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‘I, Too, am a Christian’: Early Martyrs and their Lives in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Irish Manuscript Tradition
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 January 2016
Extract
Veneration of the martyrs as powerful intercessors and exemplars of Christ-like fortitude is one of the earliest and most powerful manifestations of Christian religious practice. Not only were martyrs thought to be assured of salvation, but the blood which they shed was conceived by Tertullian as ‘seed’ for the upbuilding of the Christian Church. As legends of their lives and, more importantly, the manner of their deaths developed over time, martyrs would also function as valuable instructors in the essentials of the Christian life, their speeches before death often assuming a sermon-like quality. By the fifth century recourse to the relics of martyrs was also already well established. The cult of the martyrs would have a long future.
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References
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