The Seeds of the Martyrs

Wednesday morning saw the pilgrimage group go to the general audience with Pope Leo in St Peter's Square...  Meanwhile I had met him one on one earlier and then had a meeting with Cardinal Tagle...

I met up with the group at the Colesseum... 

As I was preparing this post it struck me how how the Colesseum was a blood thristy place, where animals and people alike were killed for entertainment...

Now so many movies, TV programmes and video games also kill for entertainment...

Maybe we haven't changed as much as we would like to think we have...

Mass was celebrated in the church of St Clemente (St Clement) the fourth Pope after Peter, Linus and Cletus... He served as Bishop of Rome in the late first century, around 88–99 AD. He is revered as one of the Apostolic Fathers, a group of early Christian writers who had direct contact with the apostles or their immediate disciples. His life and writings reflect a deep commitment to Church unity, humility, and fidelity to Christ.

Clement is best known for his Letter to the Corinthians, written to address divisions within the Christian community in Corinth. In this letter, he emphasizes the importance of harmony, obedience to Church authority, and the example of Christ’s humility. His words reveal a spirituality grounded in service, peace, and the belief that the Church is a divinely ordered body.

Tradition holds that Clement was martyred under Emperor Trajan, exiled to the Crimea and eventually drowned with an anchor tied around his neck. This anchor became one of his symbols, representing steadfast faith in the face of persecution.

The Basilica of San Clemente in Rome is dedicated to him and stands as a powerful testament to his legacy. Beneath the current 12th-century church lie layers of earlier Christian worship spaces, including a 4th-century basilica and a 1st-century Roman house believed to be the site of early Christian gatherings.

The current basilica of San Clemente

Frescoes from the 4th century basilica well below the current basilica

the 4th century basilica

A 1st century pagan temple below the 4th century basilica

Inside what is thought to be St Clement's house where Eucharist would have been celebrated

We celebrated the Mass for the Roman Martyrs

Readings for Mass

Romans 8:31-39

With God on our side who can be against us? Since God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up to benefit us all, we may be certain, after such a gift, that he will not refuse anything he can give. Could anyone accuse those that God has chosen? When God acquits, could anyone condemn? Could Christ Jesus? No! He not only died for us – he rose from the dead, and there at God’s right hand he stands and pleads for us.

Nothing therefore can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food or clothes, or being threatened or even attacked. As scripture promised: For your sake we are being massacred daily, and reckoned as sheep for the slaughter. These are the trials through which we triumph, by the power of him who loved us.

For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth, nor any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If the Lord had not been on our side
when they rose up against us,
then would they have swallowed us alive
when their anger was kindled.

Then would the waters have engulfed us,
the torrent gone over us;
over our head would have swept
the raging waters.

Indeed the snare has been broken
and we have escaped.
Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

Matthew 24:4-13

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Take care that no one deceives you; because many will come using my name and saying, “I am the Christ,” and they will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumours of wars; do not be alarmed, for this is something that must happen, but the end will not be yet. For nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes here and there. All this is only the beginning of the birth-pangs.

‘Then they will hand you over to be tortured and put to death; and you will be hated by all the nations on account of my name. And then many will fall away; people will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise; they will deceive many, and with the increase of lawlessness, love in most people will grow cold; but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.’

Reflection

The Church of San Clemente offers us a metaphor for the journey we have been on... we have descended from the current church, to the basilica of the 4th century and then down to the 1st century.

And here we are with the saints of the 1st century... In the altar here are relics of St Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch. From the lectern here we heard the words of Paul to the Romans and Jesus own words on the persecution his followers would face... They will hand you over to be tortured and put to death; and you will be hated by all the nations on account of my name. And then many will fall away; people will betray one another and hate one another. Jesus just didn't warn his future followers about this... he experienced it himself and so he stands beside persecuted Christians down through the ages, those persecuted and marytred here, just a few metres away at the Colosseum. 

Then we come up to the next level and the saints of France we met who experienced and came soon  after the French revolution... they too knew what is was to be tortured and put to death. They knew what it was to be hated. They saw many fall away and people betraying one another. 

And then we come up to our level - and our time. Just up the hill from here, is the Irish College where I lived when studying in Rome - behind the altar there is a mosaic on the wall of the saints of the Irish College including one Ragheed Ganni who in 2007 in Iraq was martyred along with three deacons. The tragedy of our time is Christians are still persecuted and martyred for their faith.  

Throughout the centuries, Paul's letter to the persecuted Church of Rome has given persecuted Christians hope, for nothing therefore can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food or clothes, or being threatened or even attacked. As scripture promised: For your sake we are being massacred daily, and reckoned as sheep for the slaughter. These are the trials through which we triumph, by the power of him who loved us.

For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth, nor any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.

May the seeds of faith sown by the martyrs give us hope in our trials and struggles so that at the end of our pilgrim journey of faith, hope and love we may shine with them in glory. 

St Clement’s words for the way of hope

Grant unto us, Lord, that we may set our hope on Your name

...and open the eyes of our hearts, that we may know You.

We beseech You, Lord and Master, to be our help and comfort. Save those among us who are in tribulation; have mercy on the lowly; lift up the fallen; show Yourself to those in need; heal the sick; turn again the wanderers of Your people; feed the hungry; ransom our prisoners; raise up the weak; comfort the faint-hearted.

Love admits no schisms: love gives rise to no seditions: love does all things in harmony.

From a letter to the Corinthians by Saint Clement I, Pope

Beloved, how blessed and wonderful are God’s gifts! There is life everlasting, joy in righteousness, truth in freedom, faith, confidence, and self-control in holiness. And these are the gifts that we can comprehend; what of all the others that are being prepared for those who look to him. Only the Creator, the Father of the ages, the All-Holy, knows their grandeur and their loveliness. And so we should strive to be found among those who wait for him so that we may share in these promised gifts. And so we should strive to be found among those who wait for him so that we may share in these promised gifts. And how is this to be, beloved brothers and sisters? It will come about if by our faith our minds remain fixed on God; if we aim at what is pleasing and acceptable to him, if we accomplish what is in harmony with his faultless will and follow the path of truth, rejecting all injustice, viciousness, covetousness, quarrels, malice and deceit.

This is the path, beloved, by which we find our salvation, Jesus Christ, the high priest of our sacrifices, the defender and ally in our helplessness. It is through him that we gaze on the highest heaven, through him we can see the reflection of God’s pure and sublime countenance, through him the eyes of our hearts have been opened, through him our foolish and darkened understanding opens toward the light, and through him the Lord has willed that we should taste everlasting knowledge. He reflects God’s majesty and is as much superior to angels as the name he has obtained is more excellent than theirs.

Let us then serve in his army, following his blameless commands with all our might. The great cannot exist without the small nor the small without the great; they blend together to their mutual advantage. Take the body, for example. The head is nothing without the feet, just as the feet are nothing without the head. The smallest parts of our body are necessary and valuable to the whole. All work together and are mutually subject for the preservation of the whole body.

Our entire body, then will be preserved in Christ Jesus, and each of us should be subject to our neighbour in accordance with the grace given to each. The stronger should care for the weak, and the weak should respect the stronger. The wealthy should give to the poor, and the poor man should thank God that he has sent him someone to supply his needs. The wise should manifest their wisdom not in words but in good deeds, and the humble should not talk about their own humility, but allow others to bear witness to it. Since, therefore, we have all this from him, we ought to thank him for it all. Glory to him for ever. Amen

From St Ignatius of Antioch's letter to the Romans

I am writing to all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for God if only you do not stand in my way. I plead with you: show me no untimely kindness. Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God. I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ’s pure bread. Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a sacrificial victim for God.

No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire.

The time for my birth is close at hand. Forgive me, my brothers and sisters. Do not stand in the way of my birth to real life; do not wish me stillborn. My desire is to belong to God. Do not, then, hand me back to the world. Do not try to tempt me with material things. Let me attain pure light. Only on my arrival there can I be fully a human being. Give me the privilege of imitating the passion of my God. If you have him in your heart, you will understand what I wish. You will sympathise with me because you will know what urges me on.

The prince of this world is determined to lay hold of me and to undermine my will which is intent on God. Let none of you here help him; instead show yourselves on my side, which is also God’s side. Do not talk about Jesus Christ as long as you love this world. Do not harbour envious thoughts. And supposing I should see you, if then I should beg you to intervene on my behalf, do not believe what I say. Believe instead what I am now writing to you. For though I am alive as I write to you, still my real desire is to die. My love of this life has been crucified, and there is no yearning in me for any earthly thing. Rather within me is the living water which says deep inside me: “Come to the Father.” I no longer take pleasure in perishable food or in the delights of this world. I want only God’s bread, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, formed of the seed of David, and for drink I crave his blood, which is love that cannot perish.

I am no longer willing to live a merely human life, and you can bring about my wish if you will. Please, then, do me this favour, so that you in turn may meet with equal kindness. Put briefly, this is my request: believe what I am saying to you. Jesus Christ himself will make it clear to you that I am saying the truth. Only truth can come from that mouth by which the Father has truly spoken. Pray for me that I may obtain my desire. I have not written to you as a mere man would, but as one who knows the mind of God. If I am condemned to suffer, I will take it that you wish me well. If my case is postponed, I can only think that you wish me harm.