Testifying to the Truth usque ad sanguinem—pro veritate mori: The Contemporary Relevance of Thomas Aquinas’s Integral Doctrine of Martyrdom

483 The Thomist 78 (2014): 483-517 TESTIFYING TO THE TRUTH USQUE AD SANGUINEM— PRO VERITATE MORI: THE CONTEMPORARY RELEVANCE OF THOMAS AQUINAS’S INTEGRAL DOCTRINE OF MARTYRDOM REINHARD HÜTTER Duke University Divinity School Durham, North Carolina The cause of all martyrdom is the truth of faith.1 It is not the suffering but the cause that makes the martyr, as Augustine says. . . . One suffers for Christ by suffering not only for the faith of Christ but for any just deed done for the love of Christ: blessed are those who are persecuted for justice’s sake. (Matt 5:10)2 As long as the Gospel is preached in this world—and that means to the end of time—the Church will also have martyrs. . . . Certainly, there may be times in which martyrs are fewer and times in which they are more; but to say that at certain times there are no martyrs at all would be to deny the Church’s existence at that time.3 1 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 124, a. 5. All citations from the Summa Theologiae are taken from the translation of the Fathers of the English Dominican Province (New York: Benziger Bros., 1948; repr. Christian Classics, 1981). Alterations are indicated by brackets. Translations from other works of Thomas Aquinas, if not indicated otherwise, are mine. All Latin citations from the Summa Theologiae are taken from Sancti Thomae de Aquino, Summa Theologiae, 3d ed. (Turin: Edizioni San Paolo, 1999). 2 Thomas Aquinas, VIII Rom., lect. 7. (St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans, trans. F. R. Larcher, O.P., ed. J. Mortensen and E. Alarcón, Latin/English Edition of the Works of St. Thomas Aquinas 37 [Lander, Wy.: The Aquinas Institute for the Study of Sacred Doctrine, 2012], 241). 3 Erik Peterson, “Witness to the Truth,” in idem, Theological Tractates, ed. and trans. with intro. by Michael J. Hollerich (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2011), 156-57. 484 REINHARD HÜTTER I. CHRISTIAN MARTYRDOM PAST AND PRESENT According to the Gospel of St. John, Christ, the Incarnate Logos, through whom all things were made (John 1:3) spoke thus of himself: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6 [RSV]). His coming was announced by his precursor, St. John the Baptist, whose mission was to testify: “He came for testimony [marturiva], to bear witness [marturei~n] to the light, that all might believe [pisteuei~n] through him” (John 1:7 [RSV]). Testifying (marturei~n) to Christ, who is the Truth, is the principal activity of all whom Christ calls to be his friends (John 15:15) and who carry out the love of this friendship—charity— by doing what he commands (John 14:15, 23). As the Spirit of truth (to pneu~ma th~" ajlhqeiva") will bear witness (marturhvsei) to Christ, so will the disciples bear witness (marturei`te), filled with the Spirit of truth (John 15:26ff.). Even in the earliest apostolic tradition, the Greek verb marturei~n takes on the connotation, not only of testifying, but also of being a witness usque ad sanguinem, in short, of being martyred. After Pentecost, for the apostles and eventually for the whole ejkklhsiva qeou` zw`nto" (1 Tim 3:15), “fighting the good fight of faith” (1 Tim 6:12) came to mean first and foremost to testify to Christ, who is the Truth. For most, if not all of the apostles, and for innumerable faithful after them, such testifying led and continues to lead to a deeper imitation of Christ who, in Thomas Aquinas’s words, “offered the example for all, to die for the truth.”4 Christ’s exemplary death was preceded by the 4 “Christ gave to all the example of dying for the truth” (IV Sent., d. 7, q. 3, a. 2, qcla. 1, arg. 2). See also the following statements from various other works: “there are some who, although they do not fear death, abhor an abject death. And even to the contempt of such a death did our Lord inspire men by the example of...