Homily: June 30 - The First Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church - Triumph of Faithful Love

There were Christians in Rome within a dozen or so years after the death of Jesus; it is to them that Paul wrote his great letter to the Romans.

Who were the early Roman Christians? Most of them were converts from Judaism –Jewish slaves and merchants having strong ties to their mother city of Jerusalem.

In July of 64 A.D., more than half of Rome was destroyed by fire. Rumor blamed the tragedy on Nero, who wanted to enlarge his palace. He, in turn, shifted the blame by accusing the Christians.  He ordered their arrest and execution.  Christians were rounded up, many were tortured, some were even crucified or thrown to wild beasts or burned at the stake.

The 1^st century roman historian Tacitus wrote about the incident, “a great multitudes of Christians were put to death, and he suggests that they were made scapegoats for the fire.”

Four years later, Nero was threatened by an army revolt and was condemned to death by the Roman Senate  and committed suicide at the age of 31.

Nero's was the first persecution by a Roman emperor, but certainly not the last.  

Today we celebrate the Roman martyrs, men and women and children whose names we will only learn in heaven who died for Christ. 

In the Opening Prayer we prayed, “O God, who consecrated the abundant first fruits of the Roman Church by the blood of the Martyrs, grant, we pray, that with firm courage we may together draw strength from so great a struggle and ever rejoice at the triumph of faithful love..”  The blood of the martyrs has always been, and will always be, the seed of the Church.  In those places where Christians have the courage to witness to Jesus Christ, we see the Church begin to bloom and flourish. 

Hostility towards the Church in this country and in Europe continues to grow, rapidly.  Our Lord in the Gospel says that we shouldn't be suprised when we are persecuted.  The world hates us.  We should be suprised when we are NOT persecuted.  We should wonder if we are really doing our job if we aren't drawing the attention of worldly leaders.

For no human force can stop the power of the Holy Spirit unleashed upon the world.  As we heard in yesterdays Gospel, “the gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church”.

John Chrysostom said, “to honor a martyr is to imitate a martyr.” 

We celebrate the memory of the martyrs to arouse imitation, to be associated with their merits, and helped by their prayers, that we may share in the triumph of their faithful love for the glory of God and salvation of souls.