Episode 962: The Franciscan Protomartyrs

This year, we celebrate a distinctive anniversary: 800 years since the martyrdom of the first Franciscan friars.

Saints Berardo, Ottone, Pietro, Accursio and Adiuto, also called the Franciscan Protomartyrs, were the first martyrs of the Franciscan Order, killed in Morocco on January 16, 1220.

They were three priests, Berardo, Pietro, Ottone, and two lay brothers, Adiuto and Accursio who came from the regions around the city of Terni. They were among the first to embrace the life of the friars minor, and were also among the first to be sent as missionaries by Francis of Assisi.

They went initially to Seville, Spain, where they began to preach the Christian faith in mosques. Here they were beaten, taken prisoner and led before the sultan Muhammad al-Nasir called Miramolino. Later, they were transferred to Morocco with orders to no longer preach in the name of Christ.

Despite this ban, they continued to preach the gospel, and because of this, they were imprisoned again. After being subjected to flogging several times, they were beheaded. It was January 16, 1220.

St. Francis, at the announcement of the killing of his friars exclaimed: "Now I can say with certainty that I have five minor Friars". The bodies were moved to Coimbra, Portugal. At this juncture, Anthony of Padua, who was in Coimbra, and who seems to have previously known the martyrs from their passage through Portugal to Morocco, received the vocation to enter the Franciscan order.