Today is the traditional feast of Saint Benjamin, a deacon put to death for the faith in the year of our Lord 424, by Persian pagans, who had been angered by a bishop who had burned down one of their temples. Benjamin perished in the ensuing persecution, lasting a biblical 40 years. From the aforelinked source, we may hope that our own persecution does not lead to what Benjamin suffered, even if God always provides the grace to endure:
The tyrant ordered that reeds should be thrust in between his nails and his flesh and into all the tenderest parts of his body and then withdrawn. After this torture had been repeated several times, a knotted stake was inserted into his bowels to rend and tear him. The martyr expired in the most terrible agony about the year 424.
Saint Benjamin, ora pro nobis! +