Today is the feast
of the first Holy Roman Martyrs. A little history lesson will help us all better understand this feast, and apply it to today.
Nero's Persecution 64-67 A.D.
Nero's persecution was occasioned by an early morning
fire on July 19, 64. It broke out in a small shop by the Circus Maximus and
spread rapidly to other regions of Rome, and raged for nine days, destroying
much of the city. This was the worst in a series of fires that beset the
crowded city -- more than a million people, packed tightly into apartment
blocks of wooden construction, among narrow streets and alleyways. Only two
areas escaped the fire; one of them, the Transtiberum region, Trastevere,
across the Tiber River, had a large Jewish population.
Nero was at his seaside villa in Anzio when the blaze
began, but he delayed returning to the city. They say that when he heard the
news, he began composing an ode comparing Rome to the burning city of Troy. His
indifference to the suffering caused by the tragedy stirred resentment among
the people. Rumors began that he himself set the fire in order to rebuild the
city with his own plans. To stop the rumors, Nero decided to blame someone else,
and he chose a group of renegade Jews called Christians, who had caused trouble
before, and already had a bad reputation in the city. Earlier, about the year
49, the Emperor Claudius had banished some of them from Rome for starting
upheavals in the Jewish synagogues of the city with their disputes about
Christ.
Nero's Raging
Sword
"Nero was the first to rage with Caesar's sword
against this sect," wrote the early-Christian writer, Tertullian. "To
suppress the rumor," the Roman historian Tacitus says, "Nero created
scapegoats. He punished with every kind of cruelty the notoriously depraved
group known as Christians." Just how long the process went on and how many
were killed, the Roman historian does not say.
Christian Martyrs of Rome:
The Early Christians of Rome
Who were the early Roman Christians? Most of them came
from the large community of about 50,000 Jewish merchants and slaves who had
strong ties to their mother city of Jerusalem. Even before Peter and Paul
arrived in Rome, Jewish-Christians, clearly identified as followers of Jesus
Christ, were found among the city's Jews. Indeed, these were the founders of
the church at Rome; the apostles were among its foundation stones. By the time
of the fire Rome's Jewish-Christians had become alienated from the larger
Jewish community and were beginning to separate from it. Where they lived and
met was well known. The authorities, following the usual procedure, seized some
of them, brought them to the Prefecture and forced them by torture to give the names
of others. "First, Nero had some of the members of this sect
arrested. Then, on their information, large numbers were condemned -- not so
much for arson, but for their hatred of the human race. Their deaths were made
a farce." (Tacitus)
Mass Executions
Instead of executing the Christians immediately at the
usual place, Nero executed them publicly in his gardens nearby and in the
circus. "Mockery of every sort accompanied their deaths. Covered with the
skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to
crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly
illumination, when daylight had expired." (Tacitus) Most thought Nero went too far. "There arose in the
people a sense of pity. For it was felt that they (the Christians) were being
sacrificed for one man's brutality rather than to the public interest."
(Tacitus)
Threatened by an army revolt and condemned to death by the
senate, Nero committed suicide in A.D. 68 at the age of thirty-one.
Wherever the Good News of Jesus was preached, it met the
same opposition as Jesus did, and many of those who began to follow him shared
his suffering and death. But no human force could stop the power of the Spirit
unleashed upon the world. The blood of martyrs has always been, and will always
be, the seed of Christians. (Excerpted from Saint of the Day, Leonard
Foley, O.F.M.)
Symbols: Red is the color for martyrs; red rose symbol of
martyrdom; crown, symbolizing victory over death and sin; white horse with a
white banner and cross and sword; fire or flames; palm, symbol of victory.
Prayer: Prayer
after Communion in today’s Mass:
O God, who in your holy Martyrs have wonderfully made
known the mystery of the Cross, graciously grant that, drawing strength from
this sacrifice, we may cling faithfully to Christ and labor in the Church for
the salvation of all. Through Christ our Lord.
My thoughts: False
accusations? Scapgoating? Persecution of the faithful? Some things never
change. Today is the day we pray for all martyrs, past and present, who are
willing to forego earthly pleasures and acceptance in exchange for the kingdom
and glory of God which awaits them in the next life. May we be as brave, bold
and faithful.
