Foxe’s Christian Martyrs (Part 4)

PERSECUTION BY THE VANDALS, AD 429

The Vandals crossed over from Spain to the north coast of Africa and defeated the Roman army there, conquering the whole country under their leader, Genseric. Since the Vandals were of the Arian sect, they abused the Christians wherever they found them, laying waste to all their cities and ruining every beautiful or valuable object they found. They even burned the fields of grain so anyone escaping their swords would die from famine. They plundered the churches and murdered the bishops and ministers in many cruel ways. Often they poured rancid, filthy oil down the throats of those they captured, drowning them. Others they martyred by stretching their limbs with cords until the veins and sinews burst. Old men found no mercy from them, and even innocent babies felt the rage of their barbarity.

When a town held out against them, the Vandals brought great numbers of Christians to the town walls and killed them, leaving their bodies to rot under the walls until the town had to surrender to escape the plague.

After they took Carthage, the Vandals put the city’s bishop and many other Christians into a leaky ship and committed it to waves, thinking everyone on it would soon die, but the vessel arrived safely at another post. Several Christians were beaten, scourged, and banished to the desert, where God used them to convert many of the Moors to Christianity. Once Genseric discovered this, he sent orders that they and their converts should be tied by the feet to chariots and dragged until they were beaten to pieces.

The bishop of Urice was burned, and the bishop of Habensa was banished for refusing to turn over the sacred books. Archinimus, a devout Christian, was brought before Genseric himself for trial. Finding the man firm in his faith, Genseric ordered him beheaded but privately told the executioner, “If the prison is courageous and willing to die, don’t kill him. I don’t want him to have the honor of being a martyr.” When the executioner found Archinimus quite willing to die, he returned him to the prison, from which he soon disappeared, probably murdered in secret at the king’s order.

Cyrilla, the Arian bishop of Carthage, was a great enemy to those Christians who professed the pure faith. He persuaded Genseric that he could not allow so many of his subjects to practice their Christianity and enjoy any peace. Genseric first attempted to bribe the Christians away from their faith with promises of worldly gains, but they stood firm, saying, “We acknowledge but one lord and one faith. You may do whatever you please with our bodies, for it is better we suffer a few temporary pains than endure ever-lasting misery.” Looking for an efficient way to kill so many people at once, the governor finally ordered them all put on a ship filled with wood and straw. The ship was then set on fire, and everyone aboard was either drowned or burned to death. The names of the chief Christians on board the ship were Rusticus, Liberatus, Rogatus, Servus, Septimus, and Boniface.

TELEMACHUS

Rome was celebrating its temporary victory over Alaric the Goth in its usual manner, by watching its gladiators fight to the death in the arena, when suddenly there was an interruption. A rudely clad, robed figure boldly leaped down into the arena. Telemachus was one of the hermits who devoted themselves to a holy life of prayer and self-denial and kept themselves apart from the wicked life of Rome. Although few of the Roman citizens followed their example, most of them had great respect for these hermits, and the few who recognized Telemachus knew he had come from the wilds of Asia on a pilgrimage to visit the churches and celebrate Christmas in Rome.

Without hesitating an instant, Telemachus advanced upon two gladiators who were engaged in their life-and-death struggle. Laying a hand on one of them, he sternly reproved him for shedding innocent blood and then, turning toward the thousands of angry faces around him, called to them: “Do not repay God’s mercy in turning away the swords of your enemies by murdering each other!”

Angry shouts drowned out his voice. “This is no place for preaching! On with the combat!” Pushing Telemachus aside, the two gladiators prepared to continue their combat, but Telemachus stepped between them. Enraged at the interference of an outsider with their chosen vocation, the gladiators turned on Telemachus and stabbed him to death.

The crowd fell silent, shocked by the death of this holy man; but his death had not been in vain, for from that day on, no more gladiators ever went into combat in the Colosseum.

THE SPANISH INQUISITION

The Inquisition of the church of Rome was, in its days, one of the most terrible engines of tyranny ever created by man. It may be said to date from about the year 1200, when Pope Innocent III sent his inquisitors among the Waldenses and other sects differing from the church, and continued until 1808. In its course, it only crushed any Protestants living in Spain: Its final count numbered 31,912 people burned alive and 291,450 imprisoned. In the eighteen years that the Dominican monk Thonmas of Torquemada led the Inquisition, 10,220 people were burned and 97,322 punished with the loss of property or imprisonment. Although its main victims were citizens of Spain, there were others who became its victims, too.

The Inquisition continued until teh invasion of Spain by Napolean Bonaparte in 1808 and the abdication of the throne of Charles IV in favor of his son, Ferdinand VII. On February 22, 1813, the Cortes-General of the kingdom assembled in Madrid and decreed that the existence of the Inquisition was no longer in accord with the political constitution that had been adopted by the nation. The bishop and civil courts were returned to their ancient powers, and the oppression of the people of Spain finally ended.

WILLIAM LITHGOW

William Lithgow was an Englishman born about 1580. Being fond of travel, he was on his way to Alexandria, Egypt, when he was suddenly attacked by nine men, who threw a black cloak over his head and dragged him to the governor’s house in Malaga, Spain. There he was accused of being an English spy. Nothing Lithgow could say would convince the local authorities that he was only a tourist passing through the city, so it was decided to torture him until he made his confession. Lithgow was tortured on the rack and then asked if he acknowledged the pope’s supremacy, to which he answered, “You almost murdered me for pretended treason without any grounds. Now you intend to make me a martyr for my religion?” “You have been arrested as a spy and accused of treachery,” his inquisitor replied. “Perhaps you are not a spy, but we have found by your books and writings that you surely are a heretic and therefore deserve even worse punishment than you have received.”

They gave Lithgow eight days to consider whether he would convert or not. During this time the inquisitor and others argued frequently with him to no avail. At last, finding their arguments had no effect and that their threats of torment couldn’t shake him, they left Lithgow alone. The eight days were soon over. Lithgow was asked one more time to convert and save his life. “I fear neither death nor fire,” he replied. “I am prepared for both, so do your worst!”

That night Lithgow was sentenced to eleven different tortures, and if he did not die from them, he was to be taken to Granada and burned after Easter. The first part of the sentence was carried out with cold-blooded cruelty, but it pleased God to give the poor victim strength of body and mind, and he survived. Then Lithgow waited with resignation for the day that would end his torments.

All of this had been carried out in the strictest of secrecy since Lithgow was an English subject and not a citizen of Spain; but a servant boy happened to hear the city’s mayor discuss Lithgow’s case at dinner one night, and he secretly told the story to an English merchant in town named Mr. Wild. Wild told the story to other English merchants living in the town and to the English ambassador to Madrid, Sir Walter Aston, who quickly appealed to th eking and council of Spain, obtained an order for Lithgow’s immediate release, and put him on board an English warship visiting the city. Two months later, Lithgow arrived safely at Deptford, England, although his left arm remained useless to him for the rest of his life.

ISAAC MARTIN

Isaac Martin, an English trader, was living in Spain with his wife and four children. Because of his first name, the authorities decided Martin must be a Jew and began to harass him to change his religion. In time, Martin decided it would be best if he left the country, but he made the mistake of telling one of his Spanish neighbors his plan and was arrested in the middle of th enight.

Brought to his cell in the middle of the night, Martin was told, “You must keep as complete silence here as if you were dead. You must not speak, or whistle, or sing, or make a noise; you must be still and say nothing, under penalty of two hundred lashes.”

Martin asked if he was allowed to walk around his cell; the jail said he was, if he did so very quietly.

All in all, Martin was called to six hearings before his inquisitor on twenty-six trivial, untrue charges. He was promised a lawyer then told the lawyers were not permitted to speak during a hearing. About a month later, a rope was put around his neck and he was led by it to the altar of the great church. For the crimes of which he stood convicted, the lords of the holy office ordered him banished from Spain after receiving two hundred lashes. The next morning the executioner came, stripped Martin to the waist, tied his hands together, and led him out of th eprison. He was put on an ass and received his two hundred lashes. After two more weeks in jail, he was sent to Malaga until an English ship arrived to carry him home.

JOHN WYCLIFFE

John Wycliffe, who lived during the reign of Edward III in 1371, was the public reader of divinity at the University of Oxford. In a time when few people were educated, he was well known for his scholarship in the fields of philosophy and religion.

At this time Christianity was in a sad state. Although everyone knew the name of Christ, few if any understood His doctrine. Faith, consulation, the use of the law, the works of Christ, our human weakness, the Holy Ghost, the strength of sin, the works of grace, justification by faith, and Christian liberty were never mentioned in the church.

Instead, the church was solely concerned with outward ceremony and human traditions. People spent their entire lives heaping up one ceremony after another in hopes of salvation, not knowing it was theirs for the asking. Simple, uneducated people who had no knowledge of scripture were content to know only what their pastors told them, and these pastors took care to only teach what came from Rome — most of which was for the profit of their own orders, not for the glory of Christ.

Wycliffe, seeing Christ’s gospel defiled by the errors and inventions of these bishops and monks, decided to do whatever he could to remedy the situation and teach people the truth. He took great pains to publicly declare that his only intention was to relieve the church of its idolatry, especially that concerning the sacrament of communion.

This, of course, aroused the anger of the country’s monks and friars, whose orders had grown wealthy through the sale of their cermonies and from being paid for doing their duties. Soon their priests and bishops took up the outcry, followed by the archbishop, Simon Sudbury, who took away Wycliffe’s salary at Oxford and ordered him to stop preaching against the church. When even that failed, he appealed to the pope.

Nevertheless, Wycliffe continued speaking his mind to the people in his sermons. King Edward was sympathetic to his preaching, and he also had support of others of high rank including John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, the king’s son, and Lord Henry Percy.

The following points, taken from Wycliffe’s sermons, summarize his teachings.

The holy eucharist, after consecration, is not the actual body of Christ.

The church of Rome ois no more important than any other church, and Peter had no more power given to him by Christ than any other apostle.

The pope has no more power than any other priest.

The gospel is enough for any man, without the rules of men, which add nothing to the gospel.

Neither the pope nor any other church official has the power or right to punish transgressors.

In 1377, Wycliffe was ordered to appear before his bishops and answer to their charges, since he had continued to preach on these matters after having been told to stop. He appeared before them on Thursday, February 19, 1377, accompanied by four learned friars. The Duke of Lancaster and Lord Percy became involved in a heated argument with the bishop over whether Wycliffe should be allowed to sit or must remain standing. Soon arguments gave way to threats, the whole assembly joined in taking sides, and the council had to be dissolved before it was even 9:00 a.m. Wycliffe had escaped punishment for his beliefs.

Soon King Edward III died and his grandson, Richard II, took the throne. The Duke of Lancaster and Lord Percy gave up their government positions and retired to private life, but Wycliffe still enjoyed the support of many noblemen. In 1377, Pope Gregory sent a message to the University of Oxford, rebuking it for allowing Wycliffe’s doctrine to take root and demanding he be silenced. This encouraged the archbishop of Canterbury and other bishops, who decided to meet and agree on what should be done to punish Wycliffe.

On the day Wycliffe was to be examined, a man named Lewis Clifford, who was a member of the prince’s court but not a particularly powerful man, strode up to the bishops and sternly warned them not to pass any sentence on Wycliffe. The bishops were so taken aback by his demand that they took no action against Wycliffe that day.

Wycliffe’s sect continued to grow despite church opposition. Some authorities at Oxford attempted to silence him; others gave him whatever support they could. The church considered him a heretic and threatened his followers with excommunication. For some time Wycliffe was either banished or in hiding, but he returned to his parish of Lutterworth to die in 1384.

In 1415, the Synod of Constance declared John Wycliffe a notorious heretic who died in his heresy and ordered his bones removed from consecrated ground. In 1425, Wycliffe was disinterred, his bones burned and thrown into the river. But there is no denying truth, which will even spring up from dust and ashes. Although they burned his bones and drowned his ashes, the Word of God and the truth of John Wycliffe’s doctrine would never be destroyed.

Although King Richard allowed himself to be influenced by popes Urban and Boniface IX and published several decrees against the new Protestant doctrines, there is no record of anyone being put to death for holding them during his reign.

SIR WILLIAM SAUTRE

Richard II was deposed in 1399 and succeeded by Henry IV. In 1400, during a meeting of Parliament at Westminster, Sir William Sautre, a good man and faithful priest, asked permission to speak for the good of the kingdom. The bishop present, suspecting that he wanted to address the subject of religion, convinced Parliament that the matter should be referred to the church convocation; so on February 12, 1400, Thomas Arundel, archibishop of Canterbury, and his provincial council held a meeting with Sautre.

They charged that he had previously renounced several heretical opinions but continued to teach and preach them. The charges against Sautre, the parish priest of St. Scithe the Virgin in London, were as follows.

He would not worship the cross on which Christ suffered.

He would rather worship a temporal king, the bodies of the saints, or a contrite man than the cross.

He thought it was more important for a priest to teach the Word of God than say the canonical hours.

He believed that the consecrated bread of communion remains bread and is not physically the body of Christ.

Sautre was given time to prepare an answer to these charges, reappearing before the convocation the following Friday, Febrary 18. He refused to abandon his beliefs and was given one more day to consider his position. Still adamant on the nineteenth, Sautre was ordered stripped of all his church offices: priest, deacon, subdeacon, acolyte, exorcist, reader, sexton, and even doorkeeper. Reduced to the state of layman, Sautre was then handed over to the secular legal authorities, and the church petitioned the king to execute him — something it could not do itself. King Henry readily agreed, becoming the first English king to ever put a heretic to death; Sir William Sautre became the first Englishman to suffer martyrdom in Henry’s reign.

After Sautre’s death, others who believed as he did took pains to conceal themselves while the unpopular king gathered what support he could by doing the will of the church, legally condemning the books of Protestantism, and making the burning of anyone convicted of heresy legal in England.

JOHN BADBY

On March 1, 1409, John Badby, a layman, was examined before Thomas Arundel, the archbishop of Canterbury, and a number of other lords. The principal charge against him was that he believed the bread was not turned into the actual physical body of Christ upon consecration.

Whenthe examination was finished and all the conclusions were read in English, the archbishop asked Badby if he would renounce his beliefs and adhere to the doctrine of the Catholic faith. He answered that he would stay with his own beliefs. Badby was locked in the friars’ mansion, with the archbishop holding the key, until he appeared again on March 15, was declared a heretic, and was turned over to the secular authorities for punishment.

That afternoon, John Badby was brought to Smithfield and put in an empty barrel, bound with chains to the stake and surrounded by dry wood. As he stood there, the king’s eldest son happened by and encouraged Badby to save himself while there was still time, but Badby refused to change his opinions. The barrel was put over him and the fire lit.

When Badby felt the fire, he cried, “Mercy, Lord!” and the prince immediately ordered the fire extinguished. Then he promised Badby a yearly stipend from the king if he would return to the faith of the church. Even then, Badby held his ground to the death.

After Badby’s death, the bishops, seeking to suppress the doctrine forever and knowing they had a king willing to act on their wishes, drafted a law that condemned the books of heretics and ordered all diocesans to proceed against any heretic with zeal. Death by fire was declared the fate of any heretic who would not recant. After this, the archbishop of Canterbury issued similarly harsh laws against the Protestants.

With all these laws against them, you would think the Protestants would have been utterly destroyed, and yet such are the works of the Lord that these men multiplied daily instead of being defeated. Their numbers especially increased in London, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Herefordshire, Shrewsbury, and Calais. Some, however, did recant, among whom were John Purvey, who recanted at Paul’s Cross; John Edward, priest of the diocese of Lincoln; Richard Herbert and Emmot Willy, of London; John Becket, of London; and John Seynons, of Lincolnshire.

WILLIAM THORPE

William Thorpe was a valiant warrior under the banner of Christ. He was examined before the archbishop of Canterbury in 1407, accused of traveling through England for over twenty years, preaching his reformed beliefs to the people.

The archbishop not only demanded that Thorpe deny his beliefs and return to the Catholic Church, but that he turn in anyone he found holding similar beliefs in the future. He was also forbidden to preach until the archbishop was sure he was truly converted.

“Sir,” Thorpe replied, “if I agree to this, I would have to be a spy for every bishop in England.” Thorpe refused to pledge unconditional submission to the church. “I will willingly obey God and His law,” he said, “and every member of the holy church that agrees with Christ.”

What happened to Thorpe after he was committed to prison isn’t known. There is no record of his being burned, so he may have died in prison or secretly escaped.

Poor Christians were being oppressed everywhere, but especially in England at this time, where the king supported the Catholic Church. The church was so strong there that no one could stand against it; whatever it decreed was obeyed by all men.

(To be continued …)