The Parishes of Bantry Bay

This weekend we are celebrating St Patrick, our patron saint, who brought Christianity to Ireland. The lives of the saints are an inspiration to us because they demonstrate strength, courage and determination and, like a relay race, they pass the baton on to each generation. Patrick, in his time, was passing on the faith he received. In humility Patrick did not believe that he was unique, or special in bringing  faith to people. He often referred to himself as an “unlearned sinner,” whose achievements were not from his own hands but rather gifts from God. The saints and martys bring us closer to God because through their lives and the things they have accomplished we get a foretaste, a foreshadowing of God’s Heavenly kingdom here and now. 

Last week I mentioned the Church in Chains movement which catalogues Christians who have been imprisoned for their faith. There has never been a time in world history when someone, somewhere, has not died rather than compromise their faith or beliefs when confronted by the powers of oppression, tyranny and unbelief! There have been more real Christian martyrs in the past hundred years than in all the other centuries combined, from the gulags to Nazi death camps, from Maoist China, to Pakistan, to the Solomon Islands. Above the West Door of Westminster Abbey stand ten statues to modern martyrs. Installed in 1988, the statues are of Christians who gave up their lives for their beliefs. The martyrs are drawn from every continent and many Christian denominations and represent all who have been oppressed or persecuted for their faith. 

The great civil rights leader Martin Luther King and 

St. Óscar Romero, archbishop of El Salvador were assassinated for their beliefs. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was killed in 1945 by the Nazi regime

Pastor Wang Zhiming was murdered during the Chinese cultural revolution.  

Maximilian Kolbe died in Auschwitz. 

Manche Masemola, a young teenager in South Africa,  was murdered by her parents for her faith,    

Janani Luwum archbishop of Uganda, defied the regime Idi Amin. 

Esther John, murdered for evangelising in the newly formed  Muslem county Paskistan.  

Lucian Tapiedi, died in New Guinea during WW2

Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia, granddaughter of Queen Victoria was murdered in 1918.