150 years before the murder of StThomas Beckett, another Archbishop of Canterbury, the Anglo-Saxon St Alphege was a victim of violence (1070). Abducted by Danish mauraders, he refused to let his people pay an exhorbitant ransom and so was brutally murdered.
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Some doubted that his death, given the circumstances, qualified as martyrdom. But a later Archbishop of Canterbury, St Anselm, noted : to die for justice is martyrdom indeed. Similar questions were raised and ultimately resolved in the case of Archbp Romero nearly 1000 yrs later

Apr 19, 2020 · 12:57 PM UTC
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