The most violent century in human history thus far will be remembered for it’s global wars of competing national claims, political ideologies and bloody economic revolutions. Religious adherents suffered greatly in the 20th century and were often targeted by regimes and militaristic movements. Lest we forget our shared history of violence, it’s good to pause ever now and again and remember that real people suffer when justice is replace by rhetoric and charity by grandiose plans.

Faithful and solid religious men and women continue to proclaim the goodness of peace and the centrality of God’s own justice to the true progress of peoples – despite the consequences. Willing to pay the ultimate price, Jesuits, by our very vocation, stand in the place of the oppressed, the silenced, the weak, and the forgotten.

Here are a few of our brothers and the dates of their murder. You might not know their names but know that they risked everything that God’s message of patient forgiveness and active charity not disappear from our world.

Bl. Fr. Modeste Andlauer, SJ Jun 19, 1900: China
Fr. Pierre Aghadjanian, SJ Sept 6, 1916: Armenia
Bl. Fr. Miguel Agustín Pro, SJ – Nov 23, 1927: Mexico
Fr. Ricardo Ponsol, SJ – Oct 18, 1940: China
Br. José Ignacio Elduayen Larrañaga, SJ – Aug 7, 1936: Madrid
Mr. Stanislaw Bukowy, SJ – Dec 22, 1942: Dachau
Br. Bernard Nierowisz, SJ – Aug 3, 1942: Auschwitz
Fr. Joannes van Rijckeworsel, SJ – Apr 21, 1944: Indonesia
Fr. Benjamin Jakab, SJ – Jul 5, 1950: Hungary
Fr. Cornel Chira, SJ – Aug 20, 1953: Romania
Fr. Petrus Chang Chin-Shan, SJ – date unknown 1967: China
Mr. Izidor Bistrovic, SJ – Dec 4, 1969: Croatia
Br. Alfredo Pérez Lobato, SJ – Dec 1, 1973: Chad
Fr. João Bosco Penido Burnier, SJ – Oct 12, 1976: Brazil
Fr. Ignacio Martín Baró, SJ – Nov 16, 1989: El Salvador
Fr. Thomas Anchanikal, SJ – Oct 2, 1997: India
Fr. Karl Albrecht, SJ – Sept 11, 1999: East Timor