Contemporary historians have problems with the accounts of early martyrs of the Roman church like Agnes, Cecilia, Anastasia, Sebastian, Lawrence, John and Paul– all honored in the Roman liturgy and commemorated in ancient churches throughout the city. We’re celebrating Sebastian, January 20, and Agnes, January 21, this month .

Our age wants facts, real evidence, so are the accounts of these early saints true?  One thing I find helpful when considering the early accounts of the Christian martyrs is to remember that Emperor Diocletian, who unleashed the last and greatest persecution of Christianity, wanted to completely obliterate Christianity throughout the Roman empire. Not only did he put many Christians to death, but also tried to destroy all their written records, scriptures, places where they prayed.  He wanted no record of their heroes, their saints and martyrs left.  The emperor succeeded in destroying most of the records kept by the church of Rome.

Stories about the Roman saints were then reconstructed by Christians after the persecutions, and these accounts, instead of looking like court records–a form they often took before– appeared as embellished legends.

Their stories, though embellished, are basically true. They were Christians who believed so strongly in Jesus Christ that they died for their belief. Not only popes, like Fabian, deacons like Lawrence, but young girls like Agnes, women like Cecilia, soldiers like Sebastian witnessed to their faith by dying for it.

The historian Peter Brown, in one of his brilliant books on early Christianity, offers an important insight into the martyrs. The Romans were not impressed so much by the bravery of these Christian martyrs–the Romans prided themselves for their ability to die bravely. Rather, they marveled at the vision of another world they saw them professing   as they died. They believed that world was far more glorious than this one, and Jesus Christ was their Lord and Savior, calling them on.

The legends of martyrs like Agnes, who dies surrounded by heavenly visions and miraculous signs, shows us  a heavenly world already revealed now in this one. Do they help us look ahead? I think so.

Take a look at the video on Saint Sebastian, above.