Down the hill from IMM is the Magistral Cathedral. The building is rooted in the year 305 AD, the year when two children were killed for being Christians. The boys, Justo, age 13, and Pastor, age 9, were executed during the times of the Roman Empire under Emperor Diocletian. The appointed chief persecutor of Christians in the early years of the fourth century, Daciano, journeyed through Spain “in a frenzy of violence and horror”. In the year 304 AD he reached Alcalá de Henares, then known by its Roman name, Complutum, and proclaimed that all Christians, on pain of death, renounce their faith. The two boys heard of this and were determined to show that their own Christian faith was as strong as that of any of their elders by publicly proclaiming their faith. Praetor Daciano thought it would be a simple matter of scaring the two young boys and ordered that they be flogged.
According to sources, they were savagely beaten, but refused to denounce Christ, only becoming more defiant. Angered by their display of bravery, Daciano sought permission to have them killed, and the sentence was carried out secretly, away from the public. The boy’s throats were cut at night outside of the city walls. Some fellow believers in Christ found their bodies and buried them where they fell. Through the centuries this field became a place of worship for the early church, and over time, religious buildings were constructed here to guard the memory and remains of Justo and Pastor. Today the remains of the young martyrs are located in the crypt below the altarpiece in the Magistral Cathedral, which was built in the year 1515 AD under the orders of Cardinal Cisneros.
Those who persecute Christians often have a goal of humiliating them and making them believe the hatred toward them is justified. But Jesus told us ahead of time of their true motivation: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” (John 15:18-19). Christian martyrs throughout history have been killed because they hid their identities in Christ and did not belong to the world.
IMM has dedicated the past forty years to heralding the gospel into the darkest parts of the world. Of the top fifty nations listed in 2021 by Christianity Today where “it is most dangerous to follow Jesus”, half have received programming produced by IMM. With the help of our broadcast partners, translations targeting specific language groups are bounced via satellite into the closed areas of the world, where the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not welcome. Indeed, the word “broadcast” itself is taken from the idea of a farmer casting the seeds broadly across the fertile ground.
Our latest endeavor, the Heritage Project, is an eight-part series showing the life of the early church in North Africa, and all of the oppression they faced during those trying times. These eight programs are being broadcast into North Africa as targeted language group translations are completed. One particular episode, “Anthony”, mentions Emperor Diocletian by name and documents the same persecution occurring all the across the Roman Empire during the same years Justo and Pastor were killed for their faith. Other episodes in the Heritage series recount the true stories of martyrdom in North Africa, and the believers who stood firm in the Christian faith during the days of the early church.
These stories must be shared today as Christians across the world are continuing to face persecution. Here at IMM, we share the Gospel to encourage, give strength, and to broadcast the blessed hope of our redeemer.
