The veneration of saints has a long history dating back to the early martyrs (meaning witnesses).

The early Christian martyrs talked of death with a horrible happiness.

The intention of the feast is to give a general celebration of early Roman martyrs.

"You have all the manners of an early Christian martyr," she said.

Usually, though, the nuns will merely offer to show you a chain that they claim was used to bind early martyrs.

For without cunning, Asad, you will be an early martyr.

He loved to revive the memory of Florida's early martyrs.

There is no record of Simon Peter's having gone to his death with the early Christian martyrs.

She is considered by many in Nicaragua to be one of the earliest martyrs of the revolutionary movement.

One way a church might reflect this was to have the relics of an apostle or an early martyr.