martyrdom

Recognizing the martyrdom of the 10 religious women, members of the Sisters of St. Elizabeth, clears the way for their beatification.

Carey Wallace’s new children’s book, “Stories of the Saints: Bold and Inspiring Tales of Adventure, Grace and Courage,” shows that holy men and women — whose miraculous deeds, charitable works and battles with armies, beasts and demons she chronicles with gusto — also were “relentlessly human.”

The White House issued a proclamation honoring the 850th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket Dec. 29 and inviting “the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches and customary places of meeting with appropriate ceremonies.”

“The Art of Political Murder,” a documentary, explores the investigation that followed Bishop Juan José Gerardi Conedera’s, an auxiliary bishop of Guatemala City, slaying.

On Dec. 2, Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel and laywoman Jean Donovan will be remembered worldwide on the 40th anniversary of what many increasingly consider their martyrdom.

Catholic churches throughout the world were bathed in soft red light to honor martyrs and mark the “Courage in Red — Stand Up for Faith and Religious Freedom” campaign sponsored by Aid to the Church in Need.

An Italian Consolata sister murdered in Somalia in 2006 will be beatified in Piacenza, Italy, May 26.

The martyrdom of a French priest killed a year ago while celebrating Mass was an event that “has transformed me as a bishop,” Archbishop Dominique Lebrun of Rouen said.