90,000 Christians Died for the Faith in 2016

27,000 Christians died in terrorist attacks, the destruction of Christian villages, or by government persecution.  Christians are now the most persecuted group in the world. May the souls of all of the Faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Pakistan had the most fatal attacks against Christians, “even more than Northern Nigeria,” the report noted. Mexico also saw a violent spike in the killings of 23 Christian leaders in 2016, including the abductions of several priests. The country has seen 15 priests killed since the election of current President Enrique Pena Nieto in 2012.

For the 16th consecutive year, Communist dictatorship North Korea was determined to be the “worst place on earth for Christians,” Open Doors UK said. There are 300,000 Christians amidst the population of 25.4 million.

Christians there suffer from a totalitarian police state that closely monitors their actions and requires them to worship the ruling family, the report said. They must pray privately. Those discovered by the state to be Christian may end up in harsh labor camps where an estimated 50-75,000 Christians currently suffer.

“Every day was as if God was pouring out all ten plagues on us simultaneously,” revealed one Christian women who was held captive in the camps but escaped. “That’s how hard it was. But God also comforted me and brought a secret fellowship into existence. Every Sunday we would gather in the toilets and pray.”

All top 10 countries with the worst persecution of Christians are in Asia and Africa. Somalia ranks second on the list, followed by Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, and Eritrea.

Somalia, ranked the second-worst country for persecution of Christians, “has persecution levels nearly as high as in North Korea,” Open Doors UK noted.

“Islam is Somalia's state religion and all Christians come from a Muslim background,” they explained, meaning that for converts to Christianity, if their conversion is discovered, it can mean persecution and even a “rushed beheading.”

“If a Christian is discovered in Somalia, they are unlikely to live to see another day,” Lisa Pearce stated. There are only hundreds of Christians in the country with a population of over 11 million.

Source: Catholic News Agency

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Age of Martyrs Continues: Anno Domini 2011

Taken from Catholic World News
December 30, 2011

Twenty-six pastoral workers--including 18 priests, 4 sisters, and 4 laity--were killed in 2011, according to the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Seven were killed in Colombia, five in Mexico, three in India, two in Burundi, and one each in Brazil, Paraguay, Nicaragua, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Tunisia, Kenya, the Philippines, and Spain.

The Fides news agency commented:

"The true imitation of Christ is love," said the Holy Father on December 26. And this was certainly the rule of life for Sister Angelina, who was killed in South Sudan by militants of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) while she was bringing medical aid to refugees; and also for Maria Elizabeth Macías Castro, of the Scalabrinian Lay Movement of Nuevo Laredo (Mexico), who worked for a newspaper and was committed to assisting migrants, she was kidnapped and murdered by drug dealers; even for Father Fausto Tentorio, Italian missionary of PIME, priest in Mindanao (Southern Philippines), who devoted his life to the service of literacy and development of indigenous people; or even for the layman Rabindra Parichha, killed in Orissa in eastern India: former itinerant catechist was very involved in the legal field and a promoter of human rights.

Fides’ list does not only include missionaries ad gentes in the strict sense, but all pastoral care workers who died violent deaths. We do not propose to use the term "martyrs," since it is up to the Church to judge their possible merits and also because of the scarcity of available information in most of cases, with regard to their life and even the circumstances of their death.

Additional sources for this story: THE NAMES OF PASTORAL WORKERS, BISHOPS, PRIESTS, MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS AND LAY CATHOLICS, KILLED IN THE YEAR 2011 (Fides) http://www.fides.org/eng/documents/missionaries_killed_2011.doc

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Age of Martyrs Continues: 2007

Please remember in your prayers these missionaries who died for the sake of the Gospel of Christ in 2007 AD. The following is from CWNEWS:

Rome, Jan. 2, 2008 (CWNews.com) - In a year-end account of missionary deaths, the Fides news service has named 21 Church workers who died for the faith in 2007.

The Fides report lists the priests, religious, and seminarians who were killed during the year. The report notes that the number is slightly down from the 24 who died in 2006, and the 25 in 2005.

Because the circumstances of their deaths were different-- and in several cases unclear-- Fides does not refer to the 21 people who died as "martyrs." But the report notes that each of them "without a doubt made a radical decision: to be witnesses of God's Love often in situations of violence, degradation, material and spiritual poverty, total disrespect for the dignity and rights of the human person."

Asia saw the deaths of 8 missionaries in 2007: 4 priests, 3 deacons, and a seminarian. In Latin America there were 7 deaths: 6 priests and one religious brother. More surprisingly, 2 priests were killed in their homes in Spain.

Acknowledging that there are many others who die for the faith and remain unrecognized, Fides has asked readers to supply any information that could supplement the annual count.

The Christian missionaries who were slain in 2007 are:

• Father Mario Bianco, an Italian Consolata missionary, who died in Colombia on February 15.
• Father Martin Addai, a Ghanaian White Father, who died in Kenya on March 10.
• Father José Luis Camacho Cepeda, a Peruvian, who died in Colombia on March 11.
• Father Fransiskus Madhu, an Indonesian Divine Word missionary, who died in the Philippines on April 1.
• Sister Anne Thole, a Franciscan from Swaziland, who died in South Africa on April 1.
• Father Richard Bimeriki, a Congolese priest, who died in Rwanda on March 12.
• Father Wolfgang Hermann, a German Fidei Donum missionary, who died in Brazil on April 10.
• Father Salvador Herandez Seller, a Spanish priest, who died in Spain on April 11.
• Father Humberto Macias Rosales, a Mexican priest, who died there on May 1.
• Father Raghiid Ganni, a Chaldean Catholic priest, who died in Iraq on June 3 along with 3 deacons (below).
• Rev. Basman Yousef Daoud, a Chaldean deacon, who also died in Mosul on June 3.
• Rev. Ghasan Bidawid, a Chaldean deacon, who also died in Mosul on June 3.
• Rev. Wahid Hanna, a Chaldean deacon, who also died in Mosul on June 3.
• Justin Daniel Bataclan, a Filipino seminarian, who died on June 7 in Quezon City.
• Brother Enrique Alberto Olano Merino, a Little Brother of Mary from El Salvador, who died in Guatemala on June 9.
• Father Tomas Perez, a Spanish priest, who died in Spain on July 16.
• Father Fernando Sanchez Duran, a Mexican priest, who died there on July 22.
• Father Ricardo Junious, an American Oblate of Mary Immaculate missionary, who died in Mexico on July 29.
• Father Florante Rigonan, a Filipino priest, who died there on August 27.
• Father Nicholaspillai Packiyaranjith, a Sri Lankan priest, who died there on Septemerb 26.
• Father Allard Msheyene, a South African Oblate of Mary Immaculate missionary, who died in South Africa on October 6.
  

Did anyone reading this post know of any of these missionaries and/or have photographs of them?

Prayer for Missionaries

O Almighty God, Lord of the harvest of souls, we ask You to guide and bless all who have gone forth to preach the gospel. Endow them with the gifts of generosity and concern. Send your Holy Spirit on them, that He may strengthen them in weakness, comfort them in trials and direct their efforts. May He open the hearts of their hearers to receive Your message. Let Your revelation enlighten all minds for the salvation of souls, and let Your love heal every heart and body for the happiness of each person. May all people consciously acknowledge You and serve You by living the teachings of Your Son. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Trinitarian Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

Feastday for the Newly Beatified Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War

At the Rite of Beatification held on October 28, 2007, in St. Peter’s Square, Cardinal José Savaira Martins – Prefect of the Congregation of the Causes of the Saints – announced that 6 November has been established as the feastday for the Trinitarian Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) as well as for the other 488 martyrs beatified on October 28. This is the largest mass beatification in the history of the Church!

Prayer to Martyrs:

O God, Who dost gladden us by the annual feast of Thy holy Martyrs, mercifully grant that we who rejoice in their merits may be inspired by their example. Through our Lord

Prayer Source: 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

Roman Catholicism & Persecution in Hawaii

Before today, I never knew that Roman Catholics were persecuted extensively in Hawaii. Read more on the topic!

Image: Bishop Stephen Alencastre who was the fifth Vicar Apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands.

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The Age of Martyrs Continues: 2005

Just this week I read the somber reality that the day of martyrs is not over. In 2005 Fides, the news agency for the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, reported 26 missionaries died for serving the Gospel message of Our Lord: "Go forth and make disciples of all nations."

These people are living example of the need for an adamant faith in our times. It is only by God's grace that these people could have laid down their lives. Now these men and women surely have been rewarded with eternal life. Let us keep their souls in our prayers nonetheless, but let us also pray that the continued persecution of Catholics and Christians immediately ceases. Everyday Catholics are forced to celebrate their faith in fear in certain countries. They need our prayers as brothers and sisters in Christ.

According to Fides, in 2005, one bishop, 20 priests, two religious brothers, two nuns, and one lay missionary were murdered for their work for the poor and spreading the Gospel. And this is the 21st Century! We must realize the love that is required to be a Catholic. As Catholics we all are called to possess that same love for Christ that we would rather lay down our lives for Him than offend him. Only through love of the Eucharist and continual prayer can we hope to achieve such a beautiful faith.

These figures from Fides, however, were finalized before the December 28, 2005, murder of Ursuline Sister Clementine Brantschen from South Africa. The 74-year-old Swiss nun was shot during a robbery. The bishop that died in 2005 was Bishop Luigi Locati, an Italian who was working in Kenya. Pope Benedict XVI wrote, in his book On the Way to Jesus Christ: "Missionary work requires, first and foremost, being prepared for martyrdom, a willingness to lose oneself for the sake of the truth and for the sake of others."

As we clearly see the age of martyrs is not over, so let us keep all missionaries in our prayers. The world is in need of prayers desperately.

Prayer for Missionaries

O Almighty God, Lord of the harvest of souls, we ask You to guide and bless all who have gone forth to preach the gospel. Endow them with the gifts of generosity and concern. Send your Holy Spirit on them, that He may strengthen them in weakness, comfort them in trials and direct their efforts. May He open the hearts of their hearers to receive Your message. Let Your revelation enlighten all minds for the salvation of souls, and let Your love heal every heart and body for the happiness of each person. May all people consciously acknowledge You and serve You by living the teachings of Your Son. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Image Source: Believed to be from the AP

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