List of Christian martyrs
Martyrdom of St. Paul by Tintoretto
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
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
According to early sources
According to tradition
Age of Martyrdom—2nd to 4th centuries
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
With some historical attestation within a hundred years of the event
With some historical attestation more than a hundred years after the event
Largely or wholly legendary
Middle Ages—5th to 15th-centuries
Madonna and Child with St Peter Martyr , by Lorenzo Lotto
Joan of Arc being burned at the stake, by Jules-Eugène Lenepveu
Tewdrig , 6th c.[ 61]
Boethius , 6th c.[ 62]
Sigismund of Burgundy , 524[ 63]
Edwin of Northumbria , 633 in the Battle of Hatfield Chase [ 64]
Oswald of Northumbria , 642 in the Battle of Maserfield [ 65]
Projectus of Clermont , 676
Warinus of Poitiers , 677
Dagobert II of the Franks , 676[ 66]
Kilian , Colman , and Totnan , 689[ 67]
Fructus, Valentine & Engratia of Segovia , c. 715
Theofrid of Orange , 728/-32 by Saracens
Porcarius of Lérins , c. 732 by Saracens
Boniface , 754.[ 68]
Æthelberht II of East Anglia , 794
Martyrs of Iona , 806 by Vikings
Gohard of Nantes , 843 by Normans
Roderick , Eulogius , Perfectus , Laura , Flora and Maria , Aurelius and Natalia , Nunilo and Alodia , and other Martyrs of Cordoba , 850-59
Bertharius of Monte Cassino , 883 by Saracens
Edmund of East Anglia , 869.[ 69]
Ludmila of Bohemia , 921
Wiborada of St. Gall , 921 by Magyars
Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia , 935
King Edward the Martyr , 979.[ 70]
Adalbert of Prague , 997 by Old Prussians
Bruno of Querfurt , 1009
Jovan Vladimir , 1014
Olaf II of Norway , 1030 in the Battle of Stiklestad [ 71]
Gerard of Csanád , 1046
Stanislaus of Szczepanów , 1079
Canute IV of Denmark , 1086
Magnus Erlendsson of Orkney , 1117
William of Norwich , 1144 (cult suppressed)[ 72]
Eric IX of Sweden , 1161[ 73]
Thomas Becket , 1170 - The most famous martyr of the Middle Ages.[ 74]
Berard of Carbio and companions, 1220
Serapion of Algiers , 1240
Buzád Hahót , 1241
Peter of Verona , 1252 by Cathars - Canonized 11 months after his death; the fastest in history.
Martyrs of Sandomierz , 1260
Antonio Pavoni , 1374 by Waldensians
Tsar Lazar , 1389[ 75]
Nicholas Tavelic , 1391
John of Nepomuk , 1393[ 76]
Jan Huss (1415) and Jerome of Prague (1416) - executed for heresy by the Roman Catholic Council of Constance
Joan of Arc , 1431, French heroine[ 77]
Girolamo Savonarola , 1498
Dirk Willems etching from Martyrs Mirror
"Death of Cranmer ", from the 1887 Foxe's Book of Martyrs
Jan van Essen and Hendrik Vos , 1523, burned at the stake, early Lutheran martyrs
Jan de Bakker , 1525, burned at the stake
Martyrs of Tlaxcala , 1527-1529
Felix Manz , 1527
Patrick Hamilton , 1528, burned at the stake, early Lutheran martyr
George Blaurock , 1529
Thomas More , 1535, executed
John Fisher , 1535[ 78]
William Tyndale , 1535
Carthusian Martyrs , 1535–1537
Arthur of Glastonbury , 1539
Margaret Pole , 1541
Juan de Padilla , Spanish missionary to New Mexico , 1542
Mannar Catholic martyrs (1544)
Anne Askew , 1546
George Wishart , 1546
Luis de Cancer , Spanish missionary to La Florida , 1549
Lady Jane Grey , 1554
Hugh Latimer , 1555
Nicholas Ridley , 1555
Rowland Taylor , 1555
John Hooper , 1555
John Rogers , 1555
William Hunter , 1555
Lawrence Saunders , 1555
Thomas Cranmer , 1556
Guido de Bres , 1567
Dirk Willems , 1569
The Fifty Two Martyrs of Brazil, 1570-1571, including:
Martyrs of Gorkum , 1572, including:
Edmund Campion , 1581
Margaret Ball , 1584
The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales , various dates
Modern Era—17th to 21st centuries
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
Martyrs of Japan , 1597-1639, (see also Kakure Kirishitan )
Francis Taylor , 1621
Ketevan the Martyr , 1624
Vietnamese Martyrs , 1625 - 1886
Magdalene of Nagasaki , 1634
Lorenzo Ruiz , 1637
Canadian Martyrs , North American Martyrs , 1642–1649
Arthur Bell , 1643
Martyrs of Natal 1645, including:
Isaac Jogues , 1646
John de Britto , 1647–1693, born in Portugal and beheaded in India
Francis Ferdinand de Capillas , 1648, missionary to China
Diego Luis de San Vitores , and Pedro Calungsod , 1672
Feodosia Morozova , 1675, Russian Old Believer
Oliver Plunkett , 1681, Archbishop of Armagh
Felipe Songsong , 1685
Salem Witch Trials , 1692
Devasahayam Pillai , 1712-1752
Constantin Brâncoveanu , 1714
Jean-Pierre Aulneau , Jean Baptiste de La Vérendrye , and 19 other voyageurs , 1736
Vicente Liem de la Paz , 1773
Luís Jayme , Spanish missionary to Alta California , 1775
Cosmas of Aetolia , 1779
Francisco Garcés , Spanish missionary to Alta California , 1781
Martyrs of Compiegne , 1794
Andrés Quintana , Spanish missionary to Alta California , 1812
Chinese Martyrs (various Christian denominations), 19th and 20th centuries
Pedro Marieluz Garces , 1825
Tārore , 1836
Andrew Dung-Lac , 1839, Vietnamese Catholic
Joseph Smith , 1844[ 79]
Hyrum Smith , 1844
Korean Martyrs , 1839, 1846, 1866
Peter Chanel , 1841
Andrew Kim Taegon , 1846
Marcus Whitman , Narcissa Whitman , and companions , 1847
The Massabki Brothers , 1860
Lucy Yi Zhenmei , one of the 19th century Chinese Catholic Martyrs , 1862
Thomas Baker , 1867, English missionary killed and eaten, Fiji
Martyrs of the Paris Commune , 1871
Martyrs of Uganda , 1885–1887
Victor Emilio Moscoso Cárdenas , 1897
Amandina of Schakkebroek , 1900
Maria Goretti , 1902, died defending herself from being raped
Karolina Kózka , 1914
Armenian Martyrs , 1915-1923[ 80]
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna , 1918
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Family , 1918
Nun Barbara (Yakovleva) , 1918
James Coyle , 1921
Gregory of Cydonia , 1922
Manuel Gómez González , 1924
Adílio Daronch , 1924
Saints of the Cristero War 1926–1927, including:
Toribio Romo González , 1928
Manche Masemola , 1913–1928
José Sánchez del Río 1928
Albertina Berkenbrock , 1931
Innocencio of Mary Immaculate , 1934
John and Betty Stam , 1934
Antonia Mesina , 1935
Bartolome Blanco Marquez , 1936
Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War 1934, 1936–1939
Alexander Hotovitzky , 1937
Peter of Jesus Maldonado , 1937
Paul Schneider (pastor) , 1939
Martyrs of Songkhon , 1940
Maximilian Kolbe , 1941, murdered in Auschwitz
Benigna Cardoso da Silva , 1941
Edith Stein , 1942, murdered in Auschwitz
Gorazd , 1942, Bishop of Prague
Lucian Tapiedi , 1942
Franz Jägerstätter , 1943
Sophie Scholl , 1921-1943, a devout Lutheran executed by the Nazis for her anti-Nazi activism
Maria Restituta Kafka , 1943
Józef and Wiktoria Ulma with seven children , 1944
Giuseppe Beotti , 1944
Anna Kolesárová , 1944
Dusty Miller , 1945, a Methodist layman killed in a World War II Japanese administered POW camp in Thailand
Marcel Callo , 1945
Dietrich Bonhoeffer , 1945, Lutheran pastor and member of the German Resistance
Rolando Rivi , fourteen-year-old seminarian, 1945
Peter To Rot , 1945
Vincentas Borisevičius , 1946
Martyrs of Albania , 1945-1974
Theodore Romzha , 1947, Ruthenian Eparch of Mukachevo
Nykyta Budka , 1949, Ukrainian Bishop of Canada , died in Soviet gulag
Beda Chang , 1951
Alberto Hurtado , 1952
Francis Xavier Ford , 1952
Petro Pavlo Oros , 1953
Mečislovas Reinys , 1953
Martyrs of Laos , 1954-1970
Zdenka Cecilia Schelingová , 1955
Jim Elliot , 1956
Nate Saint , 1956, killed while attempting to evangelize the Waodani people
Ed McCully , 1956
Pete Fleming , 1956
Roger Youderian , 1956
Pierina Morosini , 1957
Veronica Antal , 1958
Esther John 1929–1960, Found Killed in Chichawatni commemorated at Westminster Abbey .
Marie-Clémentine Anuarite Nengapeta , 1964
Martin Luther King Jr. , Baptist minister, theologian, civil rights leader, 1968
Wang Zhiming , 1973, Chinese pastor, publicly executed
Martyrs of La Rioja , 1976
Janani Jakaliya Luwum , 1977, Archbishop of Uganda
Abuna Theophilos , 1979, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
Gudina Tumsa , 1979, Ethiopian theologian
Óscar Romero , 1980, Archbishop of San Salvador
Luís Espinal Camps , 1980, Jesuit priest
Ita Ford , 1980
Maura Clarke , 1980
Dorothy Kazel , 1980
Jean Donovan , 1980
Stanley Rother , 1981
Isabel Cristina Mrad Campos , 1982[ 81]
Jerzy Popiełuszko , 1984
Santa Scorese , 1991
Marta Obregón Rodríguez , 1992
Lindalva Justo de Oliveira , 1993
Martyrs of Algeria , 1994-1996
Rani Maria Vattalil , 1995
19 martyrs of Algeria , 1996
Graham Staines , 1999, in India [ 82]
Kosheh Martyrs , 1998–2000, Egypt
Maria Laura Mainetti , 2000, Catholic nun murdered in a satanic ritual[ 83]
Rufus Halley , 2001
David Paget , 2001
Martin Burnham , 2002
Mary Stachowicz , 2002
Dorothy Mae Stang , 2005[ 84]
Andrea Santoro , 2006
Fabianus Tibo , 2006
Leonella Sgorbati , 2006
Ragheed Ganni and companions, 2007
Paulos Faraj Rahho , 2008, Chaldean Archeparch of Mosul
Nicholas Pillai Pakiaranjith , 2008
2008 Kandhamal violence , 2008
Vivian Uchechi Ogu , 2009
Nag Hammadi martyrs , Egypt 2010
Baghdad martyrs , 2010
Luigi Padovese , 2011
Shahbaz Bhatti , 2011
Nigerian martyrs , 2012
Frans van der Lugt , 2014
Christians (ن) martyred by ISIL , 2014-2019
21 Coptic Martyrs of Libya , 2015
Akash Bashir , 2015
Jacques Hamel , Normandy 2016
Cairo martyrs , 2016
Alexandria martyrs , 2017
Sutherland Springs martyrs , 2017
John Allen Chau , 2018
Sri Lankan martyrs , 2019
Owo martyrs , 2022
Plateau martyrs , 2023
See also
References
^ Matthew 2:16–18
^ Matthew 14:1–12
^ Acts 7:54–60
^ Acts 12:1–2
^ Revelation 2:13
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^ Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians , Chapter XII
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^ Hubertus Drobner, Der heilige Pankratius: Leben, Legende und Verehrung 2nd rev. ed. 2005.
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^ Saint Joan of Arc Virgin, Martyr (1412-1431)
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^ Ghazanchyan, Siranush. "Canonization of the Martyrs of the Armenian Genocide: Message of His Holiness Karekin II" . Public Radio of Armenia . Retrieved 28 September 2018 .
^ Pope prays new 20-year-old blessed will inspire young people
^ Bearak, Barry (3 September 1999). "Baripada Journal; Forgiving Her Family's Killers, but Not Their Sins" . The New York Times .
^ Pope Francis declares Catholic sister killed in Satanic ritual a martyr
^ Sister Dorothy Stang: a martyr for God’s poor and God’s creation