Wonderful to behold these great monuments to the early faith.
Quite a different picture here of a 4th century church I visited in Ravenna which is still operational
http://www.zonzofox.com/ravenna/what-to-see/explore/attractions/chiesa-di-san-giovanni-evangelista
While my absolute favourite is Santa Prassede in Rome, a stone's throw from Santa Maria Maggiore.
http://www.arttrav.com/rome/santa-prassede-mosaics/
There was an oratory built in 150AD over the home of St Prassede, sister of St Timothy, where their father Pudens gave hospitality to St Peter. A church was built there in 5th century and the present one dates from the early 9th century. Santa Prassede begged God for matyrdom, as she felt she could no longer bear the suffering involved in tending the bodies of the martyrs. He granted her heart's desire.
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The Church has always held commemoration of the Holy Martyrs in the highest regard, and for very good reason. They believed and practiced the Faith with every fiber of their being, even to the point of sacrificing their own life for it. All the Apostles are remembered for being martyrs (even St. John who died of natural causes but remember he has two Feast Days, one on May 6th, St. John Outside the Latin Gate, which recalls when he was boiled alive in a great cauldron of oil, suffering the pains thereof -- but he then emerged invigorated, healthy and appearing YOUNGER than he had been!) which is their testimony to their unfailing fidelity. Therefore, the Martyrs must have had something to die for!
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How many of today's Catholics would be willing to die for the Faith?
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That's something worth thinking about.
Am I ready? It's a question we ought to be asking.
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There is a Psalm that says, "My heart is ready." We can expect that was the case with St. Jean d'Arc. Her heart would not burn, even when smothered with burning sulphur, which they say drove the executioner mad and he carried it to the river and threw it in.
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We live in an age when recent martyrs are all but ignored. How many Catholics have been slaughtered by Moslems because of their faith in recent years? Do we even know their names?
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I have a tape (1957, rec. in Australia) of Fr. Aidan McGrath who was a Legion of Mary missionary in Red China. He testifies he knew many priests who died in prison there, and tells how the very insidious Communists tortured them but would not let them die. They knew that the blood of Christians is the seed of Christianity. He had survived their torments by constant prayer, which he believed was inexplicable, but it was the reason they let him go. The Communists let such priests go free with the confidence that the world would never believe what they had to say about the Red Chinese monsters, and that the liberal press would drown out their story. Apparently they were largely correct.
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Today's so-called catholic church prefers the warm-and-fuzzy feelgood approach, looking for all the reasons to DISbelieve the tradition of what happened to our Martyrs, and the result is ignoring what happens right in front of our eyes.
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Topic: 1,782 Years Old: Inside the Oldest Church in the World (Read 887 times)