Tag: catholic

Patrick Hamilton was a young professor at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Related to Scottish royalty through both parents, he studied in Paris where he read Erasmus and Luther and was convinced of the need to reform the Church of corruption and restore its proper focus on the Gospel. As professor, Hamilton attacked the ongoing moral abuses of many of the clergy, as well as false doctrine and abusive ecclesiastical practices. He came to the attention of Archbishop Beaton at the Cathedral who determined to arrest Hamilton for heresy. Upon the advice of friends, Patrick escaped to the continent where he travelled immediately to Wittenberg to hear Luther in person.

Upon returning to St. Andrews, Hamilton was (strangely, and perhaps underhandedly) invited to preach. He proclaimed salvation by faith alone, exerting great influence among the students, monks, priests, and professors of St. Andrews. Although warned by his friends, Patrick refused to flee and was quickly arrested and hauled before a council of monks, priests, and other clerics under the influence of Beaton. Patrick stood solidly on the Word of God and refused to back down on seven major charges that were central tenets of the Reformation’s evangelical catholic theology. He also denied the existence of Purgatory and affirmed the pope as an antichrist. He denounced relics as having any merit, in a town with a cathedral that boasted relics of great merit for pilgrims to pay to see, under the altar.

When offered his life for a recantation Patrick Hamilton replied: “As to my confession, I will not deny it for the fear of your fire, for my confession and belief is in Christ Jesus. Therefore I will not deny it. I will rather be content that my body burn in this fire for the confession of my faith in Christ, than my soul should burn in the fire of hell for denying the same.”

On the 29th of February, the twenty-four-year-old college professor was burned at the stake at the portico to the University while his students stood in shock, and the Franciscan friar teased him to call on the Virgin Mary to help him out. Upon his death, many others took up the cause of the martyr and spread the Gospel across Scotland. (Adapted from The Martyrdom of Patrick Hamilton, 1528, by Bill Potter)

From the Church father Tertullian: After one of the apostles was cut off, Christ commanded the eleven others to “go and teach all nations and baptize them into the Father, and into the Son, and into the Holy Spirit.” The apostles (which means “sent ones”) immediately started doing this. Having chosen Matthias as the twelfth apostle in the place of Judas, on the basis of the authoritative prophecy found in a psalm of David, they received the promised power of the Holy Spirit for the gift of miracles and preaching. They established churches throughout Judea, by bearing witness to the faith in Jesus Christ. Then they went out into the world and preached the same doctrine of the same faith to the nations, establishing churches in every city, from which all the other churches, one after another, received the tradition of faith and doctrine. Every day there are more churches being established. This is precisely why only these churches are able to call themselves apostolic, because they are the offspring of apostolic churches. . . . Therefore, though there are so many churches, they all comprise the one original church founded by the apostles. In this way, they are all originally apostolic and one, in unity, peaceful communion, and are brothers in the bond of hospitality, privileges which derive from no other rule than the one tradition from the same mystery.

From this we draw up our rule of faith . . . all doctrine that agrees with the apostolic churches, which are the molds and original sources, must be regarded as the truth that contains what was received from the apostles, the apostles from Christ, and Christ from God. All doctrine must immediately be regarded as false that has the taste of being different from that which the churches received from the apostles, from Christ, from God.

A brief biography: St. Matthias, one of the lesser-known apostles, was chosen by lot to fill the vacancy in the Twelve after the death of Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:16-25). According to early Church tradition, Matthias was among the seventy-two sent out by Jesus (Luke 10:1-20). Although little is known about his missionary journeys, historical accounts place him in various locations such as Ethiopia and Armenia, the first nation to embrace Christianity as its national religion. Tradition holds that Matthias was martyred for his faith, with some accounts pointing to Colchis in Asia Minor as the place of his death around AD 50. The Church of St. Matthias in Trier, Germany, claims to be his final burial site, making him the only one of the Twelve to be laid to rest in Europe north of the Alps.

Serenus, a native of Greece, was born during the reign of Emperor Maximian. He chose to renounce all his possessions and lead a life of asceticism and prayer. He sustained himself by living off the produce of his garden in Syrmium, located in the province of Pannonia (Mitrovica in present-day Croatia). During a period of persecution against Christians, he concealed himself for several months, but later resumed his quiet life in the garden, keeping his Christian faith unknown. Being a handsome and diligent young man, he earned the respect of all who crossed his path, especially that of the wife of one of Maximian’s guards. She went from showing regard to making unwelcome advances towards him.

Serenus admonished her, reminding her that it was unseemly for a lady to be seen outside during the dangerous hour of siesta, and that by doing so, she was needlessly dishonoring herself and her husband. Spurned by his rebuke, she wrote to her husband, falsely accusing Serenus of insulting her. The husband journeyed to Syrmium, presented the letter to the governor, and thus initiated a trial against Serenus. However, he defended himself so ably that the lady’s husband became convinced of his wife’s wrongdoing, leading to the withdrawal of the charge against Serenus.

Despite being cleared of the accusations, the suspicion of the governor was aroused, for he believed that anyone so conscientious in such matters must be a Christian. Serenus was charged with this and was urged to make a sacrifice to the pagan gods. Firm in his faith, he unhesitatingly professed his Christianity, refused to offer sacrifice, and expressed a willingness to die, declaring, “I may have a part in His Kingdom with His saints.” His wish was swiftly granted, as he was beheaded. It happened about the year 307. (Adapted from Butler’s Lives of the Saints)

Already by 377, there is a church in Melitene in Armenia dedicated to the memory of Polyeuctus. He came from a Greek family and was an officer in the Roman army. He was converted to faith in Christ by a Christian friend. Subsequently, the two were arrested, tortured, and condemned to death, possibly during the persecution of Decius, emperor from 249 to 251, or, as more generally accepted, in the year 259 under the emperor Valerian. In a way akin to Saint Job in the Old Testament, the Acts of Polyeuctus include entreaties from his wife (and son) for him to give up and give in to the torture, i.e. to renounce Christ, in order to escape martyrdom. But it is said that the more they did so, the more he urged his wife to abandon her idols and cling to Christ. Polyeuctus was eventually beheaded for his faith.

Apollonia (d. 249) was a consecrated virgin and deaconess living in Alexandria, Egypt. There were festivities taking place to commemorate the millennium of the founding of Rome, when an anti-Christian riot broke out. After killing two other Christians and pillaging still others’ houses, a mob also seized Apollonia since she was a leader in the local Christian community. Here is what Eusebius relates in his Ecclesiastical History: “But they also seized that most admirable virgin Apollonia, then in advanced life, and knocked out all her teeth, and crushed her jaws; and then kindling a fire before the city, they threatened to burn her alive unless she would repeat along with them their expressions of impiety. And although she seemed to deprecate her fate for a little, on being let go, she leaped eagerly into the fire and was consumed.” Thus, rather than renounce Christ, Apollonia died a martyr.