List of protomartyrs

"Protomartyr" redirects here. For the rock band, see Protomartyr (band).
Martyrdom of Saint Stephen San Esteban Ilocos Sur Philippines

A protomartyr (Koine Greek, πρῶτος prôtos 'first' + μάρτυς mártus 'martyr') is the first Christian martyr in a country or among a particular group, such as a religious order. Similarly, the phrase the Protomartyr (with no other qualification of country or region) can mean Saint Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian Church. Saint Thecla the Protomartyr, the first female martyr of the Christian Church, is known as "apostle and protomartyr among women".[1]

Name Year Place first...
Stephen c. 34 Jerusalem —
Thecla 1st century Iconium among women
First Martyrs of the Church of Rome 64 Rome in Rome
Sandukht 1st century Armenia in Armenia
Polyeuctus 259 Melitene in Melitene[2]
Alban[3] 3rd/4th c. St Albans in Great Britain
Denis of Paris 3rd century Paris in Gallia Lugdunensis
Vincent of Saragossa 304 Valencia in Spain
Rajden the First-Martyr[4] 457 Tsromi from Georgia / under the Sassanid Empire
Odran 5th c. Ireland in Ireland
Boniface 754 Germany in German lands
Adalbert of Prague 997 Prussia in the Duchy of Poland
Five Martyr Brothers 1003 Poland in Poland and Camaldolese
Martyrs Theodore and his son, John, of Kiev 10th c. Kiev in all Rus lands
The Franciscan protomartyrs 1220 Morocco of the Franciscan order
Peter of Verona 1252 Italy of the Dominican Order
Child Martyrs of Tlaxcala[5] 1527 Mexico in the Americas
Juan de Padilla 1542 Kansas in what is now the United States
Luis Cáncer 1549 Tampa Bay, Florida in Florida
Antonio de Valdivieso 1549 León in Nicaragua
Peter Baptist and companions 1627 Nagasaki in Japan
Philip of Jesus 1627 Nagasaki from Mexico[6]
Lorenzo Ruiz 1637 Nagasaki from the Philippines
Andrew of Phu Yen[7] 1641 Kẻ Chàm, Vietnam in Vietnam
André de Soveral 1645 Canguaretama in Brazil[8]
Francis Ferdinand de Capillas 1648 Fujian, China in the Chinese Empire
Pedro Calungsod 1672 Tumon, Guam in Guam
Devasahayam 1752 Aralvaimozhi, Travancore
Juvenaly[9] 1796 Quinhagak, Alaska in Alaska
Andrew Kim Taegon 1846 Seoul in Korea
James Hannington 1885 Uganda in Eastern Equatorial Africa
Peter Chanel 1841 Futuna in Oceania
Vladimir Bogoyavlensky 1918 Moscow under the Soviet Union
Marcello Maruzzo and Luis Navarro 1981 Los Amates in Guatemala
  1. ^ Michael F. Bird, Scott Harrower, The Cambridge Companion to the Apostolic Fathers, Cambridge University Press (2021), p. 183; see also St. Thekla, Protomartyr and Equal to the Apostles (antiochian.org).
  2. ^ "Martyr Polyeuktos of Melitene in Armenia". www.oca.org. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
  3. ^ Thurston, Herbert. "St. Alban." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907.
  4. ^ Machitadze, Archpriest Zakaria (2006), "St. Razhden, Protomartyr of the Georgian Church (†457)", in The Lives of the Georgian Saints Archived 2008-06-14 at the Wayback Machine. pravoslavie.ru. Retrieved on 2011-12-18.
  5. ^ Proto-martyrs of the Americas
  6. ^ Philip of Jesus, one of the companions of Peter Baptist, was long known as the first Mexican saint. This has technically no longer been the case since the canonization of the Child Martyrs of Tlaxcala by Pope Francis in 2017.
  7. ^ "WYD02 Saints: Blessed Andrew of Phu Yen – Protomartyr of Vietnam". Archived from the original on 2010-11-28. Retrieved 2009-12-28.
  8. ^ "Protomartyrs of Brazil". Archived from the original on 2019-01-28. Retrieved 2014-01-24.
  9. ^ "ЮВЕНАЛИЙ (ГОВОРУХИН) - Древо". drevo-info.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-09-26.