Martyrs and Pseudo-Martyrs: Benedict XIV compares
Benedict XIV shows why the courage of false sects’ 'martyrs' proves nothing – because it is the cause, not the suffering, that makes the martyr.
Benedict XIV shows why the courage of false sects’ ‘martyrs’ proves nothing – because it is the cause, not the suffering, that makes the martyr.
Editor’s Notes
The following text is an excerpt of Pope Benedict XIV’s De Servorum Dei Beatificatione et de Beatorum Canonizatione, newly translated.
For more on Benedict XIV, his expertise on this subject, and the authority of this text, see Part I.
Having considered the status of non-Catholics in general, and heretics and schismatics in particular, Benedict XIV now turns his attention to the differences between the true martyrs of the Catholic Church, and what he calls the “pseudo-martyrs” of the false sects. He focuses particularly on the number of those who have died in each cause, and the way in which they have died – and shows that ultimately, the question is decided with reference to the cause, rather than the punishment.
With this established, let us turn to the text.
On the False Martys of the Heretics and Schismatics
Benedict XIV’s On the Beatification of the Servants of God and the Canonisation of the Blessed
Chapter 20, from Book III, 1743
The signs of true martyrdom
8. For vindicating their pseudo-martyrs, the author of the above-mentioned Apology [of the Reformers] writes that the signs of true martyrdom are these;
An immense multitude of men dies for one and the same thing
Indications of heroic fortitude and constancy, as well as piety, are not lacking in death
Finally there are found from every age and sex those who generously undergo death, as can be read extensively in chapter II of the same.
And since he contends that all these things were present in his pseudo-martyrs, he infers that there is no reason to doubt the truth of their martyrdom.
9. But that the force of this assertion may be weighed in the order which befits, three things must be examined:
First, whether the aforesaid qualities are present in our martyrs
Second, whether they are present in those whom they call martyrs and we call pseudo-martyrs
Third, whether the same are sufficient that a safe judgement concerning the truth of martyrdom may be made.
A multitude of true martyrs fulfilling the conditions
10. Therefore, beginning from the question of whether the aforesaid qualities are present in our martyrs, there does not seem to be reason for doubt concerning this.
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