#martyrdom — Public Fediverse posts

Quote of the day, 29 November: St. John of the Cross

A soul has intense desires to be a martyr. God answers, “You shall be a martyr” and bestows deep interior consolation and confidence in the truth of this promise.

Regardless of the promise, this person in the end does not die a martyr; yet the promise will have been true.

Why, then, was there no fulfillment of the promise? Because it will be fulfilled in its chief, essential meaning: the bestowal of the essential love and reward of a martyr. God truly grants the soul what it formally desired and what he promised it because the formal desire of the soul was not a manner of death but the service of God through martyrdom and the exercise of a martyr’s love for him.

Death through martyrdom in itself is of no value without this love, and God bestows martyrdom’s love and reward perfectly by other means. Even though the soul does not die a martyr, it is profoundly satisfied since God has fulfilled its desire

Saint John of the Cross

The Ascent of Mount Carmel, II, ch. 19, no. 13

Blessed Denis of the Nativity (Pierre Berthelot) and Blessed Redemptus of the Cross (Thomas Rodriguez da Cunha) were Discalced Carmelite friars who joined the Discalced Carmelite East Indian missions in Goa, India in the early 17th century.

Father Denis (left) had been a French cartographer and naval commander in the service of France and Portugal; he left everything to join the Teresian Carmel at Goa in 1635 and was ordained a priest 24 August 1638. Brother Redemptus from Portugal (right) made his profession with the Discalced Carmelites in Goa in 1615, when he was 17 years old.

In September 1638 Denis and Redemptus accompanied Francesco de Souza de Castro, the Portuguese ambassador on a voyage to the Sultan of Achen (Aceh), Indonesia. The new ambassador desired to have Father Denis with him as a spiritual director, maritime advisor, and translator. Denis of the Nativity chose the wise and experienced lay brother, Redemptus of the Cross as his own Carmelite companion.

The courteous welcome at the delegation’s arrival was feigned; Denis and Redemptus were quickly imprisoned after disembarking from the ship.

Blessed Denis and Blessed Redemptus were tortured more than the other prisoners in an attempt to convert them to Islam. Denis’ heroic charity was notable during his imprisonment as he deprived himself of necessities to aid the other prisoners; he sought to encourage them in every way. When they were condemned to death, he desired to be executed last so as to strengthen all of the others.

Blessed Denis is depicted in martyrology with a sword above his head to indicate the sword blow that split his head in two. Denis and Redemptus were beatified by Pope Leo XIII on 10 June 1900.

[Source: Discalced Carmelites]

Teresa of Avila, St. 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K; Rodriguez, O, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Translation from the Italian text is the blogger’s own work product.

Featured image: This is only a detail of the massive painting (30 x 60 in. / 787 x 1447 mm.) Portuguese Carracks Off a Rocky Coast, from the Circle of Joachim Patinir, executed by an anonymous Flemish or Flemish-trained artist around 1540. The Portuguese ambassador’s delegation possibly traveled in a carrack similar to what is seen here. This particular artwork is the oldest painting of the sea by a Flemish or Flemish-trained artist in the collection of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England. Image credit: © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.

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