For whom the Bell tolls

  Martyrdom is not a very popular term in the contemporary world. It seems to sum up all that we have come to oppose in a secularised society – extremism, intolerance, sectarianism. In the popular mind, martyrdom is something that Christians don’t really bother with much nowadays. The tabloid press would have us believe that martyrdom is the preserve only of Islam and would have us all dismiss out of hand the very concept, so often with a simple wave of the hand and more than a dash of Islamophobia and generalised racial division. And yet we gather today on a great Apostle’s feast – the feast of our co-patron James – for whom martyrdom is amongst the only things we know about him. In fact, he is the only Apostle whose martyrdom is explicitly described in the New Testament – called amongst the first disciples, and among the first to die for the faith.   James, the son of Zebedee, for whom his mother – according to Saint Matthew – demands a special place in heaven, although St Mark doesn