Celebrating a Century of the North American Martyrs’ Legacy

The hundredth anniversary of the beatification of the North American Martyrs offers an opportunity to reflect on their witness and legacy, echoing Tertullian’s timeless statement, “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.”

These martyrs, also known as the Canadian Martyrs, were beatified in 1925 and canonized in 1930. They include Saints Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brebeuf, Rene Goupil, Jean de La Lande, and others who were killed in the 1640s in what is now Canada and New York state. Their witness led to the spread of the faith in North America, and the Church remembers them in a special way each October 19, their feast day.

A full day of events is planned on Saturday, June 21, at Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine in Fultonville, New York, to mark the anniversary of their beatification. Msgr. Roger Landry, former Ecclesiastical Assistant liaison with Aid to the Church in Need USA, and currently the National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States, will give a talk on the North American Martyrs and Christian heroism. He will then celebrate Mass.

Tertullian’s simple statement that “the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church,” uttered just a couple of centuries after Christ, has been affirmed time and again, even in the present day. Just this spring, Bishop Habila Daboh of Zaria, Nigeria reported that the number of Christians in northern Nigeria is growing rapidly, despite increasing persecution.

In an April interview with Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Bishop Daboh recalled the kidnapping of four of his seminarians five years ago. Three were eventually released, but one, Michael Nnadi, was murdered because he refused to renounce Christianity and kept preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Funeral Mass of seminarian Michael Nnadi at Good Shepherd Seminary in Kaduna on February 11, 2020

With the problem of kidnapping and murder sparing no segment of society, even among the clergy, some Nigerians speculated that the incident would lead young men to leave the seminary, rather than put their lives in danger.

“Interestingly, the reverse became the case, because a lot of young boys started applying,” said Bishop Daboh. “They want to become a priest. And when we ask why, they reply that they want to preach Jesus Christ, to tell people that Jesus was a man of peace, and he preaches peace, he preaches love. … Despite the tension, we have people who are zealous, who are interested in Christianity, and that is why Christianity is thriving in northern Nigeria.”

For nearly 80 years, Aid to the Church in Need’s mission has been to provide pastoral and humanitarian assistance to persecuted churches around the world. The pontifical foundation has seen a good number of modern-day martyrs in the places where it works.

Another anniversary

This year marks both the centennial of the North American Martyrs’ beatification and the tenth anniversary of Akash Bashir’s death. Bashir, a 20-year-old Catholic, sacrificed his life to save hundreds when he prevented a suicide bomber from entering a church in the Diocese of Lahore, Pakistan.

His actions led to his elevation to the status of Servant of God — the first in Pakistan’s history — marking the initial step toward beatification and generating significant hope within Pakistan’s Christian community and beyond.

Visit to St. John’s Church, Lahore to see victims of the bomb blasts on March 15, 2015

On March 15, 2015, the fourth Sunday of Lent, Bashir volunteered to guard the Church of Saint John in Youhanabad while hundreds gathered inside. When a suspicious man tried to enter the building, Bashir stopped him, ultimately sacrificing his own life.

Father Pierluigi Cameroni, the general postulator for the causes of the saints of the Salesian family, told Aid to the Church in Need in Rome that Akash’s life and sacrifice have inspired many young people in Pakistan.

“The Christians have been strengthened, other young people have stepped up, and there have been many baptisms,” Father Cameroni said. “He has been a source of peace and hope because his example offers a glimpse of Christ’s victory. Easter is about death and resurrection, and therefore, hope. It is also a call to reconciliation.”

It is a sentiment, no doubt, that guided the North American Martyrs and many others over the centuries.