an angel pushed it to the other side and crushed the torturers instead. A judge ordered soldiers to behead all three virgins, but they dared not harm them, and the virgins told them, “If you do not fulfill the command, you shall have no respect from us”. All three were then beheaded, in 293 AD.

Almighty God, who gave to your servants Archelais, Thecla, and Susanna boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. 

Amen.

St. Boniface

 Today, the Church remember Saint Boniface, Archbishop, Missionary, Martyr.

Ora pro nobis.

St. Boniface (c. 675 A.D. – 5 June 754 A.D.), born Winfrid (also spelled Winifred, Wynfrith, Winfrith or Wynfryth) in the kingdom of Wessex in Anglo-Saxon England, was a leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the 8th century. He organized Christianity in many parts of Germania and was made archbishop of Mainz by Pope Gregory III. He was martyred in Frisia in AD 754, along with 52 others, and his remains were returned to Fulda, where they rest in a sarcophagus which became a site of pilgrimage. Boniface's life and death as well as his work became widely known, there being a wealth of material available—a number of vitae, especially the near-contemporary Vita Bonifatii auctore Willibaldi, legal documents, possibly some sermons, and above all his correspondence. He became the patron saint of Germania, known as the "Apostle of the Germans".

Boniface was "one of the truly outstanding creators of the first Europe, as the apostle of Germania, the reformer of the Frankish church, and the chief fomentor of the alliance between the papacy and the Carolingian family.” Through his efforts to reorganize and regulate the church of the Franks, he helped shape Western Christianity, and many of the dioceses he proposed remain today. After his martyrdom, he was quickly hailed as a saint in Fulda and other areas in Germania and in England. His cult is still notably strong today. Boniface is celebrated as a missionary; he is regarded as a unifier of Europe, and he is seen (mainly by Catholics) as a Germanic national figure.

Boniface first left for the continent in AD 716. He traveled to Utrecht, where Willibrord, the "Apostle of the Frisians," had been working since the 690s. He spent a year with Willibrord, preaching in the countryside, but their efforts were frustrated by the war then being carried on between Charles Martel and Radbod, King of the Frisians. Willibrord fled to the abbey he had founded in Echternach (in modern-day Luxembourg) while Boniface returned to Nursling.

Boniface returned to the continent the next year and went straight to Rome, where Pope Gregory II renamed him "Boniface", after the (legendary) fourth-century martyr Boniface of Tarsus, and appointed him missionary bishop for Germania—he became a bishop without a diocese for an area that lacked any church organization. He would never return to England, though he remained in correspondence with his countrymen and kinfolk throughout his life.

The support of the Frankish mayors of the palace (maior domos), and later the early Pippinid and Carolingian rulers, was essential for Boniface's work. Boniface had been under the protection of Charles Martel from 723 on. In 732, Boniface traveled again to Rome to report, and Pope Gregory III conferred upon him the pallium as archbishop with jurisdiction over Germany. Boniface again set out for what is now Germany, continued his mission, and used his authority to resolve the problems of many other Christians who had fallen out of contact with the regular hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. During his third visit to Rome in 737–38, he was made papal legate for Germany.

After Boniface's third trip to Rome, Charles Martel erected four dioceses in Bavaria (Salzburg, Regensburg, Freising, and Passau) and gave them to Boniface as archbishop and metropolitan over all Germany east of the Rhine. In 745, he was granted Mainz as metropolitan see.

Boniface had never relinquished his hope of converting the Frisians, and in 754 he set out with a retinue for Frisia. He baptized a great number and summoned a general meeting for confirmation at a place not far from Dokkum, between Franeker and Groningen. Instead of his converts, however, a group of armed robbers appeared who slew the aged archbishop. The vitae mention that Boniface persuaded his (armed) comrades to lay down their arms: "Cease fighting. Lay down your arms, for we are told in Scripture not to render evil for good but to overcome evil by good."

Almighty God, you called your faithful servant Boniface to be a witness and martyr in Germany, and by his labor and suffering you raised up a people for your own possession: Pour out your Holy Spirit upon your Church in every land, that by the service and sacrifice of many your holy Name may be glorified and your kingdom enlarged; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. 

Amen.