Blessed Emmanuel Ruiz and Companions’ Story (1804 – 1860)
Not much is known of the early life of Emmanuel Ruiz, but details of his heroic death in defense of the faith have come down to us.
Born of humble parents in Santander, Spain, he became a Franciscan priest and served as a missionary in Damascus. This was at a time when anti-Christian riots shook Syria and thousands lost their lives in just a short time.
Among these were Emmanuel, superior of the Franciscan convent, seven other friars, and three laymen. When a menacing crowd came looking for the men, they refused to renounce their faith and become Muslims. The men were subjected to horrible tortures before their martyrdom.
Emmanuel, his brother Franciscans and the three Maronite laymen were beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1926.
Reflection
The Church in Syria has known persecution throughout its history. Yet it has produced saints whose blood was shed for the faith. Let us pray for the Church in Syria.
Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions’ Story (d. between November 15, 1885 – January 27, 1887)
One of 22 Ugandan martyrs, Charles Lwanga is the patron of youth and Catholic action in most of tropical Africa. He protected his fellow pages, aged 13 to 30, from the homosexual demands of the Bagandan ruler, Mwanga, and encouraged and instructed them in the Catholic faith during their imprisonment for refusing the ruler’s demands.
Charles first learned of Christ’s teachings from two retainers in the court of Chief Mawulugungu. While a catechumen, he entered the royal household as assistant to Joseph Mukaso, head of the court pages.
On the night of Mukaso’s martyrdom for encouraging the African youths to resist Mwanga, Charles requested and received baptism. Imprisoned with his friends, Charles’s courage and belief in God inspired them to remain chaste and faithful.
For his own unwillingness to submit to the immoral acts and his efforts to safeguard the faith of his friends, Charles was burned to death at Namugongo on June 3, 1886, by Mwanga’s order.
When Pope Paul VI canonized these 22 martyrs on October 18, 1964, he also made reference to the Anglican pages martyred for the same reason.
Reflection
Like Charles Lwanga, we are all teachers and witnesses to Christian living by the examples of our own lives. We are all called upon to spread the word of God, whether by word or deed. By remaining courageous and unshakable in our faith during times of great moral and physical temptation, we live as Christ lived.
Today we hear about Jesus choosing the 12 apostles. Now, if you look at their resumes, they are a bit thin. Even though Jesus is supposed to know everything, He chose Judas who betrayed Him. All of the apostles were cowards as was demonstrated in the Garden of Gethsemane. He didn’t pick too well, did He. One of my theology professors, Father Francis Conway who is now in Heaven, would often say, “How odd of God to choose the Jews.” And that’s true. Why would He pick the Jews to bring salvation to the world? On the world stage, they were not even a footnote. Did they have an empire for 2,000 years like the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans? Nope. So just who were the Jews? They were nothing. It’s true. Then why did He pick them? Because if they cooperated with His grace, they could become something.
Look at Moses . . . he killed a man. Yet Moses saw God face-to-face like one man talking to another. He also received the Ten Commandments and was chosen to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land. But it’s not about what Moses was; instead, it was about what God could do with him through His grace. It was the same with the apostles and what they could become. Spoiler alert – you will hear next week that the apostles came back and said to the Lord, “Oh wow. We did all these things. We did what you told us to do, and it worked!” Well, yeah! Do what you are told, and you will receive what you have been promised. It’s not who we are . . . it’s who we can become if we cooperate with God’s grace. Look at Saul. He persecuted followers of our Lord. Go through Church history, and you will see that there are a lot of stories like Saul’s.
What matters is what we can become. It’s not the letters in front of or after your name. Becoming “Very Reverend” made my mother very happy. It’s just an honorary title in my position. It doesn’t mean I’m “very reverend.” I wish I were. And all the letters after my name just prove I can take tests and are not a measure of how much I learned. It doesn’t make me more wonderful or smarter than anyone else. It doesn’t make what I have done better than what anyone else has done. But God can use it . . . He can use the worst of someone’s past to transform the world. Think about this: 88 years ago, our Lord used two men. One was a drunken stockbroker and the other was a drunken physician. Do you know what God did with those two men? They formed Alcoholics Anonymous and all the Twelve Step programs. How many men, women, and children have they saved. The drunken stockbroker and physician were two of what the world would call “losers,” and look at what God did with them.
God chose all of us, not for what we are but for what we can become. Each of us, because of our vocation in the Body of Christ, can go where others cannot. You cannot go where I go, and I cannot go where you go to bring God’s message and to evangelize. God has chosen you and chosen me, depending on our place in the Body of Christ, to be His apostles, to be His disciples, and to be His evangelists. This is not a reward. “Oh, you are such a good person. You did very well in your studies. I’m so proud of you!” We are given this grace for the good of others and not for our own well-being. It’s not an “Atta Boy.” God has given us all our talents and abilities – or perhaps our lack of talents and abilities. Remember what God said to Saint Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Even in our suffering, we can teach people how to suffer and how to love. Chaplain students all want to fix people. “Oh, we are going to talk, and I’ll get them into social welfare counseling.” Oh really? You have a very blessed job, and you may not realize it, but you are called to attend to those suffering in Christ. Laying in that bed is to suffer in Christ. Granted, they may be a royal real pain in the caboose. Not all people – sick or healthy – are nice. I’ve been cursed out a lot. Granted, I may have deserved some of it . . . but I’ve been cursed out a lot! When you try to do something nice for somebody and they do not appreciate it, they let you know in a lot of different ways and in no uncertain terms. They are suffering in Christ, and your reaction – or hopefully your lack of reaction – is evangelistic.
God chose us to be His apostles in the new Body of Christ. The apostles are now long in Heaven. They were all cowards, but look at what happened to them . . . 10 of the 11 died a martyr’s death. Although Peter was a coward, he died a martyr’s death by being crucified upside down. Crucifixion is not a fun way to go, but upside down is even worse. Paul had his head chopped off by the Romans. By the way, that was considered an honor because it was an easier death. God chose all of us but not to try to recreate the wheel – “Oh, we have this new program, and it’s great!” Really? Let me see if I can find that in the Bible. Nope, not there. I wonder why it didn’t work. But they all need your money. Just do what Christ told you to do. The apostles were surprised that everything Christ told them to do worked. We may see that some of our actions produce fruit – probably not though. So do not be surprised by a temptation from satan. We do what we are told to do. Obedience to God’s commands is a work of love. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep my Commandments.” So, when we have done a work of love, let that work of love bear fruit even if it is later.
How will you apply this message to your life? ________________________________
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Saints Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brébeuf, & Companions’ Story (D. 1642–1649)
Isaac Jogues and his companions were the first martyrs of the North American continent officially recognized by the Church. As a young Jesuit, Isaac Jogues, a man of learning and culture, taught literature in France. He gave up that career to work among the Huron Indians in the New World, and in 1636, he and his companions, under the leadership of Jean de Brébeuf, arrived in Quebec. The Hurons were constantly warred upon by the Iroquois, and in a few years Father Jogues was captured by the Iroquois and imprisoned for 13 months. His letters and journals tell how he and his companions were led from village to village, how they were beaten, tortured, and forced to watch as their Huron converts were mangled and killed.
An unexpected chance for escape came to Isaac Jogues through the Dutch, and he returned to France, bearing the marks of his sufferings. Several fingers had been cut, chewed, or burnt off. Pope Urban VIII gave him permission to offer Mass with his mutilated hands: “It would be shameful that a martyr of Christ not be allowed to drink the Blood of Christ.”
Welcomed home as a hero, Father Jogues might have sat back, thanked God for his safe return, and died peacefully in his homeland. But his zeal led him back once more to the fulfillment of his dreams. In a few months he sailed for his missions among the Hurons.
In 1646, he and Jean de Lalande, who had offered his services to the missioners, set out for Iroquois country in the belief that a recently signed peace treaty would be observed. They were captured by a Mohawk war party, and on October 18, Father Jogues was tomahawked and beheaded. Jean de Lalande was killed the next day at Ossernenon, a village near Albany, New York.
The first of the Jesuit missionaries to be martyred was René Goupil who with Lalande, had offered his services as an oblate. He was tortured along with Isaac Jogues in 1642, and was tomahawked for having made the sign of the cross on the brow of some children.
Father Anthony Daniel, working among Hurons who were gradually becoming Christian, was killed by Iroquois on July 4, 1648. His body was thrown into his chapel, which was set on fire.
Jean de Brébeuf was a French Jesuit who came to Canada at the age of 32 and labored there for 24 years. He went back to France when the English captured Quebec in 1629 and expelled the Jesuits, but returned to his missions four years later. Although medicine men blamed the Jesuits for a smallpox epidemic among the Hurons, Jean remained with them.
He composed catechisms and a dictionary in Huron, and saw 7,000 converted before his death in 1649. Having been captured by the Iroquois at Sainte Marie, near Georgian Bay, Canada, Father Brébeuf died after four hours of extreme torture.
Gabriel Lalemant had taken a fourth vow—to sacrifice his life for the Native Americans. He was horribly tortured to death along with Father Brébeuf.
Father Charles Garnier was shot to death in 1649 as he baptized children and catechumens during an Iroquois attack.
Father Noel Chabanel also was killed in 1649, before he could answer his recall to France. He had found it exceedingly hard to adapt to mission life. He could not learn the language, and the food and life of the Indians revolted him, plus he suffered spiritual dryness during his whole stay in Canada. Yet he made a vow to remain in his mission until death.
These eight Jesuit martyrs of North America were canonized in 1930.
Reflection
Faith and heroism planted belief in Christ’s cross deep in our land. The Church in North America sprang from the blood of martyrs, as has been true in so many places. The ministry and sacrifices of these saints challenges each of us, causing us to ask just how deep is our faith and how strong our desire to serve even in the face of death.
Saints Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brébeuf, and Companions are the Patron Saints of:
St. Ursula (4th c.) was a pious Christian princess from Britain, perhaps Wales. According to the 13th century Golden Legend she set sail and embarked on a pilgrimage to Rome with a large court of handmaids prior to settling in what is today western France, where she was to be joined in marriage to a local governor. Along her pilgrimage route she attracted many followers who were influenced by her holy example. On the return journey St. Ursula and her traveling maidens fell into the hands of the Huns, violent nomads from the East, who had invaded large swaths of Europe. St. Ursula and her company of virgins and other followers, which numbered 11,000, were tortured in an effort to have them renounce their faith. Steadfastly refusing, they were massacred in Cologne, Germany and buried together in a mass grave over which was built the Basilica of St. Ursula. Due to the varying accounts of her martyrdom and the difficulty of separating fact from legend, her feast day was suppressed in modern times. St. Ursula is the patroness of the Ursulines, a female religious order founded in 1535 by St. Angela Merici for the education of young girls. St. Ursula is also the patron of students, teachers, Catholic education, and of a holy death. Her feast day is October 21st.
St. Margaret Clitherow (1556-1586), also called Margaret of York, lived in York, England, the daughter of a candlemaker and wife of a wealthy Protestant butcher. She was raised Anglican just after the time that King Henry VIII severed the Church of England from communion with the Roman Catholic Church. A few years after her marriage, at the age of 18, she converted to the Catholic Church due to the work of covert missionary Catholic priests. While her husband remained Protestant, she aided persecuted Catholics by sheltering priests (which included her brother-in-law) and having Mass and Confessions said in her home, which became a safe house and hiding place for priests.
Margaret witnessed the tortuous death of many of the priests she aided, and she would publicly pray on the spot of their martyrdom. Undaunted in her work, she was imprisoned numerous times. On her final arrest she was charged for harboring Catholic priests and was condemned to a public execution by being crushed to death, a martyrdom of which she considered herself unworthy. All three of her children entered the religious life, two priests and a nun.
St. Margaret Clitherow, the “Pearl of York,” is the patron saint of martyrs, businesswomen, and converts. Her feast day is March 26th.
