January 16, 2007

Martyrs

Today is the feast of the first martyrs of the Franciscan Order, killed in Morocco in early 1220. From all reports, Francis was very proud of them, and called them his first true brothers.

The Earlier Rule had not yet been promulgated then, but these brothers certainly fulfilled its advice about how to go among the non-believers:

And let all the brothers remember, wherever they are, that they gave themselves up and left their bodies behind for our Lord Jesus Christ. And for love of him they must make themselves vulnerable to enemies both visible and invisible.

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