The Irish media will have you believe that the history of the church in Ireland goes something like Magdalene Laundries, John Charles McQuaid, Emigration, Abuse before Ireland joined the EU and became liberal and everything improved.
The last thing that Irish journalists want you to know about is the real history of Catholicism in Ireland, gloriously courageous, perpetually creative and astoundingly beautiful.
From the life of Saint Patrick to the Book of Kells, to the Round Towers to the adventures of Columbanus and others, the Catholic history of Ireland is exciting, wonderous and rich.
No one demonstrates this moreso than the Irish Martyrs, the brave individuals who are celebrated on the 20th June each year.
Beatified in 1992, the 17 Irish Martyrs represent those who died rather than give up their Catholic faith. Speaking at their beatification, Pope John Paul II said:
how can we fail to sing the praises of the seventeen Irish Martyrs being beatified today? Dermot O'Hurley, Margaret Bermingham Ball, Francis Taylor and their fourteen companions were faithful witnesses who remained steadfast in their allegiance to Christ and his Church to the point of extreme hardship and the final sacrifice of their lives.
All sectors of God's people are represented among these seventeen Servants of God: Bishops, priests both secular and religious, a religious brother and six lay people, including Margaret Bermingham Ball, a woman of extraordinary integrity who, together with the physical trials she had to endure, underwent the agony of being betrayed through the complicity of her own son.
We admire them for their personal courage. We thank them for the example of their fidelity in difficult circumstances, a fidelity which is more than an example: it is a heritage of the Irish people and a responsibility to be lived up to in every age.
In a decisive hour, a whole people chose to stand firmly by its covenant with God: "All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do". Along with Saint Oliver Plunkett, the new Beati constitute but a small part of the host of Irish Martyrs of Penal Times. The religious and political turmoil through which these witnesses lived was marked by severe intolerance on every side. Their victory lay precisely in going to death with no hatred in their hearts. They lived and died for Love. Many of them publicly forgave all those who had contributed in any way to their martyrdom.
The Martyrs' significance for today lies in the fact that their testimony shatters the vain claim to live one's life or to build a model of society without an integral vision of our human destiny, without reference to our eternal calling, without transcendence. The Martyrs exhort succeeding generations of Irish men and women: "Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called ... keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ".
On the 20th June this year, an event will take place at Holy Family Church in Drogheda at 7.30pm, to commemorate those who have died for the faith. Fr. Stephen Kennedy IVE will preside over the Holy Mass of the Irish Martyrs while there will be a talk from Fr. Peter Ewoache Johnson on the plight of persecuted Christians throughout the world, a particularly topical issue following the massacre of 50 Catholics at Mass in Nigeria this month by Climate Change activists Muslim terrorists. Aid to the Church in Need are also involved with this event.
Relics belonging of one of Ireland’s most glorious martyrs, Saint Oliver Plunkett, will also be present for veneration.
