The great fresco

“A pilgrimage to the memory of the martyrs of the 20th century, innumerable men and women, known and unknown who, throughout the century, shed their blood for the Lord”: that’s how Benedict XVI explained the spirit with which, on Monday 7 April, he visited the Basilica of San Bartolomeo on the Tiber Island in Rome, memorial of the martyrs of the 20th century entrusted to the St. Egidio Community, which is now celebrating its 40th anniversary. Benedict XVI stopped to pray before each of the six side chapels of the Basilica, informing himself of the persons commemorated there: the victims of totalitarianism, of Nazism, of Communism, of Mexico and Spain, of the martyrs of Africa, of Asia and of Oceania. At the end of the ceremony the Pope was presented with an icon of the Blessed Franz Jägerstätter, a young peasant farmer and father of a family, who was killed in 1943 for having opposed the Nazi regime and for having refused, as a Christina, to obey Hitler.The power of love. “In the defeat, in the humiliation of all those who suffer on account of the Gospel – said the Pope – is active a power that the world does not know: it is the power of love, defenceless and victorious even in apparent defeat”. By remembering the Christians who fell under the violence of all totalitarian regimes, “we ideally re-trace many painful events of the past century”: “so many fell while they were performing the evangelising mission of the Church”; others “were killed out of hatred for their faith”; and “many sacrificed their lives so as not to abandon the needy, the poor and the faithful”. “They are so many!”, exclaimed the pontiff, recalling that John Paul II had called these martyrs “a great fresco of Christian humanity of the 20th century”. “This 21st century, too, has opened in the sign of martyrdom”, because “when Christians are really leaven, light and salt of the earth, they too become, as happened to Jesus, the object of persecutions; like Him, they are a sign of contradiction”. Benedict then appealed to the “friends of the St. Egidio Community”: “Looking at these heroes of the faith – exhorted the Holy Father -, strive, you too, to imitate their courage and perseverance in serving the Gospel, especially among the poor. Be peacemakers and promoters of reconciliation among all those who are enemies or are fighting each other. Nourish your faith by listening to and meditating on the Word of God, by daily prayer, and by actively participating in Holy Mass”.An ecumenical memorial. It is a fact that the memorial of the new martyrs has drawn, and continues to draw, the attention of Christians of other Churches. Before the icon of the Glory of the Saints on the high altar, where we find represented also a Catholic bishop and an Orthodox bishop who together suffered imprisonment in the Solovschi islands, seat of an ancient monastery transformed into a forced labour camp, a number of leading churchmen have come to pray since 2000, including Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Teoctist, Orthodox Patriarch of Romania, and Rowan William, Archbishop of Canterbury. Many memories of the martyrs of Eastern Europe are preserved here, such as the scapula of the monk Sofiàn Boghiu, killed by the dictatorship of Ceucesco, or the Cross preserved by Albanian priests in the terrible prisons of Scutari, after Albania had decreed state atheism in 1967. Present too are testimonies of the Anglican confreres killed in the Solomon Islands when they were trying to broker a peace deal between the warring factions in 2003. Last but not least, here are the signs in memory of a recent martyr, Father Andrea Santoro: the chalice, paten and stole with which he officiated mass in Trebizond. In another chapel are the signs of the new martyrs in Latin America: the pastoral staff of Cardinal Posadas Ocampo, killed by drug traffickers in Mexico, the Missal of Archbishop Oscar Romero, murdered while celebrating mass in San Salvador, the stole of Father André Jarlan, killed in Chile because of his sympathy for the poor and the disadvantaged. These are just some of the 13,00 memories gathered by the Commission of New Martyrs.The joy of being Christians. “Unfortunately many Christians are still being killed in various parts of the world”. They are “men and women who did not live for themselves”, “scandal for the world of the 20th century”, which, like that of today, has turned “save yourself” into “its supreme law”: so Andrea Riccardi, founder of the St. Egidio Community, paid tribute to the martyrs of the 20th century. He said so in welcoming the Pope at the entrance to the Basilica. He also recalled the origin of the St. Egidio Community in 1968: “We were guided along the path of love. We discovered the joyful and responsible gift of a charism. That’s what we are happy to say to Your Holiness: we are happy to be Christian sons and daughters of the Church! We say so with a cry of joy that is stronger than the cry of suffering we cannot but hear in the world. Yes, happy to be Christians!”.