Catherine Pepinster - Martyrdom: Why Martyrs Still Matter

In this moving, vivid and well-researched survey of the history and meanings of Christian martyrdom, Catherine Pepinster shows how martyrdom is not just about unimaginably courageous individuals so often ordinary Christians uncomfortably like ourselves but also about the hopes and prayers of the whole of Christs body. As such, it is a sign of healing and reconciliation; we see how the sacrificial love of the martyr reaches beyond any single cause or issue and embraces the world with Christs indiscriminate compassion.

Rowan Williams , former Archbishop of Canterbury

This engaging and inspiring book offers a panoramic study of Christian martyrdom in its history, motives, contexts and cultural representations, from the saints and martyrs of the early Church to the ecological martyrs of the twenty-first century. I highly recommend it.

Professor Tina Beattie , author of Eves Pilgrimage

Harrowing, challenging, inspiring: this book is a formidable tour de force on the phenomenon of martyrdom.

The historical overview encompasses many examples of martyrdom through the centuries from ancient Rome to contemporary massacres by Islamist jihadists. Its gripping account of the lives and deaths of individual martyrs documents the price of faith and the ideologies justifying the killings.

This compellingly readable book is a challenge to readers to respond individually, prayerfully and collectively to contemporary persecution. Now, more than any time in history, Christians in many countries are valiantly giving their lives on their front lines of faith and freedom. They need our support.

As St Paul wrote in his first letter to the church at Corinth, When one part of the body of Christ suffers, we all suffer, and as St Teresa of Avila reminds us, God has no hands but yours, no feet but yours; yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on the world. We are required not to look the other way.

The Rt Revd Benjamin Kwashi, in Jos in Nigerias Central Belt, where thousands of Christians have been slaughtered for their faith in recent years by Islamist terrorists, including Fulani herdsmen, challenged us: If we have a faith worth living for, it is a faith worth dying for. Dont you betray the faith we are living and dying for.

I pray that this superb book, with so much well-documented evidence and challenging personal histories, will inspire those of us who live in comfortable Christianity to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters and, remembering that prayer without deeds is dead, we will support them in whatever ways God calls each of us to do.

Baroness Caroline Cox , crossbench peer and CEO of the Humanitarian Aid and Relief Trust

What cause might be worth dying for? And, if you make the ultimate sacrifice, how many would conclude that you were right? Impeccably scholarly but also grippingly accessible, Catherine Pepinsters history of martyrdom ranges from St Peter to suicide bombers. In one of many extraordinary scenes, a recent Archbishop of Canterbury overlaps with Englands oldest martyr and one of Latin Americas most recent. Meghan Markle also has a surprise walk-on. This is a compelling book about the theology and politics of those who deliberately or accidentally give their lives for their beliefs.

Mark Lawson , broadcaster, arts journalist and author

A glorious book subtle, inspiring, beautifully written and expertly researched which will introduce martyrs and their stories to a new generation of readers. But Martyrdom is not simply a recitation of the martyrs tales, fascinating though they are. It is a profound look at the entire concept of martyrdom, now reclaimed for our time.

James Martin SJ , author of My Life with the Saints

For

Sisters Bernadette Hunston and Letizia Hannon, SCSJA,
who first introduced me to Perpetua and Margaret Clitherow

The research for this book was begun at Durham University. I am grateful to the university and the staff of the Centre for Catholic Studies for the award of a Durham University Residential Research Library (RRL) Fellowship in 2018, without which I would have been unable to spend so much time absorbed in the documents, manuscripts and books necessary for my studies. I am particularly indebted to Professor Paul Murray, Dean of the Centre for Catholic Studies, Dr James Kelly, Sweeting Research Fellow in the History of Catholicism, who was responsible for the RRL fellowships, and Dr Jonathan Bush, archivist at Ushaw College, who enabled me to carry out my research.

Detailed conversations with others were especially helpful in writing this book, including Monsignor Philip Whitmore, Rector of the English College, Rome; Professor Tina Beattie; Bishop David Conner, Dean of Windsor; Professor Daniel McCarthy; Archbishop Bashar Warda, Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Erbil, Iraq; Julian Filochowski; Dr John Hall, former Dean of Westminster; Dr Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans. I am also grateful to John Walsh for directing me to the work of Oscar Wilde, and Dom James Leachman OSB for his comments on the liturgy.

I am indebted to Clare Reihill of the T. S. Eliot Foundation, Faber & Faber and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for permission to quote the works of T. S. Eliot.

Conversations going back over many years and stored in a mental filing cabinet have led me this way and that in search of martyrs in buildings, books, plays and paintings. Among those who helped me to map my route are: Lord (David) Alton, Sally Axworthy, Francis Campbell, Father Matthew Cashmore, Paul Chandler, Father Anthony Currer, Elena Curti, Eamon Duffy, Sister Janet Fearns, Suzi Feay, Dr Claire Foster-Gilbert, Pauline Gilbertson, Dr Alana Harris, Dr James Hawkey, Tom Heneghan, Stephen Hough, Jim Hughes, Professor Werner G. Jeanrond, Veronica Lachkovic, Christopher Lamb, Monsignor Mark Langham, Jonathan Luxmoore, Father Robert McCulloch, Geoffrey Munn, Simon OHagan, Roxanna Panufnik, Father Keith Pecklers SJ, Susan Penswick, Dr Marcus Pound, James Roberts, Monsignor Roderick Strange, Marcus Tanner, Dr James Thomson, Sophie Treszka, Father Marcus Walker, Brendan Walsh, Michael Walsh, Raymond Whitaker and John Wilkins. John Pontifex of Aid to the Church in Need, and Anne and Patrick Martin were particularly helpful regarding the plight of persecuted Christians today. I have also been privileged to learn about and visit China with the help of the Bible Society, and owe thanks to two chief executives, James Catford and Paul Williams, and to the staff and trustees. My cousin, Barbara Jones, introduced me to Poland, and my other cousin, Caroline Ashley, accompanied me to Gdansk and to the unforgettable shrine to Father Jerzy Popieuszko.

Special mention must be made of my editor at SPCK, Dr Rima Devereaux, who was always thoughtful and supportive.

This book was completed during weeks of lockdown caused by COVID-19. I owe a debt of gratitude to my husband Kevin, as always, and to my oncologist, Professor Justin Stebbing, for his care and advice at a time of difficulty for patients and all those working in the National Health Service.

Thomas More fell out with Henry VIII and was executed in 1535. Today he is admired as a man of conscience

Thomas Cranmer, perceived as a personal and theological enemy by the Catholic queen, Mary Tudor, but as a hero by Protestant reformers. Died at the stake in 1556

The canonization of the 40 Catholic martyrs of England and Wales by Pope Paul VI in 1970 was a time of great celebration for Catholics in the UK