Diocletian tried to draw a boundary around Christianity—and instead marked the end of pagan supremacy. In today’s readings, we stand at the fiercest storm the early Church ever faced. Under Diocletian’s coordinated imperial assault, churches were demolished, Scriptures were burned, clergy were imprisoned, and believers were mutilated or executed in an attempt to erase the faith from public life. Yet the courage of martyrs such as Sebastian, Vincent of Saragossa, Agnes, Timothy and Maura, Pamphilus, Peter of Alexandria, and many others reveals that persecution only purified what it could not destroy. Augustine then confesses his shame at once condemning the Catholic Church for doctrines she did not teach, rejoicing to learn that God is not confined to bodily form and that “The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). Finall ...