MEMORIAL OF THE FIRST HOLY MARTYRS OF THE HOLY ROMAN CHURCH AND BLESSED GENNARO SARNELLI, PRIEST ~ FEAST DAY: JUNE 30TH Today, we celebrate the Memorial of the First Holy Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church and Blessed Gennaro Sarnelli, Priest. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the First Holy Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church on this feast day, we humbly pray for persecuted Christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world, we also pray for the Church and the Clergy. We continue to pray for the sick and dying, for the poor and needy, for justice, peace and unity in our families and our world.🙏🏽

THE FIRST HOLY MARTYRS OF THE HOLY ROMAN CHURCH: Memorial of the First Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church is celebrated in honor of the nameless followers of Christ brutally killed by the mad Emperor Nero as scapegoats for the fire in Rome. A great number of Christians perished at the hands of the Roman Emperor Nero during the terrible persecution that lasted from 64-68 A.D. This was the first of many major persecutions of the newly founded Church at Rome. The holy men and women who first died for the Gospel of Jesus Christ are also called the “Protomartyrs of Rome.” Some were burned as living torches in the Emperor’s gardens; some were crucified; others were fed to wild animals. Many died even before Sts. Peter and Paul, and therefore it is said of them that they are the “Disciples of the Apostles … whom the Holy Roman Church sent to their Lord before the Apostles’ death.” God used the sacrifice of these holy men and women, who suffered like their savior Jesus Christ, to lay the indestructible foundation of His Church. Their bold witness for the Christian faith as they endured a brutal death won many converts and caused the Church to grow and spread throughout the world.

These First Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church were Christians in Rome within a dozen or so years after the death of Jesus, though they were not the converts of the “Apostle of the Gentiles” (see Romans 15:20). St. Paul had not yet visited them at the time he wrote his great letter in A.D. 57-58. There was a large Jewish population in Rome. Probably as a result of controversy between Jews and Jewish Christians, the Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome in A.D. 49-50. Suetonius the historian says that the expulsion was due to disturbances in the city “caused by the certain Chrestus” [Christ]. Perhaps many came back after Claudius’s death in A.D. 54. St. Paul’s letter was addressed to a church with members from Jewish and gentile backgrounds. In July of A.D. 64, more than half of Rome was destroyed by fire. Rumor blamed the tragedy on Nero, who wanted to enlarge his palace. He shifted the blame by accusing the Christians. The pagan historian Tacitus and St. Clement of Rome tell of a night of horror (August 15, 64 A.D.) when in the imperial parks Christians were put into animal skins and hunted, were brutally attacked, and were made into living torches to light the road for Nero’s chariot. According to the historian Tacitus, a “great multitude” of Christians were put to death because of their “hatred of the human race.” Peter and Paul were probably among the victims. Threatened by an army revolt and condemned to death by the senate, Nero committed suicide in A.D. 68 at the age of thirty-one. From 64 to 314 “Christian” was synonymous with “execution victim.” Today, the site of Nero’s Circus, also the location of St. Peter’s martyrdom, is marked by the Piazza dei Protomartiri Romani (Square of the Roman Protomartyrs) in the Vatican next to St. Peter’s basilica. Wherever the Good News of Jesus was preached, it met the same opposition as Jesus did, and many of those who began to follow him shared his suffering and death. But no human force could stop the power of the Spirit unleashed upon the world. The blood of martyrs has always been, and will always be, the seed of Christians.

PRAYER: God, You consecrated the copious firstfruits of the Roman Church with the blood of Martyrs. Grant that we may be strengthened in virtue by the agony of such a struggle and always rejoice in their victory… Amen🙏🏽

BLESSED GENNARO SARNELLI, PRIEST: Bl. Gennaro Sarnelli (1702 – 1744) was the son of the Baron of Ciorani, was born in Naples on September 12, 1702. At the age of 14 following the beatification of Francis Regis, he decided to become a Jesuit. Having been dissuaded by his father because of his youth he began the study of jurisprudence and took his Doctorate in ecclesiastical and civil law in 1722 at the age of 20. He distinguished himself at the Bar and was enrolled in the Congregation of the Knights of the Legal and Medical Professions directed by the Pious Workers at St. Nicholas of Toledo. Among the rules of this Association, there was the obligation of visiting the sick in the Hospital of the Incurables. It was here he heard the call of the Lord to become a priest. In September 1728 he became a seminarist and was incardinated by Cardinal Pignatelli as a cleric in the parish of St. Anne di Palazzo. On June 4, 1729, in order to study in more peaceful conditions, he became a boarder in the College of the Holy Family known as the Chinese College, founded by Matthew Ripa. On April 8 of the following year, he left the Chinese College and on June 5 began his novitiate in the Congregation of the Apostolic Missions. On May 28, 1731, he concluded his novitiate and on July 8 of the following year, he was raised to the Priesthood. During these years in addition to his visits to the hospital, he devoted himself to helping young children forced to work and teaching them the catechism. He also visited the old people in the Hospice of St. Gennaro and those condemned to the galleys who were ill in the hospital at the docks. These were also the years when he developed a friendship with St. Alphonsus de Liguori and his apostolate. Together they devoted themselves to teaching the catechism to laypeople by organizing the Evening Chapels.

Following his ordination, he was assigned by Cardinal Pignatelli as Director of Religious Instruction in the parish of Sts. Francis and Matthew in the Spanish quarter. Having become aware of the rampant corruption of young girls he decided to direct all his energy against prostitution. In the same period (1733) he tenaciously defended St. Alphonsus against unjust criticism after he had founded the missionary Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer in Scala (SA) on November 9, 1732. In June of the same year having gone to Scala to help his friend during the mission at Ravello, he decided to become a Redemptorist while at the same time continuing to be a member of the Apostolic Missions. From his entrance into the Congregation in April 1736, he committed himself unsparingly to parish missions and to writing in defense of “young girls in danger”. He also wrote on the spiritual life and worked so hard that he was almost at death’s door. With the consent of St. Alphonsus, he returned to Naples for treatment and there renewed his apostolate for the rescue of prostitutes. As well as taking part in the Redemptorist apostolate and that of the Apostolic Missions he promoted meditation in common among the laity by publishing “Il mondo santificato”. He also campaigned against blasphemy in another book. In 1741 he planned and took part with St. Alphonsus in the great missions preached in the hamlets outside Naples in preparation for the canonical visitation of Cardinal Spinelli. Despite the permanently insecure state of his health he continued to preach until the end of April 1744 when by now extremely ill he returned to Naples where he died on June 30 at the age of 42. His body lies at rest in Ciorani, the first Redemptorist Church. Bl. Gennaro Maria Sarnelli has left us 30 works which treat of meditation, mystical theology, spiritual direction, law, pedagogy, moral and pastoral themes. By his social action in favour of women, he is considered one of the authors who treated this subject most fully in Europe of the first half of the eighteenth century. Holy Father Pope John Paul II beatified him on May 12, 1996, in St. Peter’s Square.

PRAYER IN HONOR OF BLESSED GENNARO SARNELLI: Holy Redeemer, we place ourselves in your presence confident that you are a loving and merciful God. You walk with us by day and by night as we strive to proclaim your gospel with compassion to people who are poor and abandoned. As we reach out to those most in need, we look to Blessed Gennaro Sarnelli as a model and help. His ardent desire was to bring people on the fringes of society and Church to a deeper knowledge and love of you. We pray that his zeal will inspire and motivate us to share your redemption with those who are marginalized. We especially remember people who make decisions that lead to destructive and addictive behaviours. May our choices be those of Blessed Sarnelli, who continually lived the gospel in spite of adversity and opposition.  We ask his help, that our commitment may not shrink for lack of support or favour, for as we become one with those who are outcast, we become one with you. Amen🙏🏽