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Tortures and Torments of the Christian Martyrs: The Classic Martyrology

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For this [the Cross] it was whereon the Saviour of the World, bursting the bonds of death, did vanquish that cunning serpent, the Devil, and by His sufferings earned for His servants so great fortitude as that they were ready in gladness of spirit to endure the most arduous hardships of every sort, even, if need were, to the shedding of their blood and the most cruel lopping off of all their limbs. ? Chapter 1.

_Tortures and Torments of the Christian Martyrs_ was written by Roman Catholic priest Reverend Antonio Gallonio in 1591 and dedicated to Pope Clement VIII. The book relies heavily on previous martyrologies as well as histories of the church and the lives of the saints. The purpose of the book is to show the believing Christian soul the glory won for him by the steadfast belief of his predecessors in faith, who stood firm against the tortures and torments of their captors, enduring till the end and never breaking with the faith, winning for themselves the crown of martyrdom. The book includes gory details of the various implements of torture ? from the Cross itself to the rack, the wheel, the wooden horse, etc. ? used by the Roman heathen or the Jews against the early Christian believers. In addition, various woodcuts are provided detailing with exactitude the bloody nature of these torturing implements. Much is recounted from the lives of the saints and martyrs who were offered up to God as sacrifice, remaining steadfast in their faith. Many blessed Christian virgins were defiled by the heathen?s armies, and many Christian soldiers were put to the test. The cruelty of the Roman emperors to the early Christians is thoroughly seen throughout. The book also details other manners of torture including torment by scourging and fire, as well as being fed to the wild animals (the notorious lions and wild beasts to which the early Christians were made to suffer). The book includes details of the martyrs being sent into exile or made to work under harsh conditions in the mines, blasphemed against, or made to blaspheme their God by means of idolatry to the Roman emperor. In addition, the author also notes how Catholics in his own day were made to suffer under the Anglican schism, providing details from the lives of martyrs in England referencing the works of Sanders (_Origins and Progress of the Anglican Schism_). For the Christian believer, this book provides countless images of cruelty inflicted upon Christian souls suffering in countless lands before tyrannical governments. The author prays, ?Here on earth, most gracious Lord God! let the torments of the body be multiplied an hundredfold, that there in paradise gladness and peace may be increased. Oh! breasts burning with the flame of love divine, oh! hearts kindled with the ardour of the Holy Spirit!? The book includes an introduction by the translator A. R. Allinson. In addition, this Feral House edition is supplied with an appendix detailing the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ written by noted medical specialists. This appendix/essay was used by Mel Gibson in his making of the recent film, _The Passion of Christ_.

I agree with the majority of statements made by Ben Waugh. The core of this book is a several hundred year old document which was translated over 100 years ago and has been repackaged in garbage by Feral House publishing for this release. While the original document offers interesting perspective, Feral House's release in this publication does not contributed to it so much as it takes away from the document's essence.

The additional doodles have nothing to do with historical Christian martyrdom, and some of them could only be described as disturbing and pornographic. The publisher's foreword is pretty blatantly anti-Church and makes one wonder what other purpose Feral House had to publish it than to revel in Christian suffering and make a buck off of it.

I would recommend finding a used older edition which the publisher's "bonus" material was left out.

No real Christian would ever own this book published by Feral House. This publisher hates Christianity. Avoid this book at all costs.

I do not know much about this book, however it caught my eye at the local used book store. I flipped through the pages and was in awe of the lengths at wich our brothers and sisters in Christ have gone to proclaim the Gospel. It made me feel that, being young and middle-class, I haven't yet endured much persecution and suffering for my faith in Christ and that I should count myself blessed to have an opportunity to share the good news with people around me without facing such torture. That being said, the images at the end of the book (I believe these were touted as "bonus material" of some sort on the cover page) were childish, uneducational and overtly pornographic at times. I have trouble keeping the images out of my minds eye, and I feel it was a backward step in the sanctification of the purity of my mind because of the past struggles I've had with pornographic material. Be warned of the foolishness of the publisher of this book; the informational content may be credible (for all I know), but the additional images are not only unnecessary but also, for me, too much to handle.

In Christ,
-Paul

"A sadist's dream" is what one might hope for this book to realize, but it misses the mark quite wide. To begin with, the subject matter is limited almost entirely to the sufferings of a selected group of martyrs and the occasional Medieval outlier, e.g., Huguenot or Waldensian. Too much focus is placed on ancient Roman technologies and their descendants, to wit, crucifixes, red-hot irons, and boiling oil; there isn't much to tickle the real BDSM aficionado (sorry to shock you, mom, if you're reading this). The writing is particularly stilted--almost as if our author were a sixteenth-century cleric--but, hold your horses! **he was**. Oh, and those ridiculous drawings of distorted human figures with nails through their tongues or peculiar attachments on their--er--external genitalia didn't do much for me other than convince me that the consultant artists are depraved (and they are--witness the selection, which starts off with Chuckie Manson and Dickie Ramirez).

Hunt through the used and rare bookstores for "The Book of Torture and Execution" (authored by R. Sair, but you won't find that name anywhere on the volume, so look for its editor, A. Hirsch) if you must satiate your appetite on the spicier and sexier side of studied human cruelties: Gallonio won't even begin to address your needs. For more detail on the ecclesiastical side of Gallonio's content, there's always Foxe's "Book of Martyrs." Your best bet, of course, is to visit the hallowed Library of Congress--where you'll discover that the juiciest works are euphuistically penned in erst non-vernacular languages, to keep the material from titillating the non-holy. And pack some nice, fat Spanish, Latin, French, and German dictionaries to help you along with, say, "Le Musee des Supplices" or "Erozismus im Hexenprozess."

I thought this book would be a nice addition to Foxe's Book Of Martyrs. However, the author of Torments And Tortures thought it necessary to include artwork from "contemporary artists" in the appendix, and it's a collection of twisted and blasphemous drawings of Christ in pornographic positions, if you can believe that.

I would NEVER recommend this book to anyone. In fact, because of its pornographic blasphemy, I strongly warn others to avoid this work altogether.