For the record, MSC Martyrs
We have some history of martyrs
The Baining Martyrs
These were the ten religious (two MSC priests, two MSC Brothers, five MSC Sisters and a Trappist Brother) who, along with several local people, were murdered on August 13, 1904, in The Gazelle Peninsula of New Britain. They were the first in the Chevalier Family to give their lives in the service of the mission.
From the MSC Siters site: During November of 1904 five young MSC Sisters, four MSC priests and brothers, and one Trappist died at the hands of angry natives in the Baining Mountains of New Britain. When Fr. Rascher repeatedly refused to condone the adultery of an influential man, the man gathered a band of natives and planned and executed the brutal massacre. The martyrdom of the five Sisters served to strengthen the young community’s resolve to be the Heart of God on earth. Volunteers quickly offered themselves as replacements, and in November of 1904, a relief expedition set out for the South Seas and the MSC Sisters continued to serve the people of New Britain. In fact, the number of MSC candidates swelled so dramatically following the martyrdom, that Fr. Linckens needed to find a new field for their missionary work.
Failure of the cause
The debated point, in simple language, is whether those who killed the ten Servants of God were acting out of hatred of religion (because the missionaries had opposed a case of adulter
y in the mission) or for cultural, political motives (because they saw the missionaries as agents of a foreign power who were opposed to their culture). These questions arose in the diocesan phase and were brought up by officials of the Congregation for the Saints in relation to both the first and the second Positio.
The Congregation for the Saints has informed us that unless we can find new evidence to support our claim of martyrdom, the cause cannot continue. We have, therefore, reluctantly decided not to pursue the cause and have so advised the Congregation.
The Martyrs of Canet del Mar
November 6th is the feast day of the seven MSC martyrs. Blessed Fathers Antonio Arribas, Abundio Martín, José Vergara, Josep-Oriol Issern and Brothers Gumersindo Gómez, Jésus Moreno and José del Almo were beatified in May 2017 and are the first members of our Congregation to be declared blessed.
These seven Missionaries of the Sacred Heart lived and worked in the Pequeña Obra (minor seminary) of Canet de Mar, Barcelona, preparing some 65 young people for religious life and priesthood. By their lives and by their deaths as martyrs, they give the fullest meaning to the motto of our Congregations: May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere!
The Quiche Martyrs
The ten martyrs, all tortured and murdered by security forces and death squads, were the priests José Maria Gran Cirera, Juan Alonso Fernandez, and Faustino Villanueva; and the seven laymen: Rosalío Benito, Reyes Us, Domingo del Barrio, Nicolás Castro, Tomás Ramírez, Miguel Tiú, and 12-year-old Juan Barrera Méndez.
Ted Harris MSC, Australia
From the first group of those ordained from Croydon, 1939, Ted Harris helped troops escape invading Japanese forces who executed him.
Every Man for Himself : the life of Father Edward Charles Harris, "martyr" of Mal Mal, the man who would not retreat
