The Martyrs of Ceuta (1227)

The martyrdom of Berard of Carbio and his companions in 1220 (or 1219, according to some accounts) had inflamed many religious of the Order of Friars Minor with the desire to preach the Gospel in non-Christian lands. Berard, a priest well versed in Arabic, had been chosen by Francis with two other priests, Peter and Otho, and two lay brothers, Accursius and Adjutus, to evangelize Morocco. Expelled from the kingdom several times, they returned to preach; the king finally had them beheaded: they are the first martyrs of the Franciscan Order.^[7][8]

On hearing the news of their death, Francis is reported to have said: “Now at least do I have true Friars Minor!”^[9] The episode marks a turning point: mission in the land of Islam enters the Franciscan imagination as a noble vocation, offered to the total gift of life. The young Portuguese canon who saw the funeral procession of Berard and his companions pass by his monastery, returning from Morocco all the way to Assisi, was so moved that he joined the Order of Friars Minor: he would become Saint Anthony of Padua.^[10]

In 1227, the year following the death of Saint Francis, six religious of Tuscany ask Brother Elias of Cortona, then vicar general of the Order, for permission to preach the Gospel to the infidels of Morocco. They are Agnellus (Agnello), Samuel, Donulus, Leo, Hugolin (Ugolino) and Nicholas.^[11]

The six missionaries first go to Spain, where they are joined by Daniel, Minister Provincial of Calabria, who becomes their superior. They set sail from Spain and reach the coast of Africa on 20 September. They remain a few days in a small village inhabited mostly by Christian merchants, just beyond the walls of the Saracen city of Ceuta.^[12]

One Sunday, very early in the morning, the seven friars enter the city and immediately begin to preach the Gospel and to denounce the religion of Mahomet. They are soon apprehended and brought before the sultan, who, thinking them mad, orders them cast into prison. They remain there until the following Sunday.^[13]

Brought a second time before the sultan, they refuse, by promises as by threats, to renounce the Christian faith. All are condemned to death. Each one approached Daniel, the superior, to ask his blessing and permission to die for Christ. All were beheaded.^[14]

The account of the Chronicle of the Twenty-Four Generals is the source of this narrative; it was written about 1370, that is about a century and a half after the events. This is the text on which the notice of the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) draws, and which gives the names and the date of martyrdom reproduced here.^[15][16] Nothing has been added to the dossier: no invented speech, no reported prodigy, no biographical detail about the seven friars beyond their name, their province of origin and, for Daniel, his charge.

Saint Daniel and his companions were canonized by Pope Leo X in 1516.^[17][18] Their feast is kept in the Franciscan Order on 13 October; the date of their martyrdom, and the date on which they are kept in the calendar of the saints of the day, is 10 October.^[19]

Their place in Franciscan history is that of the missionary martyrs of the Maghreb, in the direct line of Berard of Carbio and his companions. With these two groups, the Order of Friars Minor counts, in the very first century of its existence, sons who died for the preaching of the Gospel in the land of Islam. The figure of Daniel, a provincial who becomes a simple missionary and leads his brothers to death, recalls the total gift that the Franciscan tradition sees in martyrdom.^[20]

The iconography of the martyrs of Ceuta is rare and is linked to that of the Franciscan martyrs of Morocco. They are most often shown as Friars Minor (Franciscan habit and cord), sometimes kneeling before the sultan, or at the moment of beheading. The scene of the baptism of blood, in which each one asks Daniel's blessing before dying, is typical of the Franciscan devotion to these martyrs.^[21][22] The town of Ceuta, whose walls overlook the strait, serves as the geographical backdrop to their memory.

• Saint Francis of Assisi (1181/1182-1226): the father of the Order, who died the year before the martyrdom of Ceuta.
• Saint Anthony of Padua (1195-1231): his Franciscan vocation was awakened by the funeral procession of the first Franciscan martyrs, Berard and his companions.
• Saint Daniel Comboni (1831-1881): another missionary who died in Africa, whose motto was “Save Africa through Africa”.