THE GLORY OF THE MARTYRS.
We shall now contemplate the glory of the vast multitude of the blessed, who surround the thrones of Jesus and Mary. I quote from the Apocalypse: "After this, I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues: standing before the throne, and in the sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands."* This glorious multitude represents all the blessed. They may be divided into eight classes, namely, the martyrs, the doctors and confessors, the virgins, the religious, the penitents, the pious people, those of inferior virtue, and the baptized infants. In this chapter we shall consider the glory of the Martyrs.
* Apoc. vii. 9.
See that beautiful army of martyrs—these brave soldiers of Jesus Christ—who died or Him, and like him, in the midst of the most cruel torments. Theirs is truly "a crown of justice." They are represented as holding palms in their hands, in token of the victory which they gained over the world. Their intimate union with God, the dazzling splendor of their personal appearance, the high honors conferred upon them, single them out at once as those champions of the faith who, while on earth, served God in a heroic degree. And they certainly served Him with distinction; for they proved their love by laying down their lives for Him. Laying down one's life for God has always been looked upon as the most perfect act of love possible; for "Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends."* Hence, the martyrs, as a class, have always been considered as deserving the highest honors of heaven.
* John xv. 18.
The beautiful words of the Holy Ghost in reference to all the just apply with peculiar force to the martyrs: "But the souls of the just are in the hand of God: and the torment of death shall not touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure was taken for misery: and their going away from us for utter destruction; but they are in peace. And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality. Afflicted in a few things, in many they shall be rewarded: because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace, He hath proved them; and as the victim of a holocaust, he hath received them."*
* Wis. iii.
What a bright and beautiful crowd they are! As a garden is beautified by flowers, so is heaven made more beautiful by the radiant crimson-clad army of martyrs. Here is St. John the Baptist, the fearless precursor of Jesus. Here is the glorious St. Stephen, the first who laid down his life after the ascension of Jesus. Here are the holy Apostles, those intrepid soldiers of Christ, who went forth from the council, rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus. The prediction of their Divine Master was verified in them: "For they shall deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for my sake. . . . And you shall be hated by all men for my sake."* . . . "Yea, the hour cometh that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doeth a service to God."+
* Matt. x. + John xvi.
But in spite of all this hatred and persecution, they sowed the seed of the word of God in the hearts of men, and watered it with their own blood. They now enjoy a peculiar glory in heaven; for, besides the glory which belongs to them as martyrs, they also enjoy that which belongs to them as Apostles, promised to them in these words of our blessed Lord: "Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the seat of His majesty, you shall also sit on twelve seats, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."*