Memorial of the 21 Coptic Martyrs of Libya: Ecumenical Prayer, St Peter’s Basilica, 15 February 2024
The booklet of the first Catholic commemoration of the twenty-one men killed in Libya in 2015, issued by the Holy See’s office for Christian unity. Its opening note tells who they were and how the Coptic Orthodox Church honoured them, and lists their names.
Read the text at christianunity.va ↗The Dicastery’s notice of the first commemoration, 16 February 2024 (English) ↗
After the cover and a blank page the booklet opens with a “hagiographical note” on its pages 3 and 4. It says that twenty of the men were Egyptian Copts and one came from Ghana, that they had been kidnapped at Sirte in December 2014 and January 2015, and that they were beheaded on a beach in the western part of the city on 15 February 2015. It records that Pope Tawadros II declared them saints on 21 February 2015, that the Coptic Holy Synod confirmed the entry of their names in the Synaxarium, that the remains were recovered and brought to the village of Al-Our, and that Pope Francis announced their inclusion in the Roman Martyrology on 11 May 2023. The twenty-one names follow.
It is a document of the Catholic Church written nine years after the event, and its account of what the Coptic church did is given at second hand. For the Coptic side see Notices of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Los Angeles. See the Twenty-One Martyrs of Libya.
Cited in
- 15 February 2015, firm date