Martyrdom and Mortal Sin

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I have a question regarding the nature of martyrdom. If someone were to live in Mortal Sin and be unreptentant, but at the time of their death give themselves up as martyrs for Jesus, can they still go to heaven? Are their sins forgiven?
 
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What if they don’t have perfect contrition, but just a strong fear of hell?
 
snarf137 said:
I have a question regarding the nature of martyrdom. If someone were to live in Mortal Sin and be unreptentant, but at the time of their death give themselves up as martyrs for Jesus, can they still go to heaven? Are their sins forgiven?
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St. Thomas Aquinas wrote in Summa Theologiae > Third Part > Question 66 The sacrament of Baptism
Article 12. Whether the Baptism of Blood is the most excellent of these?
I answer that, As stated above (Article 11), the shedding of blood for Christ’s sake, and the inward operation of the Holy Ghost, are called baptisms, in so far as they produce the effect of the Baptism of Water. Now the Baptism of Water derives its efficacy from Christ’s Passion and from the Holy Ghost, as already stated (III:11. These two causes act in each of these three Baptisms; most excellently, however, in the Baptism of Blood. For Christ’s Passion acts in the Baptism of Water by way of a figurative representation; in the Baptism of the Spirit or of Repentance, by way of desi.e. but in the Baptism of Blood, by way of imitating the (Divine) act. In like manner, too, the power of the Holy Ghost acts in the Baptism of Water through a certain hidden power. in the Baptism of Repentance by moving the heart; but in the Baptism of Blood by the highest degree of fervor of dilection and love, according to John 15:13: “Greater love than this no man hath that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
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http://www.newadvent.org/summa/4066.htm
 
“Greater love than this, no man has, that he lay down his life for another.” I think one only attains heaven, when love is perfected in that soul. Might not the perfection of love in such a situation (and martyrdom is laying down one’s life for another) be absolute to the point of remission of any and all stain of sin in God’s eyes?
My two cents. (I still miss the old emoji)
 
I doubt anybody would become a martyr out of fear but rather out of faith and love.
‘Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life, and reigned with Christ a thousand years’ Rev 20:4
 
God, of course, knows the heart. I find it difficult to believe that someone who has knowingly remained in unrepentes mortal sin would suddenly accept the grace to die for Christ without also choosing to repent and align their will with His, nor that fear alone could inspire martyrdom. But in any case, God would know.

In the famous passage on love in I Corinthians 13, St. Paul includes “hand[ing] over [one’s] body to be burned” on his list of things that may seem to indicate spiritual advancement but are worthless if not backed by supernatural love, so I’m not sure we’re meant to see martyrdom itself as a sure route to Heaven without any consideration of other factors.
 
I think about the soldiers of the volunteers who left the comfort of life and went to the bullets in cold winter and hard soldiers ’ hardships…
They do it for the love of God and their country.
Among them are young people who do not even know the delights of life.
The same can be said about military doctors at the forefront.
 
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