Story: Child Martyr Who Teach People of Mercy

In the small town of Lincoln, there lived a faithful Christian widow and her seven-year-old son, Hugh. Their house located within area where majority of the Jews lived. At the young age, Hugh’s mother taught him to be a faithful Christian and nourished his love toward Christ and Christ’s Mother, Blessed Mother Mary. Her devotion influenced Hugh, who always loved Christ and Blessed Mother.

During his school day, he heard the “Oh Alma Redemptoris Mater” sang by the older boys. Although he did not understand the Latin words of the hymn, he wished to learn the song so he could sing it on Christmas to celebrate Christ’s birth and to honor Blessed Mother’s sacrifice. Hugh was too eager to learn that he even knelt down to one of the older boys, begging him to teach him the hymn. Touched by Hugh’s devotion, the older boy agreed to teach him.

Every day, as Hugh and the older boy walked home together, the older boy patiently recited the hymn, word by word and verse by verse until Hugh could sing the whole hymn by himself. Since then, Hugh continuously sang “Oh Alma Redemptoris Mater” with sweet innocent voice and a sincere heart wherever he goes.

His devotion angered Satan, the demon. Satan wanted to silence Hugh’s voice. He went to all the Jewish houses. Whenever Hugh sang, Satan creeped into the Jews’ minds and evoked their discrimination and hatred toward the Christian. As day passed, the hatred grew, and the Jews could not stand hearing Hugh singing celebrating hymn to Christ and Blessed Mary. They hired the bloody murderer to kill the boy.

One day when the boy was walking home from school, he was kidnapped by the hired murderer, who cut the boy’s throat, letting the boy bleed to death in the dark, hidden corner of the town.

While at home, Hugh’s widow mother anxiously waited for her son to return home, but as the sun went down, there was no sight of her son. Fearful and anxious widow went out in the evening to search for her young son. She knocked on every door nearby the route that her son usually walked and asked her Jewish neighbor if they know her son’s whereabouts. Yet, all of them replied that they did not know while they knew that the boy was killed by the murderer, whom they hired. The Jews kept quiet in seeing the widow frantically searched throughout the town during the darkness of the night for her son, who would never return home.

Love of a Mother. Link

The widow’s love to her son touched Christ, who invisibly guided her to her son’s body. Devastated, the widow cried. In the midst of her painful cry, people heard the young sweet voice singing “Oh Alma Redemptoris Mater.” The voice came from the Hugh’s lifeless lips.

Many Christians were drawn to the child’s voice, and they witnessed the tragic scene of a broken mother holding her child’s corpse. They quickly called the provost, who immediately ordered the people who involved in the child’s murder to be punished. The provost commanded, “Evil to him who deserves evil.”

Then, the Hugh’s body was carried by the Christians to the church, where a mass was performed for the child’s behalf. Throughout the mass, the boy still sang “Oh Alma Redemptoris Mater.” At the end of mass, the Priest asked why the boy still singing. Hugh answered that he supposed to die hours ago, but Christ’s glory allowed him to sing to worship Blessed Mother. He also said that Blessed Mother visited him before his death and laid on his tongue a grain, and she told him as long as the grain still on his tongue he could continue to sing. When the grain removed, Blessed Mother would come and take him with her.

Afterward, Hugh spoke to his mother for the last time.

“Dear mother, please do not grieve for me. You should be happy that I died for the love and honor of Christ. Wasn’t this the moment you have prepared me since I was born? Be joyful for me since from this day I will be with Christ and Blessed Mother.”

Hugh turned to the Priest and the provost and the Christians crowd.

“Please tell the people who did harm to me that I forgave them. They might not need my forgiveness, but I wanted to tell them. Please tell them to stop doing harm others because it would hurt Christ, Our Father. I want to ask all of you to not let hatred and vengeance blind your sight and bound your heart. If possible, let my murderers live and repent instead of killing him for my justice. Learn from Christ’s mercy for he prayed for his murderers in his last minutes. Let’s my death be end of the dispute between the Christians and the Jews.”

Then, Hugh opened his mouth, allowing the Priest to remove the grain. When the grain was removed, Hugh stopped singing, and the crowd silenced.

Upon Hugh’s request, the provost punished the murderer by death and other culprits with hardships like building houses, growing crops, and building roads.

Yet, Hugh’s last words impacted the people of Lincoln, especially the Jews. They were ashamed of what they’ve done on the moment of temptation. Due Hugh’s last words, the people in Lincoln live peacefully together from now on.

Author’s Notes

I was very amazed by this story of young boy who loved Christ and Blessed Mother dearly, and he was killed by the Jews out of hatred. In the original version, the people who involved in the boy’s murder were hanged. However, I wanted to create a more meaningful ending. So, I incorporated the important element of Christianity, mercy. I wanted make the boy’s death as the beginning of peace and the end of discrimination and hatred. I added some details using the real story of St. Agnes and St. Mario Goretti, the virgin-martyrs who forgave the man who killed them when they refused to his advance to rape them even it costed their lives.

Bibliography. Chaucer.  Canterbury Tales. Link