Martyrdom

The Greek word martyr means a witness. A martyr,then, in the meaning of a person who dies for the faith, is one who bears witness to the truth, and will not withdraw his testimony even though it cost him his life. Martyrdom is an act of virtue standing firm for truth and justice against all persecution.

The virtue of which martyrdom is an act is the virtue of fortitude. Some have said that martyrdom for the faith is an act of faith; some have called martyrdom an act of love for truth; some have considered martyrdom an act of the virtue of patience. But thereal essence of martyrdom is its enduring with faith,love, and patience, the terrors and pains of deadly persecution. Therefore, primarily, martyrdom is an act of fortitude.

Indeed, charity or love for the cause for which a martyr suffers, is so prominent a feature of martyrdom that it makes it an act of the greatest perfection. Fortitude is not, in itself, the most excellent of virtues, and yet this act of fortitude is a most excellent act. This is so because martyrdom issuffused with charity which, as scripture says (Col. 3:14), is”the bond of perfection.”

Martyrdom, in completeness and perfection, consists in suffering death for the sake of a cause. Christian martyrdom is dying for the sake of Christ. For, until death has ended all his acts, a man has not given full and complete demonstration of hisunshakable endurance and his unchanging will.

All the virtuous acts of a Christian are professions ofhis faith. Therefore, all the virtues from which the virtuous acts come may be assigned, each in turn, as the causes of martyrdom. Fora person can, under persecution, be called upon to suffer death asthe alternative for clinging steadfastly to any one of the Christian virtues. Yet, in every case, it is the faith which the virtue represents that is the chief target of attack. Hence, we may say that the faith, or the truth of the faith, is the cause of the act of martyrdom in the martyr.