There would be Zero marytyrs if Christianity did not separate those who are obedienct from those who are not.
St. Thomas More died for the power of the pope and the universality of the Church over the usurpation of the entire Church in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
St. Maximillian Kolbe and Blessed Titus Brandsma refused to cooperate with the Nazis, and even some Catholics who had decided to side with the government, and were killed for upholding Church teaching.
A partial list of martyrs who refused to cooperate with communists and masons in Mexico reveals those who knew that believing in the orthodox teachings of the Church was more important than tolerating sin and a false unity of compromise.
St. Cristóbal Magallanes Jara, secular priest
St. Román Adame Rosales, secular priest
St. Rodrigo Aguilar Aleman, secular priest
St. Julio Álvarez Mendoza, secular priest
St. Luis Batis Sáinz, secular priest
St. Agustín Caloca Cortés, secular priest
St. Mateo Correa Magallanes, secular priest
St. Atilano Cruz Alvarado, secular priest
St. Miguel De La Mora, secular priest
St. Pedro Esqueda Ramirez, secular priest
St. Margarito Flores Garcia, secular priest
St. José Isabel Flores Varela, secular priest
St. David Galván Bermudes, secular priest
St. Salvador Lara Puente, layman
St. Pedro de Jesús Maldonado, secular priest
St. Jesús Méndez Montoya, secular priest
St. Manuel Morales, layman
St. Justino Orona Madrigal, secular priest
St. Sabas Reyes Salazar, secular priest
St. José María Robles Hurtado, secular priest
St. David Roldán Lara, layman
St. Toribio Romo González, secular priest
St. Jenaro Sánchez Delgadillo, secular priest
St. Tranquilino Ubiarco Robles, secular priest
In Spain, those martyrs who were killed for not giving up the true faith in the face of totalitarianism encourage us not to compromise for the sake of unity, The 598 saints canonized by Pope Francis make up part of the cloud of witnesses who stood up for the true one, true, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church in the face of terrible violence. There are 731 more....
And there are more saints from the Spanish Civil War than this list indicates.
Mariano Alcala Perez & 18 Companions from the Mercedarian Province of Aragon
Aurelia Arambarri Fuente & 3 Companions from the Servants of Mary, Ministers of the Sick
Manuel Basulto Jimenez & 5 Companions from the Diocesan clergy and lay faithful of Jaen
Manuel Borras Ferre & 146 Companions from the clergy and religious of the Archdiocese of Tarragona
Raymundo Joaquín Castano Gonzalez, professed priest, Dominicans
José María Gonzalez Solis, professed priest, Dominicans
Melchora Adoración Cortes Bueno & 14 Companions from the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul in the Archdiocese of Madrid
Antonio Faundez Lopez & 3 Companions from the Franciscan Friars Minors and Clergy of the Diocese of Cartagena
Teófilo Fernandez de Legaria Goni & 4 Companions from the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (Picpus)
María Montserrat Garcia Solanas & 9 Companions from the Minim nuns and the lay faithful of Barcelona
Ricardo Gil Barcelon, professed priest, Sons of Divine Providence
Antonio Isidoro Arrue Peiro, layperson of the archdiocese of Valencia; postulant, Sons of Divine Providence
Andrés Gonzalez-Diez Gonzalez-Nunez from Palazuelo & 31 Companions from the Franciscan Capuchins of Madrid, Asturias, Cantabria, Malaga, and Alicante
Crisanto Gonzalez Garcia, Aquilino Baro Riera, Cipriano José Iglesias Banuelos, Guzmán Becerril Merino & 64 Companions from the Marist Brother of the Schools from the Dioceses of Madrid and Cuenca
María Asumpta Gonzalez Trujillano & 2 Companions from the Franciscan Missionaries of the Mother of the Divine Shepherd
José Xavier Gorosterratzu Jaunarena & 5 Companions from the Redemptorists of Cuenca
Joseph Guardiet Pujol, priest of the Archdiocese of Barcelona
Joan Huguet Cardona, priest of the Diocese of Minorca
Salvi Huix Miralpeix, priest of the Oratorians; Bishop of Lleida
Mauricio Iniguez de Heredia Alzola, & 23 Companions from the Hospitallers of Saint John of God of Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Malaga
Hermenegildo Iza Aregita of the Assumption & 5 Companions from the Trinitarians of Ciudad Real
Joaquín Jovani Marin & 14 Companions from the Diocesan Laborer Priests of Sacred Heart of Jesus
Alberto María Marco Aleman, Agustín María Garcia Tribaldos & 23 Companions from the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance and the De La Salle Brothers of Madrid
Josefa Martines Perez & 12 Companions from the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and lay faithful of Valencia
José Máximo Moro Briz & 4 Companions from the Diocesan Clergy of Avila
Carmelo Moyano Linares & 9 Companions from the Carmelites of Ancient Observance of Cordoba
Joseph Nadal Guiu, priest of the Diocese of Lleida
José Jordan Blecua, priest of the Diocese of Lleida
Mauro Palazuelos Maruri & 17 Companions from the Benedictines of El Pueyo
Jaume Puig Mirosa & 19 Companions from the Sons of the Holy Family and lay faithful of Catalunya
José María Ruiz Cano, Jesús Aníbal Gomez y Gomez, Tomás Cordero y Cordero & 13 Companions from Siguenza
Manuel Sanz Dominguez of the Holy Family, professed priest, Hieronymites; restorer
Orencio Luis Sola Garriga & 19 Companions, along with Antonio Mateo Salamero from De La Salle Brothers, Diocesan Clergy and lay faithful of Madrid
Victoria Valeverde Gonzalez, professed religious, Calasanzian Institute, Daughters of the Divine Shepherdess
Fortunato Velasco Tobar & 13 Companions from the Congregation of the Missions (Vincentians)
Joan of Jesus Vilaregut Farre & 4 Companions from the Discalced Carmelites and the Diocesan Clergy of Urgell
The martyrs of the Church come from every country and nation of the world, people who refused to tolerant evil by the witness of their own lives, and people who refused to make unity of their country a god.
The generation of Gen-X is also the generation of peer pressure. My generation looked to parents first for approval, not other children or adolescents. The Millennials are much more independent and individualistic.
But, who is in charge, of the Church, the government and who will be?
Those adults who learned to "get ahead" by giving in to peer pressure cannot be evangelists, or follow the real teachings of the Church in moral issues, as compromising becomes a way of life.
Adults who want peace at any price will sell out their souls and the souls of others for this peace. The Holocaust demonstrates this type of turning a blind eye to evil, as is the scourge of abortion and now ssm.
Those Catholics who value peace over truth will not find themselves in the list of martyrs. Those Catholics who tolerate evil will be swallowed up by the same evil machine they supported, and when tolerance and unity betray Truth, Who Is a Person, Judas lives again and acts again in our midst.
Robert Hugh Benson delineated what the end product of tolerance and unity is-the complete hatred of Catholicism and Catholics. Those who again and again compromise, refuse to face their own sins, and refuse self-knowledge will lose discernment and cooperate with evil.
Ordinary people make ordinary decisions daily either for truth or tolerance, integrity or unity. In these times, there is no room for "slush".
Do you know people involved in New Age spirituality, very common in the Midwest? Help them to the Truth. Do you know people who do not pay their taxes? Help them to the Truth. Do you know people who contracept, and even, horrible as it is, agree with abortion? Help them to the Truth. Do you know people who accept ssm? Help them to the Truth.
When Christ returns, will He find any faith upon the earth?
Remember, the spiritual and corporal works of mercy are not options, but duties.
