St Egidio church honours memory of modern day martyrs
Pope Francis will preside at a prayer service in memory of the modern day martyrs, organised by the St Egidio community at the Basilica of St Bartholomew on the Tiber island. |
(Vatican Radio) The memory of the modern martyrs,
killed for their Christian faith over the past century, will be honoured on
Saturday evening as Pope Francis presides at a prayer service in Rome’s Basilica
of St Bartholomew on the Tiber island.
The initiative, organised by the lay Catholic St
Egidio community, also aims to highlight the difficulties and
discrimination that many Christians still face in countries around the world
today as they try and 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.
Claudio Betti is a professor of modern history
and assistant to the St Egidio community president. He talked to Philippa Hitchen
about the church of St Bartholomew and about the importance of sharing the
memory of these modern day martyrs
Betti notes that the basilica is dedicated to two ancient
martyrs, St Bartholomew the apostle and the 10th century Bohemian missionary St
Adalbert.
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.
St Egidio’s founder Andrea Riccardi and other members had
already been collecting together for publication 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. During Saturday’s celebration Fr Jacques’ sister
will speak about his witness of faith.
Prayer service features testimonies
Claudio Betti notes there will be three different
testimonies during the simple liturgy on Saturday: alongside Fr Jacques’ sister
will be the son of Rev. Schneider, 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.
Following the readings and homily of Pope Francis, there
will be prayers 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 Fr Paolo del Oglio, who were kidnapped in Syria by ISIS and
have not been heard of since.
Blood of martyrs unites Christians
Betti also underlines the ecumenical dimension of these
martyrs, noting that the specially commissioned icon on the main altar makes
clear that martyrdom is what unites Christians. In the blood of the martyrs, he
says, unity is already achieved, such as the Catholic and Orthodox bishops who
worked and were killed together in the Soviet gulags.
Betti says 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, he says, 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.
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