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Editor’s Note: In the teaching of Catholic theologians there are two kinds of martyrdom, each of which merits that the victims’ souls are taken immediately to the Paradise of Heaven, to be with God and Our Lady, the Saints and Angels forever.

The first kind is the Catholic who witnesses to his faith and is killed in hatred of the Catholic Faith, but was given the chance to renounce his faith as a way out of being killed. This includes Catholics such as Saint Stephen, the first Martyr, killed by the Pharasees and Saducees in Jerusalem, to the Catholic clergy, religious and laity killed during the Spanish Revolution by the Republican forces.

The second kind are Catholics killed in hatred of the Faith who were never given a way out, like the Holy Innocents killed by King Herod, or the tourist in Egypt, wearing a Jesus tee-shirt, who is killed by a Muslim sharp shooter from a distance, for wearing that shirt.

The children shot at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minnesota were at Mass when they were killed. They were killed by an individual who professed hatred for Jesus Christ.  Their ages were 8 and 10 years old. Thus, it appears that these children who died are likely martyrs in the second sense. — I say likely, because I assume they were not living in habitual mortal sin.

Can they be canonized one day? Yes, maybe. Children killed for being Catholic have been canonized, such as St. Simeon of Trent, a baby boy, who was murdered in a passover ritual by a heretical group of Jews in the Middle Ages, was raised to the dignity of the altars by the Church.

How is it that one can go straight to heaven simply because someone kills you because you are a Catholic? — Because such hatred is directed theologically at God Himself, the founder of the Christian religion, and hence is directed at the Divine Name Which is of Infinite Dignity. Therefore, the merit of such a death is in a certain sense worthy of infinite recompense, even if the Catholic killed did not positively by an interior act choose to die as a martyr, as in the above described First Category of martyrdom.

The author of the above article never opened up a book of theology, so cannot answer the question of whether these children are martyrs. Another example of professional incompetence.

Since Transgendered Terrorists kill Christian children because they, the terrorists, hate normality or hate Christianity for excluding all approval for their self-mutilation, it is more probable than not, that all Christian children, at that age, killed by all such terrorists are martyrs in the sight of Jesus Christ our God, Who made it absolutely clear, that all who are “little children” according to faith, are qualified to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

While this might seem too wide of a category, even Saint Alphonsus dei Liguori holds and taught that non-Catholic Christian children are presumed not to be separated from the Church if they have been validly baptized and have not yet attained to the age to be able to ask the question, “Which Christian Church is the true one?”

However, what distinguishes the First and Second Categories of martyrs is this: that those who choose rather to die for Christ with at least attrition for their sins expiate their sins, even if they were previously habitually in mortal sin; but those of the second category do not, unless they had just made an act of perfect contrition or had recently gone to confession, since their martyrdom did not depend on a free will act that they made to die rather than deny the Faith.

For this reason, there are two different ways we should respond in prayer to such martyrs:

Can we pray to them, seeking their intercession? While the Church has not yet approved any public cult, we can in private pray to the First Category of such martyrs, since it is more probable that theologically that they are now in Heaven. And if martyrs of the second category had a good moral reputation, we can also pray to them in private seeking their intercession.

Can we pray for the repose of their souls? Martyrs of the First Category, if they were not living in habitual sin, should not be offered prayers for the repose of their souls, but martyrs of the second category should have such prayers offered for them, since we cannot be sure in general that they were in the state of grace when they died.

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The Book on the Trinity, every faithful Catholic priest would love as his next present

This is Br. Bugnolo's English Translation, of Saint Bonaventure's encylopedic book of theology on the Trinity: With this book, your priest will always have something intelligent and awesomely inspiring to preach to you about God the Father, God the Son & God the Holy Spirit!

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