On Martyrdom and History

by Nate Van Denend, Contributing Editor

Franz Jagerstatter, an Austrian Roman Catholic, was killed by the Nazis in 1943 for refusing to join the Nazi army. The Roman Catholic Church beatified him on October 26. He was a poor man with limited education. His friends and neighbors, even his bishop tried to dissuade him from his refusal to associate with the Nazis. Considered mad by some for refusing compromise, he put flesh on the words of discipleship, “Take up your cross and follow me.” He died a martyr.

Reformation Day was a little over a month ago. This day is a Protestant substitution for All Saints Day, the ghost of which still lingers every time a Protestant participates in the rituals of All Hallows Eve. Arguably this substitution was a necessary one. The saints had become demigods in some people’s minds, powerful and more accessible than the perceived distant One True God. So in the name of reforming the church and making God once again accessible to the people, we replaced this practice of remembering the saints with a practice of remembering our own roots and the reasons for our protest.

The substitution is imperfect. The reformers do not represent the breadth and depth of Christian experience. They are only a few individuals in a whole cloud of witnesses. The Protestant cloud of witnesses is like Swiss cheese. It contains huge gaps between Paul and Augustine and again between Augustine and Calvin and yet again between Calvin and Edwards. Important as they are, their stories are not enough to replace the stories of the thousands of others who are left out.

This brings up another point: the substitution represents a change not only in who is being remembered but how they are remembered. We remember the theology and the theologians of the reformation. We do not take very much time remembering the martyrs of the reformation…or any martyrs beyond Stephen in Acts. Martyrdom is a story, a story which can embolden and deepen faith. Martyrdom is the ultimate human act of incarnation - putting flesh on the words of Christ. In not taking the time to remember the stories of men and women who lived and died in the name of Christ, we take the risk of forgetting ourselves how to live and die in the name of Christ. So I submit for your memory Franz Jagerstatter. He was a peasant, he was stubborn, he was a Christian, and he died as one.

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