Remembering the Saintly 21 Coptic Christians Killed on Feb. 15 by Terrorists who are Now Martyrs in the Catholic Church
(Icon of the 21 Coptic Holy New Martyrs Written by Tony Rezk).
Cardinal Koch on the afternoon of February 15, organized by the Dicastery for Christian Unity, one year after the inclusion in the Roman Martyrology of the men killed by the self-styled ISIS in 2015.
Nine years have passed since February 15, 2015 when 20 Egyptians and a Ghanaian who worked in Libya were martyred on the beach of Syrte. On May 11 last year in the Vatican - during a meeting and a moment of common prayer with the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria Tawadros - Pope Francis announced that the 21 beheaded Christians would be included in the Roman Martyrology as a sign of spiritual communion.
The Choir Chapel of St. Peter's Basilica hosted an ecumenical prayer at 5 pm, with the participation of a Coptic choir. The relics of the martyrs offered by Tawadros to Pope Francis will be displayed for veneration in the Basilica. The Coptic Orthodox Church accepted that the killing of the 21 Egyptian Christians by ISIS in Libya as part of their Church calendar. Pope Tawadros II announced the names of the 21 murdered are inscribed in the Coptic Synaxarium. This a type of Roman Martyrology for the Coptic Christians and means that they are canonized.
In his message, Pope Francis highlighted that the 21 Coptic martyrs were “baptised as Christians with water and the Spirit, and that day also baptised with blood. They are our Saints, Saints of all Christians, Saints of all Christian denominations and traditions”. The Holy Father then thanked “the bishops, the priests of the Coptic sister church which raised them and taught them to grow in the faith”.
Terrasanta.net, said that the martyrdom of the 21 Christians will be celebrated on the 8th Amshir of the Coptic calendar, or February 15th of the Gregorian calendar. Their murder was recorded on a video entitled “A Message Signed in Blood to the Nation of the Cross”. The terrorists beheaded the Christian men, while some called “Lord Jesus Christ” before their death. This killing has strengthened the faith of the Coptic Christians in Egypt. A brother of 2 Copts killed, Beshir Kamel, said, “ISIS gave us more than we asked when they didn’t edit out the part where they declared their faith and called upon Jesus Christ. ISIS helped us strengthen our faith.” Kamel said his mother forgave the killer, "My mother, an uneducated woman in her sixties, said she would ask [him] to enter her house and ask God to open his eyes because he was the reason her son entered the kingdom of heaven,” Many of them repeated the name of Jesus as they were murdered.
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