Who is your favorite martyred saint?

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Aslan10

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Dear friends,

Today I read the story of Saint Thomas Becket for the first time and came away enthralled. I think I found a new favorite saint. To me his story still very much applies to today’s world as religious freedom, particularly Christian freedom, becomes more difficult. He also does not seem like an unattainable saint if that makes sense. Anyway, Justin Martyr has been my favorite martyred saint but Becket may be taking the lead now. haha.

So that brings me to my question, who is your favorite martyred saint and are their relics still around today? I was very disappointed to find that Becket’s remains were destroyed or taken after Henry VIII order the dissolution of the monasteries in England.
 
I have two:
Catherine of Alexandria (feisty woman) and Franz Jagerstatter, Holocost WWII conscientious objector and martyr. Wonderful , inspiring story…especially for parents.
Having their relics does not figure in for me. 😉
I find their stories wonderful to share with my students.
 
Felicity and Perpetua. At 38.5 weeks, we found out that our baby was a double-footling breech, which threw a major wrench in our plans to do a home birth with our local midwives. Instead, my wife had to have a scheduled C-section - kind of the exact opposite for what we had to do. While we were sitting in pre-op that morning, I realized I didn’t know what feast day it was, and figured I should find out since our child would forever share that day. After reading the story of Felicity and Perpetua, especially the worry concerning the birth of Felicity’s baby before the Arena, it gave me a calm that was truly supernatural, and I’ve prayed for their intercession ever since!
 
Mumbles140 said:
Felicity and Perpetua. At 38.5 weeks, we found out that our baby was a double-footling breech, which threw a major wrench in our plans to do a home birth with our local midwives. Instead, my wife had to have a scheduled C-section - kind of the exact opposite for what we had to do. While we were sitting in pre-op that morning, I realized I didn’t know what feast day it was, and figured I should find out since our child would forever share that day. After reading the story of Felicity and Perpetua, especially the worry concerning the birth of Felicity’s baby before the Arena, it gave me a calm that was truly supernatural, and I’ve prayed for their intercession ever since!
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That is a good one. I remember studying their story in my History of Christianity class my senior of college. I mentioned Perpetua’s vision of her brother in my final paper as evidence of post-mortem spiritual cleansing (purgatory) in the early church.
 
Tough question. I have so many favorites but I’m thinking that St. Philomena has got to be near the top of my list. 🙂
 
We love St Isaac Jogues and the North American martyrs. They are so near our own time, and so close to the founding our the US and Canada. AND, twins born on their feast day: Oct 19th. So, it’s a BIG day in the fencers’ household.
 
Pax Christi!

St. Joan of Arc was technically not a martyr but I love her anyway. No body parts remain.

[SIGN]French peasant girls rock!![/SIGN]

God bless.
 
Aslan10 said:
Dear friends,

Today I read the story of Saint Thomas Becket for the first time and came away enthralled. I think I found a new favorite saint. To me his story still very much applies to today’s world as religious freedom, particularly Christian freedom, becomes more difficult. He also does not seem like an unattainable saint if that makes sense. Anyway, Justin Martyr has been my favorite martyred saint but Becket may be taking the lead now. haha.

So that brings me to my question, who is your favorite martyred saint and are their relics still around today? I was very disappointed to find that Becket’s remains were destroyed or taken after Henry VIII order the dissolution of the monasteries in England.
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You DEFINTELY need to see the 1964 movie, Becket, then. Richard Burton was wonderful in it, and the movie is very moving!👍
 
St Joan of Arc. St Jean de Brebeuf is high on my list too.
 
Reclaim said:
You DEFINTELY need to see the 1964 movie, Becket, then. Richard Burton was wonderful in it, and the movie is very moving!👍
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Interesting. Didn’t know there was movie. I will definitely look into that.
 
St. Maximilian Kolbe; he gave up his life so another concentration camp prisoner could live.
 
Saint Agnes of Rome. Can’t go wrong with a virgin martyr. Her example is needed even more in western culture these days.

And Saints Timothy and Maura. If my vocation were to marriage I’d be praying to them aaalll the time. They were married for a very brief period of time. He was a lector during the Diocletian persecution. When the authorities discovered he was a Christian they ordered him to surrender his books but of course he could not, so he was imprisoned and tortured. When he would not give up his faith nor his books, they decided to bring his wife in and tortured them in front of each other. Instead of giving in to sin, they spurred each other on to remain faithful to Christ. So the authorities crucified them on two separate crosses facing each other. Even then, hanging on the cross, they did not despair nor sin in the slightest. They sang praises to God, helping the other to fight the good fight.

Now that’s what marriage is about!!! Marriage is such a beautiful vocation.
 
tawny said:
St. Maximilian Kolbe; he gave up his life so another concentration camp prisoner could live.
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A truly wonderful saint! Our pilgrimage to Lourdes always has the first mass at the chapel bearing his name in the Domain.

For those who don’t know about him (or only know about his time in the concentration camp), please read about him - he was on the path to sainthood long before his martyrdom!
 
I love them all, and I have a special sentiment for Saints Peter and Paul. I heard that Saint Peter, after watching his wife be crucified and comforting her by saying, “remember the Lord”, was then crucified upside-down after pleading that he was unworthy to die like Jesus died. And Saint Paul, who had such courage, and who told the weeping people the truth: “But now I know that none of you to whom I preached the kingdom during my travels will ever see my face again". So sad, but these who, both martyred in Rome, surely will reign with the One they died for, along with all the other martyrs.
 
Very likely Saint Lawerence. His tale may be apochryphal but I always liked the “turn me over, I am done on this side” line. Plus, he is my professional patron.
 
Although they’re not Saints…yet, the story of the Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne is compelling. The nuns were arrested in June 1794, during the Reign of Terror. On July 17, 1794, the sixteen Carmelite nuns of Compiègne were guillotined in Paris, convicted of crimes against the state by The Revolutionary Tribunal. St Therese of Lisieux had a strong devotion to these nuns as you might expect.
helpfellowship.org/martyrs_of_compiegne.htm

Peace, Mark
 
Saint Philomena! Virgin, martyr, and wonder-worker! Her feast day is August 11th!
 
The name is escaping me, but I recently read in Alban Butler’s Lives of the Saints (still on early January, so that should help with finding the name) about a saint who was martyred by having every joint severed, starting with finger tips, knuckles, etc, and the words he spoke before they finally finished him off were so moving…OK, I’m going to research this real quick…

Well this was easy - St. Arcadius:

But Arcadius, with a joyful countenance, surveying his scattered limbs all around him, and offering them to God, said, “Happy members, now dear to me, as you at last truly belong to God, being all made a sacrifice to him!” Then turning to the people, he said, “You who have been present at this bloody tragedy, learn that all torments seem as nothing to one, who has an everlasting crown before his eyes. Your gods are not gods; renounce their worship. He alone for whom I suffer and die, is the true God. He comforts and upholds me in the condition you see me. To die for him is to live; to suffer for him is to enjoy the greatest delights.”

(This is taken from Butler’s work)
 
HerrZJA said:
Very likely Saint Lawerence. His tale may be apochryphal but I always liked the “turn me over, I am done on this side” line. Plus, he is my professional patron.
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Me too. In case others don’t know the story:

As deacon in Rome, St Lawrence was charged with the responsibility for the material goods of the Church and the distribution of alms to the poor. St Ambrose of Milan relates that when St Lawrence was asked for the treasures of the Church he brought forward the poor, among whom he had divided the treasure as alms. “Behold in these poor persons the treasures which I promised to show you; to which I will add pearls and precious stones, those widows and consecrated virgins, which are the church’s crown.”

The prefect was so angry that he had a great gridiron prepared, with coals beneath it, and had Lawrence’s body placed on it (hence St Lawrence’s association with the gridiron). After the martyr had suffered the pain for a long time, the legend concludes, he made his famous cheerful remark, “I’m well done. Turn me over!” From this derives his patronage of cooks and chefs.
 
Mumbles140 said:
A truly wonderful saint! Our pilgrimage to Lourdes always has the first mass at the chapel bearing his name in the Domain.

For those who don’t know about him (or only know about his time in the concentration camp), please read about him - he was on the path to sainthood long before his martyrdom!
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Correct. The marble altar at our Franciscan Friary here on the Island is imported & is an altar on which he celebrated Mass.
 
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