Martyrdom Archives - Catholic Herald

Martyrdom

The fiery death of self-immolation: a martyr’s moral clarity or misguided calumny?

March 25, 2024

As we enter Holy Week and commemorate the exemplary martyrdom, it seems that martyrdom in general – or a misplaced understanding of it – is reasserting itself. Last month, Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old US airman, doused himself with liquid and set himself on fire outside Israel’s embassy in Washington, DC. In a livestream of the event, he

‘For Love of My People, I Will Not Stay Silent’: Italian priest whose ‘martyrdom’ inspired locals to speak out against organised crime

March 19, 2024

ROME – Thirty years ago today, a young Italian priest was gunned down by a mafia hitman as he was preparing to say Mass, thereby giving his life for his people. In itself, perhaps, there’s nothing especially unique about that, since scores of Christian martyrs of all eras, both clergy and lay, have done exactly

On the Fifth Day of Christmas: Crown, sword and mitre

December 29, 2022

Ben Stephens reflects on the life, death, and afterlife of Thomas Becket, who rose to be Henry II’s Lord Chancellor and Archbishop of Canterbury, but who after years of tension between the Crown and the Church was murdered on this day in 1170. Each new age calls for new heroes; perhaps it calls for new

Maria Goretti’s silence was tragic, not heroic, and not a model for us

July 07, 2021

One of the more uncomfortable homilies I can remember included a paean to the “heroic silence” of St Maria Goretti in the face of prolonged sexual harassment by her eventual murderer, Alessandro Serenelli. Maria’s silence, for the homilist, evoked that of Christ during his trials and passion — a connection he meant to be inspiring.