Agenzia Fides, Vatican City, 22-04-23 -- "The long line of blesseds, saints and martyrs who were catechists has significantly advanced the Church’s mission and deserves to be recognized, for it represents a rich resource not only for catechesis but also for the entire history of Christian spirituality" (AM, 3). The suggestion to remember the martyred catechists is one of the first indications recalled in Antiquum ministerium, the Apostolic Letter - published in the form of a motu proprio on May 11, 2021 - through which Pope Francis instituted the lay ministry of catechist.
Catechist from Myanmar
Isidore Ngei Ko Lat, who in Burma (Myanmar) shared martyrdom in hatred of the faith with Father Mario Vergara, a PIME missionary, in May 1950, was part of the precious group of catechist martyrs. Both were beatified on May 24, 2014. There is not much information about the life of catechist Isidore, who was the first baptized Burmese person to be beatified. He belonged to a family of farmers, who had embraced the Catholic faith. From an early age he attended missionaries. Due to poor health he had to leave the minor seminary in Toungoo, where he had shown zeal and commitment. He returned to his family determined, however, to offer his life to the proclamation of the Gospel. He did not marry and opened a free private school in his village, where he also gave catechism classes. In 1948 he met Father Vergara, who invited him to serve as catechist. Isidore remained at the missionary's side until the end, even to the point of sharing his martyrdom with him.
Catechist from Uganda
In Africa, the figures of two young Ugandan catechist martyrs stand out, Blessed David Okelo and Gildo Irwa, who lived at the beginning of the 20th century. They belonged to the Acholi tribe, whose members mainly inhabit northern Uganda. Their martyrdom occurred three years after the Comboni missionaries founded the Kitgum mission (1915).
The two young men were bound by a deep friendship and a desire to make Christianity known to their fellow countrymen. Their dates of birth are not certain, but we have the dates of their baptism (June 6, 1916), confirmation (October 15 of the same year) and martyrdom (October 19, 1918). At that time Davide was 16/18 years old and Gildo 12/14. After the death of the catechist in the village of Paimol in the first months of 1917, David asked the Kitgum mission superior if he could replace him. He was assigned young Gildo Irwa as his helper. In Paimol, the two young catechists devoted themselves unsparingly to their mission, in addition to earning their daily bread by working in the fields. They taught catechism, led prayers, animated songs. Before long they were well-liked by all. Between October 18 and 20, 1918, they died pierced by the spears of two Adwi, who had taken up arms against the impositions of the colonial leaders. Before killing them, their executioners asked the two to leave the village and end catechism teaching so their lives would be saved, but they refused. They were beatified on October 20, 2002, World Mission Day.
Catechist from Papua New Guinea
Blessed Peter To Rot (1912-1945), catechist, martyr, first blessed of Papua New Guinea, was killed at the time of the Japanese occupation for refusing to accept polygamy. He is remembered as a man of prayer and for his lively and courageous faith, which guided him to follow Jesus Christ with to the point of martyrdom.
Peter To Rot was a "second generation Christian" who followed in his parents' footsteps. A family man, catechist, and teacher, he died a martyr to the Christian faith working hard to become a good teacher and catechist. Married, he lived a married and family life according to the teachings of the Gospel. He defended the values of marriage and resisted the traditional culture of polygamy and the laws of the Japanese imperial army. He died for having refused to deny his faith. He was beatified on January 17, 1995 by John Paul II during his pastoral trip to Papua.
Catechist from Guatemala
On October 27, 2018, in Morales, Guatemala, missionary Father Tullio Maruzzo, OFM, and indigenous catechist Luis Obdulio Arroyo, "faithful witnesses of peace and Christian commitment in the department of Izabal, during years of violence and persecution" were beatified.
Father Tullio Marcello Maruzzo had been a missionary in Guatemala since 1960. After a life of intense apostolate, he was killed in Quiriguà, in the department of Izabal, on July 1, 1981. Obdulio Navarro, a young catechist who never left his side, also lost his life in the ambush, even though he knew it was extremely dangerous to be seen in his company.
Luis Obdulio Navarro, a Guatemalan Secular Franciscan, layman in the Diocese of Izabal, catechist and collaborator in various pastoral activities, was born June 21, 1950, in Quiriguá, Los Amates, Izabal (Guatemala). He was 30 years old when he was killed. At the beatification Mass, some elements of the spirituality they shared in common were recalled: "the simple and joyful lifestyle, proper to those who are poor in spirit; the ardent zeal for the Gospel, which sustains peacemakers; the thoughtful care of the poor and the courageous defense of the last, which distinguish men of good will. They were traits that constitute for us a message that is still relevant today".
Laotian catechist Isidore Ngei Ko Lat, young Ugandan catechists David Okelo and Gildo Irwa, New Guinea catechist Peter To Rot, Guatemalan catechist Luis Obdulio Arroyo, along with an innumerable group of brothers and sisters of all ages and social status, in all latitudes witnessed and proclaimed the faith. This happened without them having received an explicit "mandate" to carry out this ministry, as has now been arranged by Pope Francis with the Apostolic Letter "Antiquum ministerium".
Since "the Holy Spirit is the protagonist of the whole ecclesial mission, and his work shines forth eminently in the mission ad gentes" (Redemptoris Missio 21), these men, having heard, perhaps for the first time, the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and having learned from the missionaries the rudiments of the faith, moved by the Spirit, devoted themselves to this task with determination, with humility, with sacrifice, going along with what the same Spirit suggested, regardless of misunderstandings and dangers. Their role was, and still is today, fundamental for evangelization, especially in the lands and among the peoples of first evangelization.
Some catechists found death along with the missionaries with whom they shared the work of evangelization, united in life as in the supreme witness of that faith they proclaimed. Other catechists, where it was not possible to initiate and maintain a stable presence of priests, spent their lives proclaiming the Gospel, preparing young people and adults to receive the sacraments, leading community prayer, and helping those in need without any exclusion.
If the process of the Canonization makes it possible to investigate and verify with precision dates, places, and circumstances related to the martyred catechists, we must not forget the countless groups of those who dedicated their lives to this service: their names will remain unknown to the world perhaps forever, but certainly, according to the Lord's promise, they are written in heaven (cf. Lk 10:17-24). Remembering them therefore does not mean looking back to the past, their witness still evangelizes today and is an impulse for the catechists of our time and for the new Christian communities that are born and growing in our times. As Saint Paul VI stated in words, later taken up and repeated by many, "Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses" (Evangelii Nuntiandi 41).
- Pope Francis - 'Motu Proprio' Antiquum Mysterium - established the LAY MINISTRY of CATECHISTS (2021)
- FIDES original article online
