List of Christian martyrs

Since its earliest days, tens of thousands of Christians have been killed for their faith. Some of the most notable are:

Apostolic Age—1st century

"Martyrdom of St. Paul", from an 1887 edition of Foxe's Book of Martyrs

• Saint Stephen, Protomartyr, was stoned c. 34 A.D.
• James the Great (Son of Zebedee) was beheaded in 44 A.D.
• Philip the Apostle was crucified in 54 A.D.
• Matthew the Evangelist killed with a halberd in 60 A.D.
• James the Just, beaten to death with a club after being crucified and stoned.
• Matthias was stoned and beheaded.
• Saint Andrew, St. Peter's brother, was crucified.
• Saint Mark was dragged in the streets until his death
• Saint Peter, crucified upside-down.
• Apostle Paul, beheaded in Rome.
• Saint Jude was crucified.
• Saint Bartholomew flayed alive and crucified.
• Thomas the Apostle was killed with a spear.
• Luke the Evangelist was hanged.
• Simon the Zealot was crucified in 74 A.D.

(Note: John the Evangelist according to legend was cooked in boiling hot oil but survived. He was the only one of the original twelve Apostles who was not martyred).

Age of Martyrdom—2nd to 4th centuries

The martyrdom of St. Alban, from a 13th century manuscript, now in the Trinity College Library, Dublin. Note the executioner's eyes falling out of his head.

• Saint Afra c.304 at Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany.
• Ignatius of Antioch in 107 A.D.
• Saint Januarius of Naples, Italy in 305 A.D.
• Justin Martyr of Palestine in 165 A.D.
• Origen of Alexandria, about 250 A.D.
• Perpetua and Felicity of Carthage in 202 A.D.
• Saint Philomena of Corfu, Greece (died in Rome) about 305 A.D.
• Polycarp of Smyrna, probably around 160 A.D.
• The Martyrs of Scili (in North Africa, about 180 A.D.) The Passio Sanctorum Scilitanorum is regarded as the oldest Christian text in the Latin language.
• Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, died in what is now Armenia under the Roman Imperial persecutions of 320 A.D.
• Saint George, died in the Diocletianic Persecution in 303.
• Saint Behnam of Assyria, Iraq
• sint arturius was geen martelaar, was gewoon chill.

Middle Ages—5th to 15th centuries

• Valentine and Engratia, ca. 715, Hermit martyrs of Segovia
• Ludmila of Bohemia, 921
• King Edward the Martyr, 979
• Stanislaus of Szczepanów, 1079
• Thomas Becket, 1170
• John Huss (Jan Huss), 1415
• Jerome of Prague, 1416
• Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc), 1431

Reformation Era—16th century

Dirk Willems etching from Martyrs Mirror.

"Death of Cranmer", from the 1887 Foxe's Book of Martyrs

• Diego Botello, Spanish missionary in the Caribbean, 1516
• Fernando Salzedo, Spanish missionary in the Caribbean, 1516
• Jan de Bakker, 1525
• Felix Manz, 1527
• Patrick Hamilton, 1528
• George Blaurock, 1529
• St Thomas More, 1535
• St John Fisher, 1535
• William Tyndale, 1535
• Carthusian Martyrs, 1535 - 1537
• St. Arthur of Glastonbury, 1539
• Margaret Pole, 1541
• Juan de la Cruz, Spanish missionary to New Mexico, 1542
• Luis de Escalona, Spanish missionary to New Mexico, 1542
• Juan de Padilla, Spanish missionary to New Mexico, 1542
• George Wishart, 1546
• Hugh Latimer, 1555
• Nicholas Ridley , 1555
• Rowland Taylor, 1555
• John Hooper, 1555
• John Rogers, 1555
• William Hunter, 1555
• Lawrence Saunders, 1555
• Thomas Cranmer, 1556
• Dirk Willems, 1569
• The Huguenots, massacred in the 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
• St Edmund Campion, 1581
• Margaret Ball, 1584
• The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, various dates

Modern Era—17th to 21st centuries

Feodosia Morozova, an Old Believer being arrested by Czarist authorities.

An illustration depicts the brutal death of Father Luís Jayme by the hands of angry natives at Mission San Diego de Alcalá in Alta California, November 4, 1775.

• Martyrs of Japan
• Kakure Kirishitan
• Francis Taylor, 1621
• Vietnamese Martyrs 1625 - 1886
• Magdalene of Nagasaki 1634
• Lorenzo Ruiz, 1637
• Canadian Martyrs, North American Martyrs, 1642 - 1649
• Arthur Bell, 1643
• Isaac Jogues, 1646 (French Jesuit in New York killed by Indians)
• Francis Ferdinand de Capillas (Dominican missionary to China), 1648
• King Charles I, beheaded after the Second Civil War - 1649
• Diego Luis de San Vitores and Pedro Calungsod, 1672
• Feodosia Morozova (Old Believer), 1675
• Oliver Plunkett, 1681
• Felipe Songsong, 1685
• Constantin Brâncoveanu, 1714
• Lorenzo Carranco, Spanish missionary to Baja California, 1734
• Nicolás Tamarál, Spanish missionary to Baja California, 1734
• Vicente Liem de la Paz (Tonkinese Dominican), 1773
• Luís Jayme, Spanish missionary to Alta California, 1775
• Cosmas of Aetolia, 1779
• Francisco Garcés, Spanish missionary to Alta California, 1781
• Martyrs of Compiegne, 1794
• Andrés Quintana, Spanish missionary to Alta California, 1812
• Chinese Martyrs (various Christian denominations), 19th and 20th centuries
• Andrew Dung-Lac (Vietnamese Catholic), 1839
• Korean Martyrs 1839, 1846, 1866

• Peter Chanel (Catholic priest), 1841
• Joseph Smith (Prophet of God), 1844

  

  Assassination of Brother Joseph, which cause him fall from a second story window

• Hyrum Smith (Brother of Joseph Smith, Apostle of the Lord both him and Joseph assassinated on June 27), 1844
• Andrew Kim Taegon, 1846
• Marcus Whitman, 1847
• Narcissa Whitman, 1847
• Martyrs of India 1857
• Lucy Yi Zhenmei, one of the 19th century Chinese Catholic Martyrs, 1862
• Thomas Baker, 1867, English missionary killed and eaten, Fiji
• Martyrs of Uganda, 1885-1887
• Esther John 1929-1960, Found Killed in Chichawatni commemorated at Westminster Abbey.
• Maria Goretti (virgin martyr), 1902
• Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, 1918
• Nun Barbara (Yakovleva), 1918
• Saints of the Cristero War 1926-1927
• Miguel Pro, 1927
• Toribio Romo González, 1928
• Manche Masemola, (1913-1928)
• José Sánchez del Río 1928
• Innocencio of Mary Immaculate 1934
• Bartolome Blanco Marquez‎, 1936
• Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War 1934, 1936-1939
• Maximilian Kolbe (Polish Franciscan, died at Auschwitz), 1941
• Edith Stein (Carmelite nun, died at Auschwitz), 1942
• Lucian Tapiedi (1942)
• Franz Jägerstätter, 1943
• Dusty Miller (Martyr), 1945, a Methodist layman killed as a P.O.W. of the Japanese in Thailand during WWII.
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, (April 9, 1945) Lutheran Pastor and member of the German Resistance
• Theodore Romzha, 1947
• Beda Chang, 1951
• Zdenka Cecilia Schelingová, 1955
• Jim Elliot, 1956
• Alan Castillo, March 34 1956
• Martin Luther King, Jr., 4 April 1968
• Wang Zhiming (1907 - December 29, 1973) Chinese pastor, publicly executed
• Janani Jakaliya Luwum (1922 – 17 February 1977), Archbishop of Uganda.
• Óscar Romero (August 15, 1917 – March 24, 1980), Archbishop of San Salvador
• Martyrs of Atlas, 1996
• Kosheh Martyrs, 1998 - 2000
• Ri Hyon Ok, Executed in June 2009 in North Korea for distributing bibles.