The Blood of Martyrs, the Blood of the Eucharist: Saint Stephen and Fr. Jacques Hamel

Last updated on: July 26, 2016 at 3:06 pm by David Russell Mosley

The Blood of Martyrs, the Blood of the Eucharist: Saint Stephen and Fr. Jacques Hamel 2016-07-26T15:06:35-04:00 David Russell Mosley

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

David Russell Mosley

The Coronation of St Stephen Datecirca 1597 Medium oil on copper (PD 100) Source: Wikimedia Commons

The Coronation of St Stephen
Date circa 1597
Medium oil on copper (PD 100) Source: Wikimedia Commons

Ordinary Time
Sts. Anne and Joachim
The Edge of Elfland
Hudson, New Hampshire

Dear Readers,

I don’t normally do two posts in a day, but I was just made aware of the attacks that took place in France so very recently. Fr. Jacques Hamel who was celebrating the Eucharist had his throat cut. “His blood,” as Mary Pezzulo has written, “his blood is still wet and his congregation still bleeding.” She warns us not to be glib as we call him martyr. Of course he is now a martyr for the faith, but we cannot be glib, not as new martyrs are being made in lands we once thought safe. Still, I had to learn more about this man. Reading Mary’s essay and the reports that have been rushing in my eyes welled with tears. How, O God, how can you let others do this in your name! This is your church, your bride, and she is being slaughtered by men who think they know and understand you. Call them to repentance! Call us all to look on you, to look on your Son bleeding for us.

Fr. Hamel was celebrating the Mass at the church Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray. Saint Étienne is Saint Stephen, often called the proto-martyr. Stephen was stoned by those who believed themselves doing the will of God. Fr. Hamel was killed by men who believed the same. It is sickening, the violence. Yet the symbolism is beautiful. If you do not see it, I don’t know that I can explain it, but somehow the death of priest in a church named after no ordinary martyr, but the first, excepting our Lord, is grotesque and beautiful. What is more, that his blood was poured out as he celebrated the pouring out of Christ’s blood, this too is grotesque and macabre and yet beautiful. The blood of the martyr is the blood of Christ. In the early church when persecution was more rampant they believed that one could be baptized in one’s own blood in martyrdom. I can understand that better now, and I wish that I couldn’t.

St. Stephen, pray for us. Fr Hamel, pray for us.

Being a Catholic Evangelical

Liturgy

Prayer

The Radical Catholic Reimagination of Everything

daesh

Fr. Jacques Hamel

martyrdom

Previous Post

July 26, 2016

On Being Adopted: The Joys and Pains of One Man's Ongoing Experience

Next Post

July 27, 2016 The Church and the Village: The Blessing of the Beer and Other Agricultural Festivals

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Secular Age Advent Apologetics Atheism Beauty Being a Catholic Evangelical Being Catholic Being Deified: Poetry and Fantasy on the Path to God Blogging Book Reviews C. S. Lewis Catholic Imagination Catholic Social Teaching Catholicism Christmas Church Calendar Church Fathers Church Life Community Conferences Cosmology Creation Curdled Words Deification Distributism Easter Economics Education Epiphany Essay Extracts Eucharist Faerie Faeriean Metaphysics Fatherhood Films Folk Liturgy Food and Drink G. K. Chesterton Harry Potter J. R. R. Tolkien Jove King Arthur Language Lent Life Literature and Poetry Liturgy Medieval Theology Music My Publications Mythology On the Edges of Elfland Ordinary Time Ordination Parenthood Parish Patristic Theology Pentecost Politics Prayer Racism Radical Orthodoxy Restoration Movement Sacramental Ontology Saints Science Sex and Sexuality Sophiology Stories The Inklings The Radical Catholic Reimagination of Everything Theologians in the Church Theopoetics Thesis Research Uncategorized University of Nottingham What I'm Reading Writing

Select a Month December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 July 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz