For centuries now people have used religions to help guide their lives and help them understand the world they live in. Religion is also pushed to the extremes by some people who use their religion to justify their cruel actions to others. Throughout history religion has been a driving force in countless tortures and murders. In the third century when Augustine lived, the people were so devoted to their religions that they did not back down from being murdered when told to denounce their religion. These martyrs are sent straight to heaven and their dead bodies can still be used through God to create miracles. 

In the third century it was very common for people to be killed based on their religion. The Romans would take people that do not believe in the same faith as them and force them to denounce their religion. If they did not follow these instructions the Romans would make examples out of them. The Romans believed that if they could publicly execute someone in the most gruesome ways they can think of then it would scare others away from following those religions or defying the Romans. Although their choices did probably stop some people from following the faith they wanted to, there were still a lot of devout Catholics and others that saw dying for their religion as better than being forced to denounce their religion. This caused a problem for people like the Romans because what can you do to stop people from following a religion when they are completely fine with dying in the most gruesome ways possible for it. Not only were these religious people okay with dying but after their deaths they were celebrated and made into a symbol for the religion and its followers that are still alive. They saw dying for your religion as a way to go straight to heaven. For example, when bishop Ambrose dug up the two martyrs, Gervasius and Protasius, they said that they were so close to God that he was working through them to create miracles. “some people vexed by impure spirits were healed, the very demons themselves making confessions” (165). The followers that were there when the two martyrs were dug up felt so moved by their presence that they started to confess their sins to God to become closer to him. 

Augustine’s Confessions is all about his search for Catholicism and his journey on his way to find his faith. Religion was the most important thing in Augustine’s life and the search for the faith that took him took many years of analyzing the religions that surrounded him. Augustine spent most of his time thinking about and critiquing religions. When the martyrs were unburied it must have been very significant to Augustine to see such a religious figure. Augustine’s whole mental state was based around faith and since he had just converted to Catholicism he would have loved to see someone that was so faithful that God continues to work through him even after death. The martyrs had such good faith that even the robes they were wearing could cause miracles. For example, Ambrose used the cloth from one of the martyrs and cured a man’s blindness by putting the cloth onto his eyes. Having these miracles happen from martyrs also helped to build the Catholic faith even more by showing the power of God. Another reason that martyrs are given so much respect is because Jesus was also a martyr. God sent his only son to come down and die for our sins in the most selfless act. This parallel with Jesus puts the future martyrs in an even higher religious status. They also served as a symbol for Catholics and helped to bring them together. In a time when Christians and Catholics were being murdered all the time in very gruesome ways the symbols of martyrs that died for their cause kept them true to their faith until the end. It also helped to convert other people to the Catholic faith after they saw or heard about these miracles.

Even though most martyrs were murdered in some of the most cruel and gruesome ways possible they were still seen as powerful religious figures of their time. Since they made the ultimate sacrifice of their life for Catholicism they are said to be closer to God. God even continues to work through them even after their deaths. This must have been very interesting for Augustine to see right after he converted to Catholicism. He was able to see people that believed in Catholicism so strongly they chose to die for it in a similar way to Jesus.