The Hero-Martyr Myth in United States Catholic Foreign Mission Literature,1893–1925

Abstract

A contextual analysis of the mission literature of several United States Catholic groups engaged in mission outreach to other countries shows extensive use of a hero-martyr motif. Four elements of this motif are examined for their significance for the missionaries themselves and for the advantage this motif carried to persuade United States Catholics to support efforts toward missions abroad at a time when the country was considered, at least by Roman authorities, to be “mission territory.”