Christmas: a time of witness and martyrdom

The past few weeks have seen arguments going back and forth about the kind of Christmas we are going to celebrate in the middle of a pandemic this December. Should we meet up with extended families, buy a large turkey, have huge amounts to drink, and party for five days? And if we can’t do this, some people seem to believe, it won’t be Christmas.

But of course, it will be Christmas, regardless of the tinsel and treats or the lack of them. Christmas is when we can all witness to what the message of Christmas is – that God came into the world in the form of a baby. And those who gathered in the stable in Bethlehem – Mary, Joseph, shepherds, kings – were the first witnesses to that message and the love of God.

Being witnesses to God and his message of salvation is fundamental to Christian discipleship and its significance is reflected in the word martyr, which derives from the Greek for witness. From the earliest martyrs of ancient Rome to those who have died in the twenty-first century, persecuted for their beliefs, they have all been witnesses to the faith that inspires them.

But martyrs are of course witnesses who go the extra mile. They are prepared to sacrifice their lives. Paying that ultimate price has caused martyrs to be revered but also to inspire fascination with their stories, even among those who do not share their beliefs. Martyrs such as Thomas Becket and Thomas More have been honoured over the years, seen as examples of people who stood up for their beliefs, even if it meant taking on their monarchs. Playwrights in particular have been inspired by Becket and More and their remarkable courage and integrity.

For hundreds of years the shrines of martyrs also attracted huge numbers of pilgrims, believing that these men and women not only deserved their tributes but also that they would in turn secure spiritual comfort and benefits from their devotions. But the iconoclasm of the Reformation put paid to such pilgrimages. Shrines were destroyed and such devotions rejected as superstition by the new Protestant religion.

But in recent times, the shrines of martyrs such as St Alban in St Albans, Hertfordshire and Thomas Becket in Canterbury have undergone a revival, drawing crowds again.  

On December 29, it will be the 850th anniversary of the death of Thomas Becket. Canterbury Cathedral had first planned to a series of commemorations of this significant moment but the pandemic put paid to these, although there will still be a special but socially distanced choral evensong on December 29.

Becket’s story still resonates today. He had been appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by King Henry II in 1162 after serving as his chancellor, a role he had embraced with enthusiasm. He had chased landowners and bishops for revenue for the king and given their personal friendship as well, Henry expected Becket would be a pliant archbishop.

But after he had been ordained in order to take up the role at Canterbury, Becket appeared to change. He was no longer the king’s man but instead devoted to the church and his faith. As tensions grew and Becket excommunicated his opponents, Henry lost patience. It was then he was alleged to express his frustration with the words: “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?”

Four knights took him at his word, arriving in Canterbury on December 29, 1170, and bursting into the archbishop’s palace where Becket was with his advisers. After a heated row, Becket walked away to attend vespers in the cathedral but the knights followed him, armed with swords and axes. He was slain before his altar, his brains left smeared upon the floor.

In his life, Becket had made enemies but in death he gained admirers and soon pilgrims – among them eventually, a penitent Henry II – flocked to Canterbury. Within 50 years of his death, Becket’s cult had developed so much that his bones were moved from his first resting place in the cathedral crypt to a jeweled, gold-plated shrine behind the high altar in the cathedral’s Trinity chapel. Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, published in 1387, 150 years after that golden tomb was created, gave an idea of the diverse pilgrims who would flock to Canterbury, many at that time believing in the supernatural powers of such a shrine and its saint. But Chaucer included in his pilgrims people who also reflected the corruption of the church: people who sold indulgences for the forgiveness of sins and others who blackmailed people with claims of their venalities and worse.

The Reformation might have swept away such dubious claims, but it was also a time when the more spiritual aspects of pilgrimages disappeared too. But in our more secular age, shrines have made a comeback. Becket’s story inspires people today with the way he stood up for what he believed, just as in the twentieth century he inspired writers such as T.S. Eliot and Jean Anouilh as a man of conscience. His martyrdom, like that of St Alban and others, challenges us as to how much we might be prepared to pay for our principles and how much we are willing to sacrifice for our beliefs.

And this year, in this pandemic, the martyrs inspire us not only as witnesses to Christian faith, but their sacrifice put into perspective the sacrifices we are asked to make in celebrating Christmas in a very different way. After all, even without the parties, and the huge meals, and all the get-togethers, it will still be Christmas.

 Martyrdom – why martyrs still matter by Catherine Pepinster is published by SPCK (hardcover, October 2020).

Catherine Pepinster