January 16, 2016

Protomartyrs of the Order

I noticed this painting of the Protomartyrs of the Order on Italian Wikipedia. It made me think that perhaps we can seek the intercession of these friars in our time when we have been made so aware of beheadings and other barbaric executions.

Francisco Henriques, The Martyrs of Morocco (1508)
St. Francis himself sent Brothers Berard, Otho, Peter, Accursius, and Adjutus to preach in Spain. After preaching in a mosque they were arrested and deported to Morocco. There they began to preach again and were again arrested. After torture and efforts to tempt them to convert to Islam, they were beheaded on this day in 1220.

For a longer treatment of their martyrdom, you'll want to read the Chronicle of the Twenty-Four Generals of the Order of Friars Minor. Search for Appendix I, which contains their story.

Pray for us!
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2 comments:

  1. Sr. Ann Marie1:54 PM

    Thank you for sharing this--I wasn't aware of this and will need to read more about it. Our sisters have established a relationship with a group from a Muslim mosque and at one of our gatherings we shared the account of Francis going to the Sultan. The group indicated that some parts of the Canticle have some similarity to some of their ancient Muslim writings.

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  2. Brother Charles5:18 AM

    Beautiful! Thanks for the comment!

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