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List of Christian martyrs

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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.

Apostolic Age—1st century

Image:Martyrdom of Saint Stephen by Giovanni Andrea De Ferrari (1598-1669), undated, oil on copper - Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti - DSC02144.JPG (1598-1669)]]

Image:Crucifixion of Saint Peter-Caravaggio (c.1600).jpg by Caravaggio (1601)]]

= According to the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles =

= According to early sources =

  • James, brother of Jesus{{cite book|last1=Lyons|first1=George|title=Antiquities of the Jews - Book XX, Chapter 9|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/josephus/ant-20.htm|access-date=6 December 2016}} - attested by Josephus ca. AD 94
  • Simon Peter, first attested by Tertullian about AD 200{{cite web|last1=Quintus Septimius Florens|first1=Tertullian|title=Prescription Against Heretics Chapter XXXVI|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf03.v.iii.xxxvi.html|publisher=ccel.org|access-date=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."
  • Paul the Apostle, first attested by Ignatius of Antioch probably about AD 110Ignatius of Antioch, [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.v.ii.xii.html Letter to the Ephesians, Chapter XII]

=According to tradition=

  • Andrew the ApostleThe 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.
  • Matthew the Apostle{{cite web|url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10056b.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Matthew}}
  • Philip the Apostle{{Cite web|url = http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf08|title = Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8|access-date = 14 March 2007|website = Christian Classics Ethereal Library|last = Schaff|first = Philip|year = 1885}}
  • Thomas the Apostle{{cite book|last=Farmer|first=David|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Fifth Edition Revised|year=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=418|isbn=978-0199596607}}
  • Jude Thaddeus{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01601a.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Apocrypha}}
  • Bartholomew{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02313c.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Bartholomew}}
  • James, son of Alphaeus{{cite web|url= https://faith.nd.edu/s/1210/faith/interior.aspx?sid=1210&gid=609&pgid=14497&cid=29944&ecid=29944&crid=0|title=Faith ND:St. James, son of Alphaeus}}
  • Barnabas{{cite book|last1=Cross|first1=Frank Leslie|last2=Livingstone|first2=Elizabeth A.|title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fUqcAQAAQBAJ|year=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=160|isbn=978-0-19-280290-3}}
  • Simon Zelotes{{cite web|url=http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-simon-the-apostle/|title=Saint Simon the Apostle|last=Jones|first=Terry H|date=6 January 2009|publisher= Saints.SQPN.com|access-date=29 March 2010}}{{cite web|url=http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=241|title=St. Simon of Zealot|publisher=Catholic Online|access-date=29 March 2010}}
  • Mark the EvangelistPope Shenouda III. The Beholder of God Mark the Evangelist Saint and Martyr, Chapter Seven. [http://tasbeha.org/content/hh_books/Stmark/ Tasbeha.org]
  • Luke the Evangelist {{cite web|url= https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Luke#:~:text=According%20to%20ancient%20sources%2C%20St,original%20burial%20place%20in%20Thebes.|title=Encyclopedia Brittanca: Saint Luke}}
  • Timothy{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14727b.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Epistles to Timothy and Titus}}
  • Philemon{{cite web|url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11797b.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Philemon}}

Age of Martyrdom—2nd to 4th centuries

File:Giovanni di Paolo 002.jpg and Saint Sebastian, Giovanni di Paolo]]

Image:DublinTrinityCollegeMSEi40LifeAlbanFol38rMartyrdomAlban.jpg, 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=

==With some historical attestation within a hundred years of the event==

  • Polycarp of Smyrna[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wace/biodict.html?term=Polycarpus,%20bishop%20of%20Smyrna 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".
  • Justin MartyrLebreton, J. (1910). [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08580c.htm St. Justin Martyr]. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
  • Scillitan Martyrs[http://www.dacb.org/stories/tunisia/speratus_.html Smith, Clyde Curry. "Speratus", Dictionary of African Christian Biography, 2004]
  • Perpetua and Felicity[http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1315 Foley O.F.M., Leonard. Saint of the Day, (revised by Pat McCloskey O.F.M.), Franciscan Media] {{ISBN|978-0-86716-887-7}}
  • Ptolemaeus and Lucius[http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/s2centy.htm Latin Saints of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Rome]
  • Pothinus, bishop of Lyon, with Blandina and several others, the "Martyrs of Lyon and Vienne"[http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=17-05-023-f Whitehead, Kenneth D. "Witnesses of the Passion", Touchstone Magazine][http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/177-lyonsmartyrs.asp "The Letter of the Churchs of Vienna and Lyons to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia", Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham University]
  • Pope Fabian{{CathEncy|wstitle= Pope St. Fabian |volume= 5 |last= Meier |first= P. Gabriel |author-link= |short=1 }}
  • Sebastian{{cite book|author=Fr. Paolo O. Pirlo, SHMI|title=My First Book of Saints|year=1997|publisher=Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate - Quality Catholic Publications|isbn=971-91595-4-5|pages=22–23|chapter=St. Sebastian}}
  • Shmona and Gurya{{cite book |last1=Millar |first1=Fergus |title=The Roman Near East, 31 B.C.-A.D. 337 |date=1993 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn= 978-0-674-77886-3}}
  • Agnes of Rome{{Cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf210.iv.vii.ii.ii.html |title=NPNF210. Ambrose: Selected Works and Letters - Christian Classics Ethereal Library |publisher=Ccel.org |date=2005-06-01 |access-date=2009-01-21}}
  • Felix and Adauctus{{cite web|title=Sts. Felix and Adauctus|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06032b.htm|website=Catholic Encyclopedia|access-date=21 December 2016}}
  • Marcellinus and Peter{{cite web|url=http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/27550|author=Amore, Agostino|title= Santi Marcellino e Pietro|date=5 Nov 2008|publisher=Santi e Beati|access-date=January 9, 2009}}
  • Forty Martyrs of SebasteHomilies xix in P.G., XXXI, 507 sqq.
  • Euphemia[http://www.antiochian.org/node/16741 "St. Euphemia the All-Praised", Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese]
  • Cyprian[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04583b.htm Chapman, John. "St. Cyprian of Carthage." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 15 Jan. 2013]
  • Athenogenes of Pedachtoë{{cite encyclopedia

| last =Nicholson

| first =Oliver

| editor-last=Nicholson

| editor-first=Oliver

| title =Athenogenes of Pedachthoe

| encyclopedia =The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity

| pages =172

| publisher =Oxford University Press

| language =English

| date =2018

| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=A09WDwAAQBAJ

| isbn = 9780192562463

| accessdate = 2024-09-12}}

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

  • Alban{{cite web|last=Bede|title=Ecclesiastical History of the English People|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-book1.asp|work=Internet History Sourcebook|publisher=Fordham University|access-date=3 November 2013}}
  • Ignatius of Antioch[http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/jerome_chronicle_03_part2.htm Chronicle, from the Latin translation of Jerome, p. 276.]
  • Gelasinus{{cite book|last1=Butler|first1=Alban|title=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|date=1799|publisher=J. Moir for J. P. Coghlan|location=Edinburgh|edition=3rd}}
  • Lawrence of Rome{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09089a.htm|title=Kirsch, Johann Peter. "St. Lawrence." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 9 February 2013}}
  • Lucy{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09414a.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Lucy}}
  • PancrasHubertus Drobner, Der heilige Pankratius: Leben, Legende und Verehrung 2nd rev. ed. 2005.
  • Vincent of Saragossa[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15434b.htm Mershman, Francis. "St. Vincent." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 12 Feb. 2015]
  • Benedicta of Monacilioni{{cite web |title=St. Benedicta |url=https://olmcsi.org/st-benedicta |website=olmcsi.org |access-date=23 June 2024}}
  • Petronilla{{CathEncy|wstitle= St. Petronilla |volume= 11 |last= Kirsch |first= Johann Peter |author-link= Johann Peter Kirsch |short=1 }}

= Largely or wholly legendary =

  • Afra[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01180b.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "St. Afra." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 12 Apr. 2013]
  • George{{cite book|last1=Attwater|first1=Donald|title=Dictionary of Saints|year=1995|orig-year=1965|location=London|publisher=Penguin Reference|edition=Third}}
  • Januarius{{Cite Catholic Encyclopedia | wstitle =St. Januarius | author =Herbert Thurston}}
  • Valentine"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".
  • Philomena{{cite web|title=St. Philomena| url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12025b.htm| website=Catholic Encyclopedia}}
  • Behnam[https://books.google.com/books?id=Cmey73GtfuUC&pg=PA191&lpg=PA191 Two thousand years of Coptic Christianity], Otto Friedrich August Meinardus
  • Wilgefortis{{cite web|title=Wilgefortis| url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15622a.htm| website=Catholic Encyclopedia}}
  • Cecilia[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03471b.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "St. Cecilia", The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 24 April 2013.]
  • Catherine of Alexandria{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03445a.htm |title=Clugnet, Léon. "St. Catherine of Alexandria." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 1 May 2013 |publisher=Newadvent.org |date=1908-11-01 |access-date=2013-08-26}}
  • Vitus the Martyr{{CathEncy|wstitle= Sts. Vitus, Modestus, and Crescentia |volume= 15 |last= Kirsch |first= Johann Peter |author-link= Johann Peter Kirsch |short=1 }}
  • Pelagia of Tarsus{{CathEncy|wstitle= Pelagia |volume= 11 |last= Kirsch |first= Johann Peter |author-link= Johann Peter Kirsch |short=1 }}
  • Sophia the Martyr and her three daughters Faith, Hope and Charity{{cite web|title=Saint Sophia| url=http://www.antiochian.org/saint_sophia| website=Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America}}

Middle Ages—5th to 15th-centuries

{{More citations needed|date=July 2023}}

File:Աւարայրի դիւցազները.png with his soldiers during the Battle of Avarayr (451 AD), where he became a martyr.]]

Image:Lorenzo Lotto - Madonna and Child with St Peter Martyr - WGA13648.jpg]]

Image:Joan of arc burning at stake.jpg being burned at the stake, by Jules-Eugène Lenepveu]]

  • Vardan Mamikonian, 451 in the Battle of Avarayr{{Cite book |last=Miloyan |first=Beyon |title=History of Vartan and the Armenian War |date=March 1, 2021 |publisher=Sophene |isbn=1925937437 |edition=1st |language=English}}- First battle in defense of the Christian faith.{{Cite book |last=Agadjanian |first=Alexander |title=Armenian christianity today: identity politics and popular practice |date=2014 |publisher=Ashgate |isbn=978-1-4724-1271-3 |location=Farnham}}

[[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] Era—16th century

{{more citations needed section|date=December 2016}}

Image:Dirk.willems.rescue.ncs.jpg etching from Martyrs Mirror]]

File:Joseph Martin Kronheim - Foxe's Book of Martyrs Plate VII - Death of Cranmer.jpg", from the 1887 Foxe's Book of Martyrs]]

Modern Era—17th to 21st centuries

{{more citations needed|section|date=November 2022}}

Image:Boyaryna Morozova by V.Surikov (1884-1887, Tretyakov gallery) detail 01.jpg, an Old Believer being arrested by Czarist authorities]]

Image:Death of Father Jayme.jpg by the hands of angry natives at Mission San Diego de Alcalá in Alta California, November 4, 1775]]

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

{{History of Christianity}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian Martyrs}}

Martyr

Martyr

Category:Persecution of early Christians