Thoughts From Modern Martyrs

Just de Bretenieres, martyr in Korea. He said in part: "He who is consumed by the love of souls, crosses the seas without thinking of the danger he runs; he bounds with delight if God le ads him where everything menaces his life; he cannot restrain his songs of joy if he sees himself exposed to persecutions, threatened by the sword, ever on the point of dying of hunger, fatigue, misery, anguish." Blessed Jean Theophane Venard, martyr in Tonquin, who said: "What is the priesthood? Is it not the entire detachment from all worldly goods-a complete abandonment of all temporal interests? To be a priest, one should be a saint. To guide others one must first learn to guide oneself. Then should not the life of a good priest be one of continual sacrifice, self-immolation, and mortification of all kinds?" Henry Dorie, martyr in Korea, who said: "Suffering is the dart or sting which goads us when our miserable indolence and cowardice would induce us to stop by the way; and which forces us, like un, villing beasts of burden, to push on, breathless and exhausted though we may be, to the end of our journey, which is Heaven. Sufferings are not only useful; they are necessary to an apost1e."