Most modernist Catholics have a sentimental devotion to the early martyrs. Perhaps in the eyes of modernist Catholics, the early martyrs seem like weak but ignorant victims at the hands of bygone Roman procurators.  Perhaps this is simply how things happened in a more cruel time of world history?  Yet, we must remember that St. Felicity had her execution delayed with St. Perpetua precisely because she was pregnant.  Even the Roman Empire would not kill an unborn baby, as they admitted this was shedding innocent blood.  So, which age is more cruel?  Ours or theirs? Another thing we may overlook today is that the pagan procurators of the Roman Empire [...]

St. James Intercisus' martyrdom from Butler's lives of the saints, reprinted with permission of Sensus Fidelium.  St. James' feast day in the Roman Martyrology and the Eastern Rites is 27 Nov. St. James was a native of Beth-Lapeta, a royal city in Persia, and a nobleman of the first rank, and of the highest reputation in that kingdom for his birth and great qualifications, both natural and acquired, and for the extraordinary honors and marks of favor which the king conferred upon him, and which were his most dangerous temptation. For when his prince declared war against the Christian religion,† this courtier had not the courage to renounce his royal master and [...]

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!"—Lk 1:39-42 (ESV) Many Church Fathers teach that St. John the Baptist was justified (cleansed of original sin) as soon as he heard the voice of Mary when he was in the womb of his mother Elizabeth.  (This is one reason [...]

As most of you know, the only apostle not martyred was St. John the Beloved (also called St. John the Theologian.)   But as seen in the FSSP Ordo today (the 6th of May) there is an optional 4th class feast of St. John's near-martyrdom in boiling oil at the Latin Gate that is even celebrated in red (R) by the priest (if he can find it at the back of his '62 Missal!) Here's the Roman Calendar as produced by the FSSP: As the definitive and ancient Roman Martyrology reads on the 6th of May, "In Rome, the feast of St. John before the Latin Gate. Being bound and brought [...]