Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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MARTYRS, ACTS OF THE

Narrative accounts of the martyrs' trials and deaths. They include: 1. official reports of the interrogatives; 2. nonofficial records of eyewitnesses or contemporaries' reportings; 3. later documents based on 1 and 2; 4. other documents whose truth is often questionable or that are even forgeries. The studies made of these documents have contributed substantially not only to Christian hagiography but to a better understanding of world history, including modern times, as of Communism.