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Saint Alban is considered the British protomartyr, as he was the first Christian to be persecuted on the British isles. Alban was beheaded by pagans some time in the 3rd century.
The Great Fire of Rome that occurred in 64 CE destroyed much of the city. Most Romans quickly blamed the mad Emperor Nero, but he pointed the finger at the Christian communities that had only recently started to pop up around the city.
The Roman populace was happy to blame the Christian newcomers who had already begun to disrupt the balance between pagans and Jews, and persecuted them en masse. These people became known as the First Martyrs of Rome.
The exact parameters that determine whether or not a person can be considered a martyr vary from faith to faith. The most common definition, the one used in Christianity, refers to someone who sacrificed their life in the name of God and was killed for their faith.
Protomartyr is a title given to the first person of a certain group, religious order, or area to achieve martyrdom.
Hripsime, although of Roman birth, is the protomartyr of Armenia. She was reputed to be disarmingly beautiful, and garnered the attention of Emperor Diocletian. A consecrated virgin, she and her sisters in Christ fled Rome and Diocletian eastwards before settling in Vagharshapat, Armenia. There, she was captured by King Tiridates III of Armenia on the orders of Diocletian and tortured before finally being martyred in 290 CE.
When someone mentions the Protomartyr, they are referring to Saint Stephen, the first person to be persecuted and killed for his belief in Christianity. Saint Stephen was stoned to death in Jerusalem around 35 CE when he was barely 30 years old.
Vincent of Saragossa is not only the patron saint of Lisbon, Portugal, and Valencia, Spain, but he is also the protomartyr of Spain. He, like many other outspoken Christians of the era, was killed on the orders of Emperor Diocletian.
Saint Stephen may be the protomartyr of the Roman Catholic Church, but other sects of Catholicism have their own protomartyrs as well. Fifth-century Persian Razhden was crucified for his Christian beliefs in modern-day Georgia in 457 CE. Today, he is considered the Protomartyr of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
Adalbert of Prague was a Bohemian missionary who worked towards the conversion of the inhabitants of the Balkans. He became the Slavic protomartyr when he was attacked and killed by pagan Prussians on one of his many mission trips.
Theodore and his son John were two of very few Christians in the mostly pagan city of Kiev in the 10th century. The pagan public wished to sacrifice John to the gods, but when Theodore stepped in to protect his son, the people of Kiev killed them both, making them the protomartyrs of the Rus region.
In the early 13th century, the five missionaries traveled twice to Morocco, attempting to sway people away from Islam and towards Christianity. The first time they were met with hostility and were sent back to Europe, but the second time their encroachment cost them their lives.
Odran was a follower of Saint Patrick (pictured) and became the protomartyr of Ireland when he was mistakenly assassinated instead of Patrick himself, who was much-maligned in pagan Ireland.
The first martyrs of the American continents are known as the Child Martyrs of Tlaxcala. They were indigenous Mexican teenagers who had been converted and baptized by the Franciscan order in the mid-16th century.
After their baptism, they became staunch evangelists and actively fought against the traditional beliefs and customs of their home and families. Eventually, they were killed for what their relatives and neighbors saw as attacks on their traditional values.
When European missionaries arrived on the coast of Japan, they were immediately suspected by the daimyo leader as a clandestine infiltration mission of European powers, a suspicion learned from past events in the Philippines and the Americas.
Filipino Saint Lorenzo Ruiz, born in Manila in 1594, became the Philippines' protomartyr in 1637 when he was executed in Japan during the country's widespread persecution of Christians.
Andrew of Phu Yen, widely known as the "Protomartyr of Vietnam," was a Jesuit assistant who was executed by the state during the Christian purges of 1644. He was only 20 years old at the time of his death.
Born in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, André de Soveral became the protomartyr of Brazil in 1645, after he was killed during mass by Dutch Protestants, a casualty of the Restoration War.
Saint Pedro Calungsod was a Filipino Jesuit missionary who traveled to Guam in the late 17th century to baptize all those who wished to convert to Christianity. After a bout of sickness was blamed on Calungsod and his fellow missionaries, they were hunted down and killed by the local Chamorro people. Saint Pedro is now considered the protomartyr of Guam.
Juan de Padilla is considered by many to be the protomartyr of North America, or, more specifically, the United States. A Spanish missionary, Padilla was killed by Wichita Native Americans in modern-day Kansas.
The protomartyr of East Africa was English bishop and missionary James Hannington. His mission trip in Buganda (found in Uganda) did not receive a warm welcome. Hannington and his crew were all killed shortly after being captured on the orders of the Bugandan chief Mwanga II in 1885.
Born in 1821, Andrew Kim Taegon was history's first ethnically Korean and Korean-born Catholic priest. He is the patron saint of the Korean Catholic clergy, and is also the protomartyr of the Korean Peninsula. Kim was persecuted for openly practicing Christianity under the Joseon dynasty, and was tortured and martyred in 1846 at the age of 25. His birthplace (pictured) in Seoul, South Korea, has become a popular destination for Korean Catholics.
Russian Orthodoxy came under fire during the pointedly atheist Bolshevik-led October Revolution that started in 1917. Vladimir Bogoyavlensky became the first member of the Church to be martyred under the new Russian government, soon to be known as the Soviet Union.
Sources: (Catholic Culture) (EWTN)
See also: The gruesome ways saints have died
Peter Chanel, a Catholic missionary from France, became the protomartyr of all of Oceania after he was clubbed to death on the island of Futuna. The leader of the island ordered Chanel's death after Chanel successfully converted his son to Christianity.
The first missionary to be martyred in China, Francis Ferdinand de Capillas was a member of the Dominican Order. He was arrested and executed by the Manchu emperor for spreading false doctrines. Pope John Paul II (pictured) canonized de Capillas as a saint in 2000.
A group of missionaries and early Japanese converts, totaling 26 people, were captured, tortured, and finally crucified on February 5, 1597, becoming the protomartyrs of Japan.
Saint Thecla is considered the first virgin martyr, although she didn't technically die the death of a martyr. She was, however, sentenced to death three times throughout her life, and was saved by supposed miracles each time. Once, the flames approaching the stake she was tied to refused to burn her; a second time, the beasts that were expected to eat her laid down at her feet; and in a final attempt, she was pulled out of a snake pit after hours without a single bite. She allegedly died of natural causes as an old woman.
As the old adage goes, there's a first for everything; dying as a result of religious persecution is no different. While the number of martyrs recognized by Catholic churches around the world are well into the hundreds, only a fraction of them can be considered the firsts in their fields. Many showed unprecedented strength and fearlessness in the face of adversity, and for that they have been honored by their Church and will go down in Catholic history as heroes.
Intrigued? Read on to familiarize yourself with the protomartyrs.
One of the oldest and largest Christian orders is that of the Franciscans. Some early Franciscan missionaries—Berard, Peter, Otho, Accursius, and Adjutus—became known as the Franciscan protomartyrs.
Death and glory: Who were the protomartyrs?
The loyal Christians who were first to die for their faith
LIFESTYLE Religion
As the old adage goes, there's a first for everything; dying as a result of religious persecution is no different. While the number of martyrs recognized by Catholic churches around the world are well into the hundreds, only a fraction of them can be considered the firsts in their fields. Many showed unprecedented strength and fearlessness in the face of adversity, and for that they have been honored by their Church and will go down in Catholic history as heroes.
Intrigued? Read on to familiarize yourself with the protomartyrs.