Fellowship with the Martyrs
For ourselves, too, we ask some share in the fellowship of your apostles and martyrs, with John the Baptist, Stephen, Matthias, Barnabas, (Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, Anastasia) and all the saints.
Recently I have been struck during the mass by these words of the Roman Canon. Since I was a young man it has often struck me that it is often easy to simply glide over the words of our prayers without giving too much thought to what it is we are asking God to give us. This seems especially true for the words of prayers we either say or hear over and over. Even though the prayers are embedded in our minds, and hopefully our hearts, they can easily become rote.
I am not sure why this prayer has been jumping off the page at me recently but I wonder if we notice often enough what we are praying when we ask God for some fellowship in his apostles and martyrs. Perhaps it would be good to take a look at the ones listed in the prayer.
St. John the Baptist has been very visible during the last few weeks since we are in the season of Advent. He spent his lifetime living mostly in deserted places, calling people to conversion and to prepare themselves for the coming of the Messiah. He was imprisoned and eventually beheaded by Herod at the request of a young girl who impressed him with her dancing.
St. Stephen is the first Christian martyr. He was stoned to death while proclaiming Christ. He forgave his killers even as they were stoning him.
St. Matthias took the place of Judas as one of the Twelve. He went on to preach the Gospel in Judaea and Ethiopia and was eventually crucified.
St. Barnabas was a companion of St.Paul who preached the Gospel in many areas, most notably in Antioch and various cities in what is now Turkey. While preaching in Cyprus he was dragged from the synagogue there, tortured brutally and stoned to death.
St. Ignatius was a successor of St. Peter in the see of Antioch. Legend says that he was one of the children whom Jesus took into his arms to bless. He was a disciple of St. John. He wrote a famous set of letters to several Christian communities as he was traveling to Rome to be martyred. Once having arrived, he was sentenced to death in the Colosseum and was eaten by lions.
St. Alexander was the fifth pope to follow St. Peter. He was beheaded outside of Rome.
Not much is known about the 4th century Sts. Marcellinus and Peter. St. Peter, an exorcist, saved the daughter of one of his jailers from an evil spirit and later their entire family was baptized by the priest, St. Marcillinus. They were both taken outside the city to an out of the way place and beheaded.
Sts. Felicity and Perpetua were both young women and catechumens from Carthage. When they were unwilling to renounce their faith they were first thrown into prison along with three other Christian men. St. Perpetua was still nursing her child when put into prison and her slave St. Felicity was eight months pregnant. She gave birth to her child while in prison. The two women along with their companions were sentenced to be attacked by wild animals and when this did not kill them, they were killed by the sword.
St. Agatha also refused to renounce the Christian faith when confronted with threats from the emperor. She was punished first by being put into a brothel, by having her breasts cut off and eventually sentenced to death by being put upon hot coals.
St. Lucy is known for having given her wealth to the poor, and upon refusing to marry a pagan her torture and death. She had her eyes plucked out with a fork and died by being stabbed through the neck.
At the age of 13, St. Agnes refused to marry a pagan and was condemned to death. She was first dragged through the streets of Rome to a brothel and then was to be burned at the stake. When the wood would not catch fire, she was stabbed through the neck.
St. Cecilia was martyred along with her husband and brother. Her killers were unsuccessful in killing her by drowning and so they chose instead to behead her. She lived three days after their failed attempts before dying. She is said to have sung to the Lord while being martyred and is thus the patron saint of musicians.
St. Anastasia was a widow who after her husband’s death gave her life to taking care of the poor. She was martyred by being burned to death.
For ourselves, too, we ask some share in the fellowship of your apostles and martyrs, with John the Baptist, Stephen, Matthias, Barnabas, (Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, Anastasia) and all the saints.
I don’t know about you, but hearing the stories of these saints makes praying these words at mass more challenging. It isn’t that I don’t want to be the kind of person that each one of them was, but I am not actively seeking a brutal death. Some of us are called to give witness to Christ by the same brutality. All of us are called to give witness to Christ by having the same kind of faith which they possessed. May we ask for the strength and courage they had each time we pray this prayer.
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