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| A Converted British Family Sheltering a Christian Missionary from the Persecution of the Druids |
In the last analysis, the Great Persecution of Diocletian was a huge failure. If as many as 20,000 Catholics were killed in the Roman Empire, in all the provinces, the spread of Catholicism outweighed the death of the martyrs.
Christianity spread quickly throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East.
Further persecutions would continue in all these areas, but the systematic killing of Catholics would only break out again at certain times, such as in the Druids (earlier), the Persian Sassanid Empire, under the Muslim Caliphates and Tamerlane, under the Chinese, Japanese, the English, and other groups or nations.
In every case, Catholics would have needed to help each other, as in Holman Hunt's famous painting here.
To be naive about the future helps no one, especially one's self.
To think that life will go on and on and on as it has in the past fifty years is naive, or purposefully blind.
The next persecution will not destroy Catholicism, but it will create a very small remnant. May we all be ready.
