The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century: A Comprehensive World History

From the Catholic martyrs at Auschwitz and Dachau to Oscar Romero in El Salvador; from Ita Ford and her murdered companions to the recent killings of Christians in India, Pakistan, and Sudan, it is estimated that more than one million Christian have died for their faith in the twentieth century. Because the Catholic Church is the largest single denomination in the world a substantial portion of those martyrs has been Catholic. In his encyclical anticipating the Third Millennium, Pope John Paul II has reminded the world that the century's religious victims-Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and others-are a special witness for our time that "must not be forgotten." The twentieth century made great strides in science and technology, and spread the notion of basic human rights to all parts of the globe. But alongside these solid achievements, it was also a period of unprecedented religious persecution that surpassed even the early years of the Church. Most accounts of the modern age document how ideological movements and brutal dictatorships killed millions around the world for political, social, racial, and ethnic reasons. Almost no attention has been paid, however, to the specifically anti-religious nature of many of these same modern regimes. Robert Royal presents the first comprehensive history of the twentieth-century martyrs. Religious persecution and martyrdom touched virtually every continent during this century. In addition to the massive slaughters of believers under Nazism and Communism, this volume traces specific situations in Africa, Mexico, Central America, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, which produced a large harvest of heroic witnesses to the faith. It offers detailed accounts of how martyrdoms occurred, and studies the political system and other factors that contributed to various confrontations over religion. A rich collection of individual biographies, ranging from bishops and clergy to the bloody fates of ordinary lay people, is woven into the text.