Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/789

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the reason that Petrovich, the second guardian of the king, was on the side of the new doctrine. In his own diocese of Grosswardein, Martinuzzi battled energeti- cally with the innovations, though he could not pre- vent their progress in Siebenbiirgen. A reliable his- torical account of this remarkable man has not yet been compiled.

Bechet, Hisloire du ministhe du cardinal Mariinusius (Paris, 1771); Utjesenovic, Leben»geachicfUe des Kardinal Oeorg Utr jeaenovic o^nannt Martinu3iua (Vienna, 1881); Schwtckbr, Kard. Mariinuxzi und die Reformation in Unoam und Si^ten^ bUrgen {Oeaterr. Vierteljahrachrift fiir kaih. Theologie, 1867, VI, 397 ff.); Mailath, Oeschichie der Moffyaren, III,_(Renge8burg, 1863). 59 sq., 94 sq.. 112 sq., 116 sq.; WsiSB, Wdtgesehiehte, 3 ed., VUI, 68-70, 116.

J. P. KiRSCH.

Martm y Oarcia, Luis, twenty-fourth General of the Society of Jesus; b. of humble parentage at Mel- ear de Femamental, Burgos, Spain, 19 August, 1846; d. at Fiesole, Italy, 18 April, 1906. After a course of six years in the seminary of Burgos, he entered the Society at Loyola, in 1864; studied philosophy at L^on, VsJs (Haute-Loire, France), and Poyanne (Landes, France), and theology at the last-named place, where he also taught theology. He was or- dained priest in 1876, was successively rector of the seminaiy at Salamanca, director of '^El Mensajero (The Messenger), superior of the college of Deusto- Bilbao, provmcial of Castile, and vicar; and was general of the Society from 2 October, 1892, until his death. The disease (sarcoma) which ended his life necessitated the amputation of an arm and other pain- ful operations, which he bore with Christian fortitude. His superior talents were shown in such splendid works as the rebuilding of the great seminary at Sala- manca, the foundation of the Comillense seminary, and his plan for compiling the history of the Society. In prose he wrote with a nervous and graceful style, m verse with a robust sonority and great wealth of imagery, while as a preacher the elegance of his diction, the profoundity ol his thought, and his emotional warmth made him almost unrivalled among the Span- ish orators of his time. His published woi^ include: " Discm-so leido en el tercer centenario de la muerte de Sta. Teresa" (discourse on St. Teresa's centenary), ^Madrid, 1882; Bilbao, 1891; Barcelona, 1908); "De Studiis Theologicis ordinandis" (Bilbao, 1892); an epistle to the fathers and brothers of the society; articles in "El Mensajero", I (1886), of which he was editor for some years; and some uncollected poems.

Hozrfn V F«. XV (Madrid). 141-66; 279-92; La Crut, I (Madrid, 1893), 146: I (1906), 415; Diceionario hteielonSdico Hispano^mericano, jd^ (Barcelona, 1893); Letters and Notices (London, 1906-07).

Antonio Perez (jotena.

Mart3rr. — ^The Greek word udprvt signifies a wit- ness who testifies to a fact of which he bob knowledge from personal observation. It is in this sense that the term first appears in Christian Uterature; the Apostles were "witnesses" of all that they had observecl in the public life of Christ, as well as of all they had learned from His teaching, "in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts, i, 8). St. Peter, in his adoress to the Apostles and disciples relative to the election of a successor to Judas, employs the term with this mean- ing: "Wherefore, of these men who have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus cfjne in and went out among us, beginning from the aaptism of John until the day he was taken up from us, one of these must be made witness with us of his resurrection" (Acts, i, 22). In his first public discourse the chief of the Apostles speaks of himself and his companions as "witnesses" who saw the risen Christ, ana subse- quently, after the miraculous escape of the Apostles from prison, when brought a second time before the tribimal, Peter again alludes to the twelve as witnesses k? Chiiat, as the I^ince and Saviour of Israel, Who


rose from the dead; and added that in giving their public testimony to the facts, of which they were cer- tain, they must obey God rather than man (Acts, v, 29 sqa.)- In his First Epistle St. Peter also refers to himself as a "witness of the sufferings of Christ" (I Pet., V. 1).

But even in these first examples of the use of the word ijuipryt in Christian terminology a new shade of meaning is already noticeable, in addition to the ac- cepted signification of the term. The disciples of Christ were no ordinary witnesses such as those who gave testimony in a court of justice. These latter ran no risk in bearing testimony to facts that came under their observation, whereas the witnesses of Christ were brought face to face daily, from the beginning of their apostolate, with the possibility of incurring severe punishment and even death itself. Thus, St. Stephen was a witness who early in the history of Christianity sealed his testimony with his blood. The careers of the Apostles were at all times beset with dangers of the gravest character, until eventually they all suffered the last penaltvfor their convictions. Thus, within the lifetime of the Apostles, the term /tdpTvs came to be used in the sense of a witness who at any time might be called upon to deny what he testi- fied to, under penalty of death. From this stage the transition was easy to the ordinary meaning of the term, as used ever since in Christian literature: a martyr, or witness of Christ, is a person who, though he has never seen nor heard the Divine Founder of the Church, is yet so firmly convinced of the truths of the Christian religion, that he gladly suffers death rather than deny it. St. John, at the end of the first cen- tury, employs the word with this meaning; Antipas, a convert from paganism, is spoken of as a " faithful witness (fidftrvs) who was slain among you. where Satan dwelleth " (Apoc., ii, 13). Further on the same Apostle speaks of the "souls of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the testimony (jtofirvpUui) which they held" (Apoc., vi, 9).

Yet, it was only by degrees, in the course of the first age of the Church, that the term martyr came to be exclusively applied to those who had died for the faith. The grandsons of St. Jude, for example, on their escape from the peril they underwent when cited before Domitian were afterwards regarded as nuirtyrs (Euseb., "Hist, eccl.'^ Ill, xx, xxxii). The famous confessors of Lyons, who endured so bravely awful tortures for their belief, were looked upon by iJ^eir fellow-Christians as martyrs, but they themselves de- clined this title as of right belonging only to Ihose who had actuallv died: "They are already martyrs whom Christ has deemed worth v to be taken up in their con- fession, having sealed their testimony by their de- parture; but we are confessors mean and lowly" (Euseb., op. cit., V, ii). This distinction between martyrs and confessors is thus traceable to the latter part of the second century: those only were martyrs who had suffered the extreme penalty, whereas the title of confessors was given to Christians who had shown their willingness to die for their belief, by bravely enduring imprisonment or torture, but were not put to death. Yet the term martyr was still some- iimes applied during the third century to persons still living, as, for instance, by St. Cyprian, who gave the title of martyrs to a number of bishops, priests, and laymen condemned to penal servitude in the mines (Ep. 76). Tertullian speaks of those arrested as Christians and not yet condemned as marhires denff" nati. In the fourth century, St. Gregory of Nasiansus alludes to St. Basil as "a martyr", but evidently em- plovs the term in the broad sense in which the word is still sometimes applied to a person who has borne many and grave hardships in the cause of Christianity. The description of a martyr given by the ^agan his- torian Anunianus Marcelunus (XXII, xni), ^owb that by the middle of the fourth century the title wm