At 5:00pm (local time) today, inside the Basilica of Saint Bartholomew, located on an island in the Tiber river, the Holy Father, Pope Francis presided over a celebration of the Liturgy of the Word along with members of the Sant'Egidio Community in memory of the New Martyrs of the 20th and 21st centuries.
This initiative, which was organized by the lay faithful of the Sant'Egidio Community, also aims to highlight the difficulties and discrimination that many Christians still face in countries around the world today as they strive to witness to their faith.
Altars in six chapels around the church display objects such as letters, prayer books and other personal possessions recalling the witness of men and women from many countries and different Christian traditions who have laid down their lives for their faith.
In the 1990s the church was given to the St Egidio community and in the year 2000 Pope John Paul II decided to dedicate it to the memory of the modern martyrs. Saint Egidio’s founder - Andrea Riccardi - and other members had already been collecting thousands of dossiers and objects that were then incorporated into the altars around the church.
Relics of the martyrs
The first object they were given was the last letter written by Reformed Pastor Paul Schneider, killed in the Buchenwald Nazi death camp for refusing to stop proclaiming Christ as Saviour.
A more modern relic is the missal with which Archbishop Oscar Romero had been celebrating Mass when he was murdered in San Salvador in 1980.
Most recent of all is the prayer book of French Father Jacques Hamel, killed during a terror attack on his church near Rouen in July of last year.
Prayer service features testimonies
Three different testimonies were given during the simple liturgy: Father Jacques Hamel's sister spoke about his witness of faith, the son of Reverend Schneider spoke, and a young man from El Salvador where community member William Quijano was murdered in 2009 for trying to help people escape from the criminal gangs also offered a witness.
Following the readings and homily of Pope Francis, prayers were offered for these modern martyrs, as well as for those who are considered martyrs, such as two Orthodox bishops Mar Gregorios Ibrahim and Paul Yazigi, as well as Father Paolo del Oglio who were kidnapped in Syria by ISIS - these have not been heard of since.
Blood of martyrs unites Christians
These martyrs also bear an ecumenical dimension. The specifically-commissioned icon which was placed on the main altar of the Basilica highlights the fact that martyrdom is what unites Christians. In the blood of the martyrs, unity is already achieved, such as the Catholic and Orthodox bishops who worked together and were killed together in the Soviet gulags.
The message of the martyrs is very clear, showing that unity is more important than individual lives and ambitions. While the martyrs were not looking for death, they show that there are things worth dying for. The memories of their lives tell stories of people who have served the poor and marginalized until death, calling us back to what Christianity really means.
Holy Father, dear Sant’Egidio community, dear Christian community, I want to offer heartfelt thanks for the great honour you paid today to my father Paul Schneider, and for the fact that my daughter and I are able to be here. My father was killed in 1939 at the Buchenwald concentration camp because for him the goals of National Socialism were irreconcilable with the words of the Bible. The Church has the task of watching over the State. With this conviction, my father strongly opposed any attempt to influence the Church politically. He committed himself so that the German people might maintain a Christian orientation in the state and in society.
All of us, even today, make too many compromises, but my father remained faithful only to the Lord and to the faith. He was a shepherd and a spiritual guide – even in the concentration camp! Until the end, whenever possible, despite torture and suffering, he cried with courage from the window of his cell in the bunker words of consolation and hope of the Bible to other prisoners. This is why he was called “the Preacher of Buchenwald.”
And he did not forget us, his family. In a letter from the concentration camp kept in this church, my father strongly affirms his faith in the Easter victory of life. And he writes knowing that my mother, I, my brothers and sisters, are also under the protection of God. My mother's words, even when she was very old, were: He was chosen to proclaim the Gospel and this is my consolation. I, as his son, feel this consolation to this day.
Holy Father, last year, on July 26, my brother, Jacques Hamel, was killed at the end of the Mass he had just celebrated at Sant’Etienne de Rouvray in Normandy. Jacques was 85 years old when two young men, radicalized by hate speech, thought they would commit a heroic act by turning to murderous violence. At his age Jacques was frail, but he was also strong. Strong in his faith in Christ, strong in his love for the Gospel and for the people, whoever they might be – and, I’m certain, for his killers as well.
As your Holiness said in memory of Jacques, in this difficult time he did not lose his presence of mind when, from the altar, he accused the true author of the persecution: Begone Satan! Truly, killing in the name of God is always satanic.
His death is in line with his priestly life, which was a given life: a life offered to the Lord when he said yes at the time of his ordination, a life serving the Gospel, a life given to the Church and for the people, especially for the poor, whom he always served on the outskirts of Rouen. There is a paradox: he who never wanted to be spotlight bore witness to the entire world, a witness whose value cannot yet be measured.
We have experienced the reaction of all those Christians who have not yet preached revenge or hatred, but love and forgiveness; we have seen it in the solidarity of Muslims who wanted to visit the Sunday assemblies after his death; we have seen it in France, which has shown its unity around the tenderness for this priest. For us, his family, there is surely pain and emptiness. But it is a great comfort to see how many new encounters, how much solidarity, and how much love has been generated by Jacques’s witness. As he wrote, Our vocation is to participate in building a new fraternity in a new world context.
Yes, Jacques, my brother, with his life wanted to live as a brother with all those who had been entrusted to him; with his death he became to all. Last September we accompanied Jacques’ breviary which is now preserved in this Basilica, and we are deeply grateful for the memory of the witnesses of the faith here and for the solidarity we experienced. May Jacques’ sacrifice bear fruit, that men and women of our time might find the way to live together in peace.
Holy Father, my name is Francisco Guevara, and I come from El Salvador in Central America. I am absolutely certain: Love and friendship enlarge the heart; William, too, had a heart enlarged by hope, and this was his strength. He loved life, and in his friendly way he attracted many young people and children to the School of Peace. And on September 28, 2009, he was killed.
What was his crime? He dreamed of a world of peace. William never gave up teaching peace; indeed his commitment broke the chain of violence. He said, The world is full of violence, so we must work for peace, beginning with children. We must have the courage to be teachers, because a country without schools or teachers is a country without a future and without hope. The Schools of Peace are sanctuaries that place a barrier in the way of violence and poverty. Security is not only achieved with firmness, but with love. He spoke to everyone about his dream: We have the conviction, the intelligence and the strength to put ourselves to work. And prayer will sustain us.
It is surprising that William never spoke of repression or revenge against maras (as the gangs are called in El Salvador), but insisted on the need for a change of mindset. For everyone. In the children, first of all; and he sought to give them affection in order to show that with the study they could progress, they could have a future – but he also saw the need for a change in attitude in young people, in adults.
He had effected just such a change in himself. He could have been one of the many who said, No, nothing can be done here. But instead he entered so profoundly into the dream of the Community, the dream of a new humanity, that he wanted to live it to the full. Children could and should change; young people could and should change.
What happened to William, although it is tragic, makes us believe that another Latin America can be built, free from the nightmare of the maras. In the existential periphery, William bore witness to his hope in a different world, based on the Gospel and on more human values, on the centrality of closeness. This is the great gift of the small life of William Alfredo Quijano Zetino, my friend.
If we look well, the cause of every persecution is hatred: hatred of the prince of this world for all those who have been saved and redeemed by Jesus through his death and resurrection. In the gospel account that we have heard today (cf Jn 15:12-19), Jesus used a strong and surprising word: the word hatred. He who is the teacher of love, who loved so much to speak about love, speaks of hatred. But He always wanted to call things by their name. He says to us: Do not be surprised! The world will hate you; but know that before they hated you, they hated me.
Jesus has chosen us and has redeemed us by the free gift of his love. With his death and resurrection, he has redeemed us from the power of the world, from the power of the devil, from the power of the prince of this world. The source of hatred is this: since we are saved by Jesus, and the prince of the world does not want us to be saved, he hates us and persecutions arise, which have continued from the time of Jesus and the early Church to our own times. So many Christians today are the objects of persecution! Why? Because of the hatred that is a characteristic of the spirit of this world.
How often, in difficult moments throughout history, we have heard it said: Today, the country needs heroes. A martyr can be thought of as a hero, but the fundamental thing about martyrs is that they are full of grace: it is the grace of God, not courage, that makes people martyrs. Today, we can ask: What does the Church need today? We need martyrs, we need witnesses, we need every-day saints, because the Church is carried forward by martyrs: without them, the Church could not continue. The Church needs every-day saints, those from ordinary daily life, to carry it forward consistently; but the Church also needs those who have the courage to accept the grace of being witnesses to the very end, to the moment of death. All of these are the living blood of the Church. They are witnesses who help the Church to develop; they are those who bear witness to the fact that Jesus is risen, that Jesus is alive, and they attest to this truth with the consistency of their lives and the strength of the Holy Spirit which they have received as a gift.
Today, I want to add one more icon to the collection that is already here in this church. A woman. I do not know her name. But she looks upon us from heaven. I was at Lesbos, greeting the refugees and I found a thirty-year-old man, with three children. He looked at me and said: Father, I am a Muslim. My wife was a Christian. Some terrorists arrived in our country, they looked at us and they asked us our religion, and they saw her with the crucifix, and they asked her to throw it on the ground. She did not do that, instead she threw it to me. We loved it so much! This is the icon that I bring today as a gift for you. I do not know if that man is still on Lesbos or whether he has managed to go elsewhere. I do not know if he is capable of leaving the concentration camp, because refugee camps - there are many - are concentrated as a result of the number of people who have been left there. The generous people who welcome them must carry this weight as well, because international agreements seem to be more important than human rights. This man did not bear a grudge: he, a Muslim, bore this cross of sadness, carrying it with no grudge. He took refuge in the love of his wife, who was graced with martyrdom.
It is a great gift to be able to remember these witnesses to the faith and to pray in this place. It is a gift for the Community of Sant'Egidio, for the Church of Rome, for all the Christian communities of this city, and for all pilgrims. The living legacy of the martyrs gives us peace and unity today. They teach us that with the strength of love, with meekness, we can fight against bullying, violence, war ... and this can be accomplished with patience and peace. Therefore we can pray: O Lord, make us worthy witnesses of the gospel and of your love; shower your mercy on all humanity; renew your Church, protect persecuted Christians, grant peace to the whole world. To you, Lord, be the glory and to us Lord, the shame (cf Dan 9:7).
Thanksgiving following the meeting with refugees:
A word of greeting, and to thank you for all that you are doing. Thank you very much. May the Lord bless you.
Final greeting in front of the Basilica:
I thank you for your presence and for your prayer in this church of martyrs. We can think about cruelty, the cruelty that sneaks into the thoughts of so many people; the exploitation of people ... People ho arrive in boats and then stay there, in generous countries such as Italy and Greece who welcome them, but then, international treaties do not end ... If, in Italy we were to welcome two, two migrants per municipality, there would be room for everyone. And the generosity we have seen in the South - in Lampedusa, in Sicily, in Lesbos, can infect the North a little. It is true: we are a civilization that is not having children, but we are also closing the doors to migrants. This is called suicide. Let us pray!
This initiative, which was organized by the lay faithful of the Sant'Egidio Community, also aims to highlight the difficulties and discrimination that many Christians still face in countries around the world today as they strive to witness to their faith.
Altars in six chapels around the church display objects such as letters, prayer books and other personal possessions recalling the witness of men and women from many countries and different Christian traditions who have laid down their lives for their faith.
In the 1990s the church was given to the St Egidio community and in the year 2000 Pope John Paul II decided to dedicate it to the memory of the modern martyrs. Saint Egidio’s founder - Andrea Riccardi - and other members had already been collecting thousands of dossiers and objects that were then incorporated into the altars around the church.
Relics of the martyrs
The first object they were given was the last letter written by Reformed Pastor Paul Schneider, killed in the Buchenwald Nazi death camp for refusing to stop proclaiming Christ as Saviour.
A more modern relic is the missal with which Archbishop Oscar Romero had been celebrating Mass when he was murdered in San Salvador in 1980.
Most recent of all is the prayer book of French Father Jacques Hamel, killed during a terror attack on his church near Rouen in July of last year.
Prayer service features testimonies
Three different testimonies were given during the simple liturgy: Father Jacques Hamel's sister spoke about his witness of faith, the son of Reverend Schneider spoke, and a young man from El Salvador where community member William Quijano was murdered in 2009 for trying to help people escape from the criminal gangs also offered a witness.
Following the readings and homily of Pope Francis, prayers were offered for these modern martyrs, as well as for those who are considered martyrs, such as two Orthodox bishops Mar Gregorios Ibrahim and Paul Yazigi, as well as Father Paolo del Oglio who were kidnapped in Syria by ISIS - these have not been heard of since.
Blood of martyrs unites Christians
These martyrs also bear an ecumenical dimension. The specifically-commissioned icon which was placed on the main altar of the Basilica highlights the fact that martyrdom is what unites Christians. In the blood of the martyrs, unity is already achieved, such as the Catholic and Orthodox bishops who worked together and were killed together in the Soviet gulags.
The message of the martyrs is very clear, showing that unity is more important than individual lives and ambitions. While the martyrs were not looking for death, they show that there are things worth dying for. The memories of their lives tell stories of people who have served the poor and marginalized until death, calling us back to what Christianity really means.
Testimony of Karl A. Schneider, son of Paul Schneider
Reformed Church pastor, killed at Buchenwald on 18 July 1939
Holy Father, dear Sant’Egidio community, dear Christian community, I want to offer heartfelt thanks for the great honour you paid today to my father Paul Schneider, and for the fact that my daughter and I are able to be here. My father was killed in 1939 at the Buchenwald concentration camp because for him the goals of National Socialism were irreconcilable with the words of the Bible. The Church has the task of watching over the State. With this conviction, my father strongly opposed any attempt to influence the Church politically. He committed himself so that the German people might maintain a Christian orientation in the state and in society.
All of us, even today, make too many compromises, but my father remained faithful only to the Lord and to the faith. He was a shepherd and a spiritual guide – even in the concentration camp! Until the end, whenever possible, despite torture and suffering, he cried with courage from the window of his cell in the bunker words of consolation and hope of the Bible to other prisoners. This is why he was called “the Preacher of Buchenwald.”
And he did not forget us, his family. In a letter from the concentration camp kept in this church, my father strongly affirms his faith in the Easter victory of life. And he writes knowing that my mother, I, my brothers and sisters, are also under the protection of God. My mother's words, even when she was very old, were: He was chosen to proclaim the Gospel and this is my consolation. I, as his son, feel this consolation to this day.
Testimony of Roselyne, sister of Père Jacques Hamel
killed in Rouen, 26 July 2016
Holy Father, last year, on July 26, my brother, Jacques Hamel, was killed at the end of the Mass he had just celebrated at Sant’Etienne de Rouvray in Normandy. Jacques was 85 years old when two young men, radicalized by hate speech, thought they would commit a heroic act by turning to murderous violence. At his age Jacques was frail, but he was also strong. Strong in his faith in Christ, strong in his love for the Gospel and for the people, whoever they might be – and, I’m certain, for his killers as well.
As your Holiness said in memory of Jacques, in this difficult time he did not lose his presence of mind when, from the altar, he accused the true author of the persecution: Begone Satan! Truly, killing in the name of God is always satanic.
His death is in line with his priestly life, which was a given life: a life offered to the Lord when he said yes at the time of his ordination, a life serving the Gospel, a life given to the Church and for the people, especially for the poor, whom he always served on the outskirts of Rouen. There is a paradox: he who never wanted to be spotlight bore witness to the entire world, a witness whose value cannot yet be measured.
We have experienced the reaction of all those Christians who have not yet preached revenge or hatred, but love and forgiveness; we have seen it in the solidarity of Muslims who wanted to visit the Sunday assemblies after his death; we have seen it in France, which has shown its unity around the tenderness for this priest. For us, his family, there is surely pain and emptiness. But it is a great comfort to see how many new encounters, how much solidarity, and how much love has been generated by Jacques’s witness. As he wrote, Our vocation is to participate in building a new fraternity in a new world context.
Yes, Jacques, my brother, with his life wanted to live as a brother with all those who had been entrusted to him; with his death he became to all. Last September we accompanied Jacques’ breviary which is now preserved in this Basilica, and we are deeply grateful for the memory of the witnesses of the faith here and for the solidarity we experienced. May Jacques’ sacrifice bear fruit, that men and women of our time might find the way to live together in peace.
Testimony of Francisco Hernandez Guevara, friend of William Quijano
killed in El Salvador on 28 September 2009
Holy Father, my name is Francisco Guevara, and I come from El Salvador in Central America. I am absolutely certain: Love and friendship enlarge the heart; William, too, had a heart enlarged by hope, and this was his strength. He loved life, and in his friendly way he attracted many young people and children to the School of Peace. And on September 28, 2009, he was killed.
What was his crime? He dreamed of a world of peace. William never gave up teaching peace; indeed his commitment broke the chain of violence. He said, The world is full of violence, so we must work for peace, beginning with children. We must have the courage to be teachers, because a country without schools or teachers is a country without a future and without hope. The Schools of Peace are sanctuaries that place a barrier in the way of violence and poverty. Security is not only achieved with firmness, but with love. He spoke to everyone about his dream: We have the conviction, the intelligence and the strength to put ourselves to work. And prayer will sustain us.
It is surprising that William never spoke of repression or revenge against maras (as the gangs are called in El Salvador), but insisted on the need for a change of mindset. For everyone. In the children, first of all; and he sought to give them affection in order to show that with the study they could progress, they could have a future – but he also saw the need for a change in attitude in young people, in adults.
He had effected just such a change in himself. He could have been one of the many who said, No, nothing can be done here. But instead he entered so profoundly into the dream of the Community, the dream of a new humanity, that he wanted to live it to the full. Children could and should change; young people could and should change.
What happened to William, although it is tragic, makes us believe that another Latin America can be built, free from the nightmare of the maras. In the existential periphery, William bore witness to his hope in a different world, based on the Gospel and on more human values, on the centrality of closeness. This is the great gift of the small life of William Alfredo Quijano Zetino, my friend.
Homily of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the Liturgy of the Word in memory of
the New Martyrs of the 20th and the 21st centuries
The memory of these heroic witnesses, ancient and recent, confirms us in our awareness that the Church is a Church if it is a Church of martyrs. And martyrs are those who, as we were reminded by the Book of Revelation: come from the great tribulation and have washed their garments, making them white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev 7:17). They have had the grace to confess Jesus to the end, to the point of death. They suffer, they give their lives, and we receive the blessing of God for their witness. There are also many hidden martyrs, men and women who are faithful to the meek strength of love, to the voice of the Holy Spirit, who in their everyday lives have sought to help their brothers and to love God without any reservations.
We have come as pilgrims to this Basilica of Saint Bartholomew on the Tiber Island, where the ancient history of martyrdom is united with the memory of the new martyrs, the many Christians who have been killed by the crazy ideologies of the last century - and even today - killed simply because they are disciples of Jesus.
If we look well, the cause of every persecution is hatred: hatred of the prince of this world for all those who have been saved and redeemed by Jesus through his death and resurrection. In the gospel account that we have heard today (cf Jn 15:12-19), Jesus used a strong and surprising word: the word hatred. He who is the teacher of love, who loved so much to speak about love, speaks of hatred. But He always wanted to call things by their name. He says to us: Do not be surprised! The world will hate you; but know that before they hated you, they hated me.
Jesus has chosen us and has redeemed us by the free gift of his love. With his death and resurrection, he has redeemed us from the power of the world, from the power of the devil, from the power of the prince of this world. The source of hatred is this: since we are saved by Jesus, and the prince of the world does not want us to be saved, he hates us and persecutions arise, which have continued from the time of Jesus and the early Church to our own times. So many Christians today are the objects of persecution! Why? Because of the hatred that is a characteristic of the spirit of this world.
How often, in difficult moments throughout history, we have heard it said: Today, the country needs heroes. A martyr can be thought of as a hero, but the fundamental thing about martyrs is that they are full of grace: it is the grace of God, not courage, that makes people martyrs. Today, we can ask: What does the Church need today? We need martyrs, we need witnesses, we need every-day saints, because the Church is carried forward by martyrs: without them, the Church could not continue. The Church needs every-day saints, those from ordinary daily life, to carry it forward consistently; but the Church also needs those who have the courage to accept the grace of being witnesses to the very end, to the moment of death. All of these are the living blood of the Church. They are witnesses who help the Church to develop; they are those who bear witness to the fact that Jesus is risen, that Jesus is alive, and they attest to this truth with the consistency of their lives and the strength of the Holy Spirit which they have received as a gift.
Today, I want to add one more icon to the collection that is already here in this church. A woman. I do not know her name. But she looks upon us from heaven. I was at Lesbos, greeting the refugees and I found a thirty-year-old man, with three children. He looked at me and said: Father, I am a Muslim. My wife was a Christian. Some terrorists arrived in our country, they looked at us and they asked us our religion, and they saw her with the crucifix, and they asked her to throw it on the ground. She did not do that, instead she threw it to me. We loved it so much! This is the icon that I bring today as a gift for you. I do not know if that man is still on Lesbos or whether he has managed to go elsewhere. I do not know if he is capable of leaving the concentration camp, because refugee camps - there are many - are concentrated as a result of the number of people who have been left there. The generous people who welcome them must carry this weight as well, because international agreements seem to be more important than human rights. This man did not bear a grudge: he, a Muslim, bore this cross of sadness, carrying it with no grudge. He took refuge in the love of his wife, who was graced with martyrdom.
It is a great gift to be able to remember these witnesses to the faith and to pray in this place. It is a gift for the Community of Sant'Egidio, for the Church of Rome, for all the Christian communities of this city, and for all pilgrims. The living legacy of the martyrs gives us peace and unity today. They teach us that with the strength of love, with meekness, we can fight against bullying, violence, war ... and this can be accomplished with patience and peace. Therefore we can pray: O Lord, make us worthy witnesses of the gospel and of your love; shower your mercy on all humanity; renew your Church, protect persecuted Christians, grant peace to the whole world. To you, Lord, be the glory and to us Lord, the shame (cf Dan 9:7).
Thanksgiving following the meeting with refugees:
A word of greeting, and to thank you for all that you are doing. Thank you very much. May the Lord bless you.
Final greeting in front of the Basilica:
I thank you for your presence and for your prayer in this church of martyrs. We can think about cruelty, the cruelty that sneaks into the thoughts of so many people; the exploitation of people ... People ho arrive in boats and then stay there, in generous countries such as Italy and Greece who welcome them, but then, international treaties do not end ... If, in Italy we were to welcome two, two migrants per municipality, there would be room for everyone. And the generosity we have seen in the South - in Lampedusa, in Sicily, in Lesbos, can infect the North a little. It is true: we are a civilization that is not having children, but we are also closing the doors to migrants. This is called suicide. Let us pray!
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