Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 12, 2024 / 09:45 am
On Jan. 12, the Church honors the feast days for several martyrs and groups of martyrs at a time in which Christians still face persecution and the threat of martyrdom at the hands of authoritarian governments and other hostile actors in many parts of the world.
“Invent what torments you please,“ St. Arcadius of Mauretania told a pagan judge who threatened him with torture if he would not offer a sacrifice to one of the false Roman gods in 302 A.D., according to Catholic.net.
“Nothing shall make me betray my God,” Arcadius said. “The fear of death will never make me fail in my duty.“
The judge ordered the torture and execution of Arcadius, which was carried out by chopping off his limbs. The martyr is one of many Christians who was put to death during the Roman persecution of Christians in the early fourth century.