Tomorrow marks the 17th annual day of prayer and fasting for the Church’s missionary martyrs.

The day will be one of special remembrance for those pastoral workers who gave their lives in 2008 due to violence perpetrated by others, or while in the service of others.

The day of remembrance, which is sponsored by the Pontifical Missionary Union and the Missionary Youth Movement, falls on the anniversary of the slaying of Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador who was killed on March 24, 1980, as he celebrated the Eucharist.

The motto for this year, during the Church’s Pauline Year, is “In Chains for Christ, Free to Love,” evoking the imprisonment and other hardships suffered by the Apostle of the Gentiles as he carried out his mission.

Those who gave their lives as martyrs this past year include Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, the Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul, Iraq, who was abducted at a church while leading a Via Crucis.

Last year, 19 missionaries were killed in total (16 priests, one religious and two laypeople). Nine of them were from Asia (five from India and one each from Iraq, Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan and the Philippines), six from the Americas (two from Mexico and one each from Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and Ecuador), three from Africa (Kenya, Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo), and two from Europe (England and France).

Regarding the locations of the martyrs’ sacrifices, the largest group of missionaries lost their lives in Asia (four in India and one each in the Philippines, Iraq, Sri Lanka and Nepal), followed by Latin America with five deaths (two in Mexico and one each in Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil), and five in Africa (two in Kenya and one each in Guinea Bissau,  Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo). Two other deaths occurred in Russia.

Among the priests, nine were diocesan clergy and seven belonged to orders and congregations (two Jesuits, one Oblate of Mary Immaculate, one Salesian, one Carmelite, one Mill Hill Missionary and one Saverian of the Foreign Missions of Yarumal, Colombia).

Also especially remembered in this group of priest-martyrs is Father Bernard Digal of the Indian Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar, who was the first Catholic priest killed in Orissa after the outbreak of violence there; and Carmelite Father Thomas Pandippallyil, brutally murdered in Andhra Pradesh, India, while he went to celebrate Mass.

As every year, the lives of 2008’s missionary martyrs will be remembered through prayer vigils, Eucharistic adoration and the Via Crucis.

— Edward Pentin