Catholic Women Martyrs

 

Felicitas (101 – 162)

Her life is celebrated on November 23 by both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. She and her seven sons were all martyred in Rome. Her tremendous conversion efforts were noticed by the pagan priests who then notified the Emperor. Before being martyred, she witnessed the death of each of her sons. The authorities gave her the opportunity to recant her witness after each son’s death, but she refused.

 

 

Cecilia (~ 176)

Cecilia was a noblewoman in Rome who vowed with her newfound faith to a life of celibacy. That was not her father’s plan and she was forced to marry instead. Her martyrdom came under Emperor Marcus Aurelius. First, both her brothers were arrested and killed for refusing to sacrifice to the gods. After Cecilia was found to have converted more than 400 people, she was condemned to die by heat (or suffocation) in the Roman baths. The fires were struck and after a full day she didn’t even sweat. An executioner came to behead her. He tried three times but could not complete it. After three days she bleed to her death but never recanted her faith.

 

Blandina (162 – 177)

Blandina also died during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius in the city of Lyon in Asia Minor. Blandina was arrested along with other Christians. She was a slave and not a Roman citizen. This is important because if she were a Roman citizen her death would not include torture. A quick beheading should be her fate. Instead, she withstood so much torture that it is said the perpetrators became tired under her strength. Finally, she was taken to an amphitheatre and bound to a stake. Wild animals were let loose. However, they did not touch her. Days past and finally, she was killed by throwing her in front of a wild steer.

 

Perpetua (- 203)

Perpetua died in modern day Tunisia in Northern Africa (Carthage at the time). It was Emperor Septimius Severus’s son’s birthday and Perpetua was one of several new Christian converts rounded up to celebrate the special day in a display of horrible violence. It’s not known whether Severus was even involved. We do know that he put forward laws against conversion to Christianity. Perpetua ultimately died by directing the gladiator’s sword to her neck after being trampled and gored by bull did not work.

 

Catherine of Alexandria (287- 305)

At only 18, Catherine was converting hundreds to Christianity. And, when a persecution of Christians broke out, she tried to use her influence as the daughter of the Alexandrian governor to persuade the emperor. She goes to the emperor and accuses him of cruel acts. He can’t believe her boldness and calls for 50 of the best pagan philosophers to debate her over her Christian beliefs. She wins and her fine crafted arguments even converts some of the listeners. She’s imprisoned. 200 visitors come to see her including the emperor’s wife. All are converted to Christianity. She’s condemned to die by the breaking wheel but when she touches it falls to pieces. In frustration, she is finally beheaded.

 

Lucia of Syracuse (283 – 304)

The Diocletianic Persecution is also called the Great Persecution because it was the worst. Emperor Diocletian had the goal of wiping away Christianity forever. Lucia was one of thousands and thousands of people killed for their faith between 303 up until the toleration verdict by Constantine in 313. Lucia refused to burn incense in worship of the governor of Syracuse so she was sentenced to die. When the guards came to take her, they couldn’t move her. They tried using an ox but she would not budge. Then, they attempted to light her on fire where she sat, assembling straw around her. She wouldn’t burn. Finally, she died by sword.

 

 

Yes, there are centuries between these two entries. Many records of martyred women during this long period are difficult to locate with specificity. No doubt, whole swaths of Christians were killed for their faith during moments of conflict and persecution. As the Reformation unravels the Church, there is also martyrdom perpetrated from one Christian group to another.

 

Magdalene of Nagasaki (1611- October 16, 1634)

Magdalene would follow her parents as a martyr. Her parents died in 1620. During this period in Japan, Christianity was outlawed and the penalty was death. Since she was only 9 when she lost her parents, she received much counsel from two Augustinian friars who were also martyred. At the age of 23, she decided to surrender to authorities and publicly declare herself a follower of Jesus. After 13 days of torture, she was strangled to death in a hole upside down.

 

 

Narcissa Prentiss Whitman (March 14, 1808 – Nov 29, 1847)

Narcissa served as a missionary to the Oregon territory. She was the first white woman to make the journey. She wanted to bring the message of Jesus to the native Cayuse and Nez Perce tribes in what is now Walla Walla Washington. There was already a fort near their mission site and she and her husband Marcus, a doctor, were to care for and evangelize the tribal people. They spent 11 years in ministry. They ended up dying by the hand of Tiloukaikt and his men because of their  suspicion of the white people not dying of measles like his people, something that was more than unfortunate since immunity due to past exposure had everything to do with the reason.

 

Lucy Yi Zhenmei (December 9, 1815 – February 19, 1862)

Lucy was born to a Catholic family in China. She committed her life to Christ at a young age and worked to support her family as well as teaching the women at her parish. She was enthusiastic about evangelism despite the dangers she knew about if the authorities discovered her fervor. In 1861, she worked with Father Wen Nair to establish a mission in Jiashan Long. In that area, the provincial governor began to arrest Christians and ask them to renounce their faith. Father Nair and others in the mission, including Lucy, were arrested and sentenced to death without a trial. They all were beheaded the next day.

 

Edith Stein (October 12, 1891 – August 9, 1942)

As a German Jew who converted to Christianity during the tumultuous time of World War II, Edith soon knew the dangers of her ethnicity and her newfound faith. She became a nun and taught school in Speyer. By 1933, the Nazis passed laws that prohibited any non-Aryan person from civil service. Edith and her sister were moved to a Netherlands monastery for their safety, but in 1942, the Nazis arrested them and sentenced both women to Auschwitz. They died seven days later in the gas chambers.

 

 

Continued

 https://www.sharefaith.com/blog/2016/01/20-christian-woman-died-martyrs/