Martyr

[Churchman25]

So yesterday when I was in mass for the homily the priest talked about an individual who was killed in the 1990s for sticking up for his beliefs. He was officially declared a martyr in 2015.

He was born in the 1940s. He converted, to Catholicism at the age of 17 and was a regular member in the Church was active. (In the 1990s)One day there was a lightning storm and village building was struck by lightning. So there was a council of elders that decided it was magic and he stepped forward and said it was only a natural phenomenon.

So the next day he was walking somewhere and he was greeted by a mob of people and they surrounded him started throwing rocks at him and clubbed him, before he died he said lord unto you I commence my spirit and he died.

I think this is important because it showed someone who was willing to give his life for truth, and was willing to reject pagan and secularist views.

 

[Churchman25]

He is now Blessed Benedict Dasowa. He was the one that opposed the witchcraft at the elder meeting after the lightining strike.

 

[Irishmom2]

Thank you for posting that. I had never heard of him, some googled him after I read your post. Here is a link for anyone interested.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Daswa

 

[Churchman25]

So yesterday when I was in mass for the homily the priest talked about an individual who was killed in the 1990s for sticking up for his beliefs. He was officially declared a martyr in 2015.

He was born in the 1940s. He converted, to Catholicism at the age of 17 and was a regular member in the Church was active. (In the 1990s)One day there was a lightning storm and village building was struck by lightning. So there was a council of elders that decided it was magic and he stepped forward and said it was only a natural phenomenon.

So the next day he was driving back to his home village after he brought a man to the hospital, and he was greeted by a mob of people and they surrounded him started throwing rocks at poured tar on him him and clubbed him, before he died he said lord unto you I commence my spirit and he died.

I think this is important because it showed someone who was willing to give his life for truth, and was willing to reject pagan and secularist views.

 

[M-Dent]

Thanks. This was the first I heard of this modern day Saint.

He took the name Benedict after the sixth century monk and after Benedict Risimati, his catechist who instructed him in his faith as a teen.

Daswa was a husband, and the father of eight. He helped build a parish, and was principal of the primary school and a teacher.

He refused to take part in anything related to witchcraft or the occult. This would lead to his violent murder in 1990 at the age of 43, when he refused to join his neighbors in paying a sorcerer who claimed to be able to end severe storms.

A group of men ambushed him for his stance; he prayed on his knees as they killed him.

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Bishop Rodrigues said that Daswa’s death “makes him a hero for all Christians in Africa and elsewhere who are struggling to break free from the enslavement of the world of witchcraft.”​

Pope Francis has declared Feb. 1 as Blessed Benedict Daswa’s feast day.

During his Angelus address Sunday, the Pope praised Daswa’s great consistency, his courageous assumption of Christian attitudes, and his refusal of “worldly and pagan customs.”

catholicnewsagency.com/news/blessed-benedict-daswa-the-south-african-martyred-for-rejecting-witchcraft-28097/