JOYOUS MARTYRS
Alban Butler’s book, Lives of the Saints, gives numerous accounts of victorious martyrs. Here are a few of the many that typify the joy in their suffering: In A.D. 203, five young people who lived in the city-state of Carthage were arrested as Christians and imprisoned. An account in Greek by one of them, a young woman named Perpetua, survives. Perpetua, who was carrying a small baby, wrote that after the judge “condemned us to the wild beasts, we returned joyfully to our prison.” Another victim of third century persecution was a brother named Laurence. He was a deacon in the Roman Church who, when he heard he was to be arrested, “was full of joy… and gave everything to the poor.” He refused to deny the faith or sacrifice to idols. He was, therefore, stripped, bound, and placed on a large gridiron above burning coals. After suffering a long time, he turned to the judge and said with a cheerful smile,…
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