Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

No period in history has seen greater persecution of Christians, and so we should not be surprised that the 20th century has seen the creation of perhaps more martyrs and Saints than any other historical period which preceeded it.

In his book, Robert Royal examines the persecution of Catholics in countries such as Mexico, Spain, Austria, and Poland over the last century.

Royal's book includes extensive research and compelling background material for each of the martyrs addressed. The book includes such well-known martyrs such as St. Maximilian Kolbe, Miguel Pro, and Bishop Oscar Romero, and also introduces the reader to lesser-known martyrs for the faith.

No Pope has canonized or beatified as many Saints as Pope John Paul II. A great many of them are from the 20th century. There is a reason that the Pope has done this. He realizes that we will need the role models of these faithful men and women as we face the future.

Royal presents us with the stories behind many of these very men and women. Their stories are both extraordinary and inspirational.

Royal's book presents not only the stories of these martyrs, but also a history of the Church versus socialist/communist governments. In the end, it is a book about good and evil.

Royal does an excellent job researching the martyrology of this past century. While the most recent murders of bishops like Michael Courtney and Luigi Locati are not yet documented, there is alot of material to chew on. The chapters are divided up by region, so you can expect to read a handful of pages about the Holocaust martyrs (almost forgotten & overshadowed witnesses of faith) then on to the genocidal machine of the Soviets, Chinese,etc. The most intersting sections are on the state-sponsored persecutions of the Church close to home-namely Mexico.
The sheer amount of facts, dates and names may make this a bit dry in places and the documentation of total numbers from some places in the tens of thousands evades the personal touch of the "one man martyr", like Kolbe or Pro. In the end expect to come away very informed, awe inspired and inclined to attempt keeping up on the new martyrs who still flood in every year.

How can I put my experience reading this book into words. Story after story provides accounts of amazing men and women who, in the face of unthinkable torture and certain death, simply would not abandon their Savior nor the Church in Rome. Each chapter details the persecution of Catholics in a different part of the world, including Mexico, Soviet Russia and its Territories, Ukraine, Charles de Foucauld, Spain, Nazi Holocaust, Edith Stein, Poland and Saint Maximillian Kolbe, Eastern and Central Europe - An Introduction, Albania, Lithuania, Romania, Latin America (including Archbishop Romero of El Salvador), Asia - An Introduction, China, Korea, Vietnam, and Africa. Some chapters portray individuals such as Charles de Foucauld, Edith Stein, and Saint Maximillian Kolbe.
This book will amaze and inspire you. It is a textbook on how to love Christ above all and a reminder that the Catholic faith is truly worth dying for.

Royal does his readers a great service by showing that the Catholic martyrs of the 20th century were ordinary people who were not afraid to do the extraordinary when it came to standing up for their faith. Unlike other books, which have portrayed martyrs as untouchable icons of virtue and piety, Royal brings a human dimension to each of his stories, making them interesting and relevant to all readers. Thought-provoking, well-researched, and simply fantastic! A must read!

Robert Royal's account of the 20th century martyrs is grim, compelling, necessary. To read this book is to take one's place with St John the Evangelist, St Mary Magdalene, and the Mother of God under the shadow of the Cross. We read with what relentless fury, with what dehumanizing atrocity, the secular persecutors of the Church treated the priests, religious & layfolk. The section on the Spanish Civil War was especially eye-opening & horrifying: a needed corrective to histories that have been told from the skewed standpoint of the Left. The luminous examples of Miguel Pro of 1920s Mexico, of Charles de Foucauld in 1916 North Africa, of Oscar Romero and others, will inspire any reader. They are not double-minded souls, but lovers of God's law. The Communist atrocities in Albania and Rumania are particularly reprehensible and sickening, the tortures devised quite hellish. We are angered at the comparative silence of other historians when denouncing the evils that came from these nations.

The history (not comprehensive, the author admits, in spite of the subtitle which the publisher insisted upon) takes us to the days of Solidarity in Poland, through Korea, Vietnam, and China, through martyrs of the Idi Amin era in Uganda, and the awesome example of the seven Cistercian Trappists in Tibhirine (Our Lady of Atlas), Algeria, who were compelled to surrender their lives in 1996. In the chapter on Vietnam, Cardinal Francis X. Nguyen Van Thuan tells of his days in Communist prisons.

"Is thy steadfast love declared in the grave, thy faithfulness in Abaddon? Are thy wonders known in the darkness, thy saving help in the land of forgetfulness?" Robert Royal answers the psalmist's plaintive questions (from Psalm 88) in the affirmative. "The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century" is a harrowing account which can dishearten, and cause us to hate what is evil more than we love what is good, but the unwavering confidence and hope of these scores of Christian martyrs -- from St Maximilian Kolbe to the Vietnamese Redemptorist who would banter with the saints in heaven -- will almost certainly inspire and fortify.

I picked up Robert Royal's book mainly because I wanted information about this little-known subject. I had in the back of my mind that I could use it for apologetics purposes to point out that Catholics have been targeted by exploitive regimes rather than being collaborators, as Pope Pius XII has been accused of.

What I encountered was the power of the witness of these men and women who found the grace to love their enemies. One of the priests who was victimized by the Soviets wrote to his mother from the Gulag: "If we allow ourselves to become exasperated, we are not real Christians, just fanatics". I have to admit to being exasperated alot and have had to examine how much do I love people whose behavior causes me pain (usually unintentionally).

Fr. Christian Lebreten of the French Trappists who were killed by Algerian terrorists 8 years ago also got my attention. He writes to his killer (in advance) "I see God's face in yours" and "may we meet as happy theives in the kingdom if it is the Father's will". The monks all wrote in advance in the journals that they did not want Muslims in general or their own neighbors to be blamed or looked down upon for their deaths by an extreme minority.

My wife was upset with me for taking the book on vacation. (It isn't light reading.) But I'm glad I did.

Are you willing to die for your faith? Most of us in the western industrialized world don't really think about this much, but throughout the world in the past century tens of millions of christians, both Catholic and Protestants, were faced with the choice of renouncing thier belife in Jesus as their personal savior or death, often by brutal and very painful means. In this book Robert Royal looks at primarialy those of the Catholic faith who chose to heroicaly to die rather then renounce thier belifes. In essentialy a chronologigal order Mr Royal introduces us to these very brave and faithful people starting with the 1920's Mexican civil war and the Turkish attempt at genocide (See "Not even My Name" by Thea Halo") to the recent civil wars in Africa and the brutal communist chinnese gulags.My Royal's writing is at it's best in chapters that are narrowly focused such as his chapters detailing the stories of Saint Maximillian Kolbe, who gave his life in a Nazi concentraton camp so that another may live , and Edith Stien's story who also died at the hands of the nazi's. In a few other chapters however, we are given so much information and so many names that the gory detais blend together to the point that they detract from the overall individual suffering involved.This book should be required reading for all Christians and historians that care about the plight of thier fellow man. It also is quite an insperational book for those who occaisionaly feel a little weak in thier fath.Definitly recomended.

I urge all to read Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century. However, have patience with the introduction as it is sometimes tedious and difficult. Although, the introduction is invaluable in understanding the stories that follow. The book is a fantastic tribute to the people who became heroes in the face of great oppression. This book gives historical facts and inspiring true accounts of extraordinary people caught up in overwhelming situations. The author brings the Martyrs to life with logic and research. Read this book and you will glimpse the faith that was an inner force that guided the lives of these great people. By their examples our beliefs are strengthened and our faith enriched. I enthusiastically recommend this book!

There have always been Catholics willing to die for the faith. Yet most of the world assumes the age of martyrs is long past, perhaps even that it was mostly over when Rome fell.

Wrong. The 20th century had more martyrs than any other century in history. They range from Mexico, where Catholics priests were hunted down for saying the Mass, and then executed, like Father Pro.

The numbers of those murdered under Soviet Russia can only be guessed at, ranging from the 13,000 Catholics who "paraded down to the headquarters of the Cheka...in St Petersburg after a Sunday Mass" (p 47).

The reports of those who lived through the Gulag and the deaths they saw there are terrifying. Yet some, like Bishop Charnetskyi who "was tortured terribly for many days...bore it with such courage and obvious sanctity that..." (p 79) one of his tormentors begged his forgiveness.

In Spain, the communists took nuns from convents and shot them. Crucifixions were actually reported, along with all the other bloody murders of priests and Catholics that took place. Again, the numbers can only be guessed at.

The Nazis killed practically every priest in Poland, and the future Pope John Paul only escaped by a miracle. Edith Stein and Maximilian Kolbe were among those martyred in the camps.

And I have only scratched the surface of this book. It's a must have for your library.

This world history of the Catholic martyrs of modern times provides chapters which cover each martyr in depth and detail, with in-depth biographical sketches outlining their lives and achievements. The process of Catholic martyr status and thoughts about heroism are presented with much depth and discussion in this important survey.