During the Great Persecution, clerics and laity were rounded up, imprisoned, tortured, and killed, the churches we had managed to erect were burned, along with our scriptures and ritual texts. The goal of the persecution was to finally force Christians to relinquish their faith and to submit to the Roman pagan religion, including the worship of the emperor himself as a divinity. And the persecution was empire wide, from Palestine, Syria, including Antioch to Greece and of course in Rome.
Many of the martyrs of the Great persecution are still honored with great devotion today: Sebastian, Agnes, Vitus, Lucy, Cyrsogonus, Cosmos and Damian, Januarius, Catherine of Alexandria.
Around 303, the Great Persecution reached its fiercest point. And it was then that the two saints honored today were killed. The first was a Roman exorcist by the name of Peter. While in prison, Peter performed an exorcism on the daughter of the prison-keeper. This demonstration of Christ's power over demons is said to have brought about the conversion of the daughter, the prison-keeper, his wife, and the entire household--all of whom were baptized by the second saint honored today, the Roman priest Marcellinus.
After this, both Marcellinus and Peter were called before a judge who was determined to enforce the emperor's decree against the Church. When Marcellinus testified courageously to his faith in Christ, he was beaten, stripped of his clothes, and deprived of food in a dark cell filled with broken glass shards. Peter was also returned to confinement.
But the conversions continued. And they were so successful in converting their fellow prisoners, that the Roman authorities didn’t want to risk a public execution, lest their deaths inspire even more conversions. So Marcellinus and Peter were taken to a forest in the middle of the night, forced to dig their own graves, and beheaded.
It is said that the executioner was so moved by their courage that he sought out baptism, and later shared with Pope Damasus the location of the martyrdom, so a church could be built there.
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of taking part in the celebration of the Sacrament of confirmation with about 40 young people, and so many of them chose as their confirmation patrons, the names of those early Christian martyrs. 2000 years later, young people, still look to the martyrs of the early Roman church as inspiration for living out the Christian faith.
Why? No doubt, their courage in the face of hostility is perennially inspiring. All of us face some sort of adversity, and the martyrs show us what courage looks like, they show us that courage is possible, withstanding adversity, persevering throughout an earthly trial is possible. Their love for Jesus Christ and the Church is also contagious.
May Marcellinus and Peter and all of the martyrs of the Roman Church help us to courageously confess Christ in our own day and place, remaining true to Him in word and deed, loving Him with all of our heart, mind, and strength, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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For openness to the Holy Spirits gifts, that we may be always bold and clear in spreading and defending the Gospel.
That the faith of the martyrs may give us courage in times of persecution.
For our young people beginning summer vacation, that they may be kept close to the truth and heart of Jesus.
That the love of Christ, the divine physician, may bring healing to the sick and comfort to all the suffering.
For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.
O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.
A reading from the book of the prophet Joel
Thus says the Lord God: Children of Zion, delight and rejoice in the LORD, your God! For he has faithfully given you the early rain, sending rain down on you, the early and the late rains as before. The threshing floors will be full of grain, the vats spilling over with new wine and oil. You will eat until you are fully satisfied, then you will praise the name of the LORD, your God, Who acts so wondrously on your behalf! My people will never again be put to shame. Then you will know that I am in the midst of Israel: I, the LORD, am your God, and there is no other; my people will never again be put to shame.
A continuation of the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke
One day as Jesus was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was with him for healing. And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; they were trying to bring him in and set [him] in his presence. But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles* into the middle in front of Jesus. When he saw their faith, he said, “As for you, your sins are forgiven.” Then the scribes and Pharisees began to ask themselves, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who but God alone can forgive sins?” Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them in reply, “What are you thinking in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? l But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.” He stood up immediately before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God. Then astonishment seized them all and they glorified God, and, struck with awe, they said, “We have seen incredible things today.”
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