150 North American Martyrs You Should Know - Brian O'Neel

150 North American Martyrs You Should Know (eBook)

Brian O'Neel (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023 | 1. Auflage
208 Seiten
Servant (Verlag)
978-1-63582-362-2 (ISBN)

This fascinating look at the lives of martyrs associated with North America introduces courageous souls who died in their attempts to spread the faith on this continent as well as those who hailed from North America but died doing missionary work in other lands. Some were individuals, and some were part of a heroic group. All have the power to inspire. Among these 150 martyrs are: - Blessed André Grasset, who refused to cooperate with evil during the French Revolution - Brother Manuel Delgado, one of the last Catholic martyrs in Florida, who willingly gave his life for a friend - Father Luis Jayme, a Franciscan who sacrificed everything to maintain the California missions - Kateri Tekakwitha, a Native American who always put her faith first - Father Emil Kapuan, a U.S. Army chaplain who was a beacon of hope to his fellow POWs in Korea These martyrs changed the world through their commitment and courage. Let their example inspire you to live your own faith bravely and boldly.

This fascinating look at the lives of martyrs associated with North America introduces courageous souls who died in their attempts to spread the faith on this continent as well as those who hailed from North America but died doing missionary work in other lands. Some were individuals, and some were part of a heroic group. All have the power to inspire. Among these 150 martyrs are:- Blessed Andr Grasset, who refused to cooperate with evil during the French Revolution- Brother Manuel Delgado, one of the last Catholic martyrs in Florida, who willingly gave his life for a friend- Father Luis Jayme, a Franciscan who sacrificed everything to maintain the California missions- Kateri Tekakwitha, a Native American who always put her faith first- Father Emil Kapuan, a U.S. Army chaplain who was a beacon of hope to his fellow POWs in KoreaThese martyrs changed the world through their commitment and courage. Let their example inspire you to live your own faith bravely and boldly.

CHAPTER TWO

The Florida Martyrs

+ HELPING OTHERS FIND THE FOUNTAIN OF TRUTH +

If a catechetics professor wanted a case study on how to successfully catechize a population, he or she would do well to stay away from early efforts to evangelize Florida’s natives. The first Dominicans and Jesuits in that dominion had so little to show for their very costly labors that the superiors of these orders eventually abandoned the area altogether.

Amazingly, this lack of success did not translate as it did elsewhere into a significant loss of life on the part of missionaries. There was some loss of life, however.

FR. LUIS CÁNCER AND COMPANIONS

For instance, the first of Florida’s martyrs were Dominican missionaries. It happened that these evangelists were supposed to go to the east coast of Florida, but their caravel’s captain sailed them to the peninsula’s west coast. He had strict orders to not do this, since western Florida had been the site of much Spanish-Indian violence. Authorities wanted to avoid the west and see if Christianity could receive acceptance using only peaceful methods on the peninsula’s eastern seaboard. Why the captain disobeyed orders is anyone’s guess.

The party landed south of what is now Tampa and was met by some locals who seemed very friendly. A convert named Magdalena served as translator for the indigenous, and she told the missionaries of a great village alongside a northern harbor to which they could take them. The date was around June 23, 1549.

Magdalena, Fr. Diego de Tolosa, a sailor, and a certain Br. Fuentes joined the Indians on foot, while Fr. Luis Cáncer de Barbastro, New Spain’s greatest evangelist, sailed with two other Dominican priests for today’s Tampa Bay. When the latter party came ashore, the Indians were still friendly, but the Spaniards were puzzled by the fact that Magdalena had exchanged her modest clothing for a native micro moss skirt. She told Fr. Cáncer that the others had become the guests of a local chief, and she had assured the Indians that the friars came with goodwill, unlike past Europeans.

Fr. Cáncer and his party reboarded the caravel. That evening crewmen heard splashing in the water and a Spanish voice asking to be hauled aboard. It was a sailor named Juan Muños, who had accompanied Francisco de Soto’s ill-fated, murderous expedition and had somehow not only been left behind but made an Indian slave. He told them that Magdalena had lied to them. The Indians had killed the two Dominicans and enslaved their accompanying sailor. The Indians planned to make the other Dominicans martyrs also. They must flee.

His confrères encouraged Padre Cáncer to weigh anchor and sail for their original destination, Florida’s east coast. He refused, however, because Tampa Bay had now been “hallowed by the life blood” of their brethren.5

For two full days Fr. Cáncer wrote letters, completed his diary, and gave away his few belongings. The next morning, June 26, 1549, he and the two other Dominicans rowed to shore, where some Indians stood ready to meet them. His companions frantically begged their superior to turn around, but as they approached land, he jumped overboard and waded ashore. When his feet reached the water’s edge, he turned and gave a smile to his friends.

An Indian embraced Father, then put his arm around his shoulder and walked with him up a small dune. There more Indians surrounded Father and clubbed him to death.

FR. PEDRO MARTÍNEZ AND COMPANIONS

Another early Florida missionary was Fr. Pedro Martínez, Florida’s first Jesuit martyr.

Pedro was born on October 26, 1533, in Teruel, Spain. His uncle served as regent to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, so Pedro was afforded an excellent education at the University of Valencia, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees with honors in philosophy.

When he wasn’t hitting the books, this hulk of a man loved to swordfight, and he partook in many duels. He attended Mass only on Sundays and holy days of obligation, and while he had a lukewarm attitude toward priests in general, he despised the Society of Jesus (more commonly known as the Jesuits). To his dismay, some of his best friends, men with potential and promise, entered the order, which at the time was all of thirteen years old.

Pedro’s friends invited him to come and see for himself how great life was at the novitiate. He only went because he thought he could easily show them the error of their ways, and together, they would shake the convent dust from their feet. Instead, he met Fr. Jerónimo Nadal, one of the first Jesuits and a close collaborator of the Society’s founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola. Something came over Pedro, and rather than ridiculing the Society, he asked Fr. Nadal for immediate acceptance as a novice. Father told him to pray and think about it for eight days and then come back.

This incensed Pedro. He knew that he was good enough for the Society. How could Padre Nadal not see this as clearly? So on the day that he should have returned, he opted instead for a duel that he had previously scheduled. However, the other party never showed.

Pedro thought things over, then went back to his apartment, packed his effects, and walked to the Jesuits’ house. However, Fr. Nadal told him that the order possessed so little money that they had neither bed nor food for him. One biography tells us that Pedro “said he came not to eat nor to sleep but to work.”6

Fr. Jerónimo put him on four months’ probation and gave him menial tasks. At the end of that time, the superiors decided he would make a good addition, and so Pedro entered their novitiate on October 2, 1553.

He did so well that the Jesuits ordained him after only five years, well ahead of schedule. Following an assignment as chaplain to a military outpost off Algiers, which Muslims utterly destroyed, his superiors sent him to manage a succession of declining colleges. Fr. Pedro made each one prosper. He so impressed the Jesuit hierarchy that one superior said he was “of great virtue, industry, and bodily vigor, and gifted with the art of governing.”7

In his spare time Padre Martínez held catechism classes for little children in the streets. He would encourage local nobles to assist him in the task. Given the fact that he was big and strong enough to have once stopped a bullfight with his bare hands, most probably didn’t refuse.

One day, with remarkable humility, he asked his superiors to send him back to school. He realized that, in receiving holy orders early, he had missed out on the full extent of Jesuit theological education. That meant he might say or teach something that wasn’t quite accurate and might, therefore, lead someone into error and from there into perdition. This scared him because, as he wrote to the Jesuit hierarchy, “If I go to hell,” he stated, “the Society will not get me out.”8 And so he resumed his studies.

After completing this extra coursework, the Society sent their able priest right back to fixing faltering colleges. After dealing with two more schools, he recognized his heart’s true desire was to serve as a missionary, particularly in Florida. He wrote letter after letter to St. Francisco Borgia, the Jesuit superior, detailing his qualifications and his strong desire to evangelize New Spain. In 1566 his boss wrote Fr. Pedro that God had answered his prayers: He would become a chaplain in Florida, which in Spain’s estimation stretched west to the Mississippi and north to the St. Lawrence River.

A fleet set sail for the Americas in June 1566. Fr. Martínez would swing by rope from ship to ship, conducting catechism classes for the interested, dispensing the sacraments, and making up little rhymes for the sailors and other travelers.

When the flotilla reached Puerto Rico on August 11, all but Father’s ship continued on to Mexico. The problem that now confronted Fr. Martínez’s ship was that none of its pilots knew the Florida coast. The captain only knew that he would find the Spanish settlement at 32°. They were traveling blindly. Making matters worse, a hurricane blew them out to sea.

Things took a desperate turn when the ship’s supplies began to dwindle. The captain got the ship close to land again and asked for volunteers to go ashore and find the local Indians. None would go, however, unless Padre Martínez went with them.

On September 14, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Fr. Martínez jumped into a rowboat with two Spaniards and six Belgians (Spain then ruled Belgium) and pushed off from the mother ship. The craft landed on what is today Cumberland Island, Georgia. As the men searched the isle, another hurricane arose, casting their ship back out to sea. They would never see it again.

The men did not realize this. Not encountering any Indians, they waited by the shore, not daring to leave in search of sustenance for fear they would miss their galley. Fr. Martínez told stories and jokes and did what he could to keep spirits high.

Finally they deduced no one was coming to rescue them. They were on their own. They ventured inland...

Erscheint lt. Verlag	1.2.2023
Sprache	englisch
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie
ISBN-10	1-63582-362-5 / 1635823625
ISBN-13	978-1-63582-362-2 / 9781635823622

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