List of Christian martyrs

This is a list of reputed martyrs of Christianity; it includes only notable people with Wikipedia articles. Not all Christian confessions accept every figure on this list as a martyr or Christian—see the linked articles for fuller discussion. In many types of Christianity, martyrdom is considered a direct path to sainthood and many names on this list are viewed as saints in one or more confessions.

Martyrdom of St. Paul by Tintoretto

Apostolic Age—1st century

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Martyrdom of Saint Stephen by Giovanni Andrea de Ferrari (1598-1669)
 
The crucifixion of Saint Peter by Caravaggio (1601)

According to the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles

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According to early sources

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According to tradition

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Age of Martyrdom—2nd to 4th centuries

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Pope St. Fabian and Saint Sebastian, Giovanni di Paolo
 
The martyrdom of St. Alban, from a 13th-century manuscript, now in the Trinity College Library, Dublin. Note the executioner's eyes falling out of his head

According to early Christian tradition

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With some historical attestation within a hundred years of the event

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With some historical attestation more than a hundred years after the event

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Largely or wholly legendary

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Middle Ages—5th to 15th-centuries

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Madonna and Child with St Peter Martyr, by Lorenzo Lotto
 
Joan of Arc being burned at the stake, by Jules-Eugène Lenepveu

Reformation Era—16th century

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Dirk Willems etching from Martyrs Mirror
 
"Death of Cranmer", from the 1887 Foxe's Book of Martyrs

Modern Era—17th to 21st centuries

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Feodosia Morozova, an Old Believer being arrested by Czarist authorities
 
An illustration depicts the brutal death of Father Luís Jayme by the hands of angry natives at Mission San Diego de Alcalá in Alta California, November 4, 1775

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Matthew 2:16–18
  2. ^ Matthew 14:1–12
  3. ^ Acts 7:54–60
  4. ^ Acts 12:1–2
  5. ^ Revelation 2:13
  6. ^ Lyons, George. Antiquities of the Jews - Book XX, Chapter 9. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  7. ^ Quintus Septimius Florens, Tertullian. "Prescription Against Heretics Chapter XXXVI". ccel.org. Retrieved 1 June 2015. "Since, moreover, you are close upon Italy, you have Rome, from which there comes even into our own hands the very authority (of apostles themselves). How happy is its church, on which apostles poured forth all their doctrine along with their blood; where Peter endures a passion like his Lord's; where Paul wins his crown in a death like John's[the Baptist]; where the Apostle John was first plunged, unhurt, into boiling oil, and thence remitted to his island-exile."
  8. ^ Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians, Chapter XII
  9. ^ The legends surrounding Andrew are discussed in F. Dvornik, "The Idea of Apostolicity in Byzantium and the Legend of the Apostle Andrew", Dumbarton Oaks Studies, IV (Cambridge) 1958.
  10. ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Matthew".
  11. ^ Schaff, Philip (1885). "Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8". Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Retrieved 14 March 2007.
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  13. ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Apocrypha".
  14. ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Bartholomew".
  15. ^ "Faith ND:St. James, son of Alphaeus".
  16. ^ Cross, Frank Leslie; Livingstone, Elizabeth A. (2005). The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3.
  17. ^ Jones, Terry H (6 January 2009). "Saint Simon the Apostle". Saints.SQPN.com. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
  18. ^ "St. Simon of Zealot". Catholic Online. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
  19. ^ Pope Shenouda III. The Beholder of God Mark the Evangelist Saint and Martyr, Chapter Seven. Tasbeha.org
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  21. ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Epistles to Timothy and Titus".
  22. ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Philemon".
  23. ^ Henry Wace, Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D., with an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies, s.v. "Polycarpus, bishop of Smyrna".
  24. ^ Lebreton, J. (1910). St. Justin Martyr. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
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  29. ^ "The Letter of the Churchs of Vienna and Lyons to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia", Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham University
  30. ^ Meier, P. Gabriel (1909). "Pope St. Fabian" . Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5.
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  35. ^ Amore, Agostino (5 Nov 2008). "Santi Marcellino e Pietro". Santi e Beati. Retrieved January 9, 2009.
  36. ^ Homilies xix in P.G., XXXI, 507 sqq.
  37. ^ "St. Euphemia the All-Praised", Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese
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  41. ^ Chronicle, from the Latin translation of Jerome, p. 276.
  42. ^ Butler, Alban (1799). The Lives of the Primitive Fathers, Martyrs, and other Principal Saints: Compiled from Original Monuments, and other Authentic Records: Illustrated with the Remarks of Judicious Modern Critics and Historians (3rd ed.). Edinburgh: J. Moir for J. P. Coghlan.
  43. ^ Hubertus Drobner, Der heilige Pankratius: Leben, Legende und Verehrung 2nd rev. ed. 2005.
  44. ^ "XVI kalendas Martii Interamnae Via Flaminia miliario ab Urbe Roma LXIII natale Valentini." In J. B. de Rossi, p. 20 (XVI KL. MAR.). See also M. Schoepflin, p. 40: "the original text".
  45. ^ "St. Benedicta". olmcsi.org. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
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  47. ^ Kirsch, Johann Peter. "St. Afra." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 12 Apr. 2013
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  49. ^ Herbert Thurston (1913). "St. Januarius" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  50. ^ "St. Philomena". Catholic Encyclopedia.
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  52. ^ Two thousand years of Coptic Christianity, Otto Friedrich August Meinardus
  53. ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Lucy".
  54. ^ "Wilgefortis". Catholic Encyclopedia.
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  56. ^ Kirsch, Johann Peter. "St. Cecilia", The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 24 April 2013.
  57. ^ "Clugnet, Léon. "St. Catherine of Alexandria." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 1 May 2013". Newadvent.org. 1908-11-01. Retrieved 2013-08-26.
  58. ^ Kirsch, Johann Peter (1912). "Sts. Vitus, Modestus, and Crescentia" . Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15.
  59. ^ Kirsch, Johann Peter (1911). "Pelagia" . Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11.
  60. ^ "Saint Sophia". Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.
  61. ^ Löffler, Klemens (1912). "Tewdrig" . Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14.
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  68. ^ Mershman, Francis (1907). "St. Boniface" . Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2.
  69. ^ Phillips, George Edward (1909). "St. Edmund the Martyr" . Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5.
  70. ^ Phillips, George Edward (1909). "St. Edward the Martyr" . Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5.
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  77. ^ Saint Joan of Arc Virgin, Martyr (1412-1431)
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  79. ^ Weimer, Adiran Chastain (February 27, 2017). Barton, John (ed.). "Martyrdom and Religion in North America". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.433. ISBN 978-0-19-934037-8.
  80. ^ Ghazanchyan, Siranush. "Canonization of the Martyrs of the Armenian Genocide: Message of His Holiness Karekin II". Public Radio of Armenia. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  81. ^ Pope prays new 20-year-old blessed will inspire young people
  82. ^ Bearak, Barry (3 September 1999). "Baripada Journal; Forgiving Her Family's Killers, but Not Their Sins". The New York Times.
  83. ^ Pope Francis declares Catholic sister killed in Satanic ritual a martyr
  84. ^ Sister Dorothy Stang: a martyr for God’s poor and God’s creation