Trinitarians, guardians of persecuted Christians: ‘We were born to go to the dungeons’

Rome Newsroom, Apr 15, 2025 / 14:26 pm (CNA).

The Trinitarian order was founded at the end of the 12th century to free persecuted Christians. Today, it continues to quietly and humbly assist those persecuted for their faith.

Among the bustling streets of Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood, a few steps from the Tiber River, stands one of Rome’s oldest basilicas, that of St. Chrysogonus, served by the Trinitarian order — officially known as the Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Captives — since 1850. The basilica was built in memory of a Roman soldier who died a martyr after converting to Christianity.

Father Antonio Aurelio, vicar general of the Trinitarian order, explained with conviction in an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, that “we were born to go to the dungeons.”

In a large hall, under the gaze of all the superior generals of the order whose portraits grace the room, Aurelio — wearing his unmistakable white habit with its blue and red cross — explained why the Trinitarian order marked a turning point in the Catholic Church.

A mission: To liberate Christians

“The founding of the order in 1198 was a unique event in the history of the Church, since until then only monastic life existed,” Aurelio said.

According to Aurelio, St. John of Matha, its founder, created the first order that came out of the convent to help those in need, especially Christians who had been taken prisoner during the years of the Crusades (1096–1291), for whom they paid ransoms and even changed places with.

The Trinitarian order was established with the mission of rescuing and redeeming both Christian captives and Muslims, establishing a new model of religious life centered on action and service outside the monastery. The vicar general also noted that the Trinitarians went to war zones “in the name of peace, not with a weapon but with a cross.”

“They call us redeemers because we follow the same path that the Redeemer follows. He leaves his place, so to speak, of glory and comes down to the world. He goes to seek out the needs, to seek out the weaknesses of man, to free him, to bring him out of that darkness. And the Trinitarians follow the same path. They leave their homes to seek out those in need, to give them the clarity of the God of the day, bringing them out of the darkness of the dungeons,” he said.

In fact, there are currently Trinitarians in the process of beatification, such as Antonio da Conceiçao, a Portuguese Calced Trinitarian, and José de la Madre de Dios and Ignacio Tavares, who died in prison after exchanging themselves for Christian prisoners.

“There were religious who, when money wasn’t coming in and they saw that the prisoners were in dire straits, would take their places, literally offering their lives for the captives,” Aurelio added.

21st-century captives

With a desire to return to the origins of its founding, the Trinitarian International Solidarity (TIS) was founded in 1999. Its mission is to assist persecuted Christians and work for religious freedom.

According to the 2023 World Religious Freedom Report by Aid to the Church in Need, Christians continue to be the most persecuted religious group. A total of 28 countries, home to more than half of the world’s population (51.5%), fall into the “red” category of persecution. Of these, 13 are in Africa, where the situation has seriously deteriorated.

Today, Trinitarians continue their order’s legacy, dedicating their lives to the captives of the 21st century, those who suffer persecution for their faith. The order currently has 54 communities in Europe, 22 in the United States and Canada, 21 in Latin America, 10 in Madagascar, two in India, and two in continental Africa.

In addition to Trinitarian priests, the order also includes Trinitarian nuns and sisters, distributed among houses in Rome and various locations in Spain, as well as lay Trinitarians.

Following St. John of Matha’s example

“Eight Centuries Later” is a Spanish-language documentary that gives voice to and puts a face on forgotten Christians suffering in places like Syria, Nigeria, and northern India but who don’t lose hope thanks to the “silent” help offered by TIS.

“St. John of Matha is one of the most discreet saints in existence; he never spoke of himself,” Aurelio said. Drawing on the founder’s humility, discretion, and silence, the order wanted to make a documentary in which the spotlight is given to those who are suffering extreme situations, today’s captives.

“We wanted them to be the ones to speak. Let them be the ones to express themselves, to tell us,” Aurelio explained.

The documentary reflects the heartbreaking situation of girls in Nigeria, kidnapped and raped by Boko Haram terrorists. It also highlights the abandonment of Christians in Syria, once conceived as the “Switzerland” of the East and now devastated by war, as well as the lack of religious freedom in India. “The Trinitarian family is present there, discreetly, as we say, in silence, but it is present there,” Aurelio emphasized.

For the superior of the Trinitarians, what “is not told does not exist,” although he added that Christians ought to be interested in learning about the reality of their persecuted brothers and sisters without looking the other way.

“We’re so used to our own routines, our own ways, that anything different doesn’t register. In other words, it slides off like water on a raincoat, it doesn’t soak in. And that’s what’s happening in the West, what’s happening in Europe, and what’s happening in the United States,” he lamented.

In this context, he clarified that the Trinitarian order is not a nondenominational, nongovernmental organization (NGO), “but rather we are religious. Our concept is a religious attitude, and since we can’t stop these wars because it’s beyond our power, at least what we can do is not leave the people to fend for themselves, not abandon them.”

Aurelio lamented the relativism in society in developed countries and the lack of “purity of faith.”

“We cannot abandon them. It pains us greatly that the West has such a hard time understanding that there are people who hold fast to the same religion and are willing to give their lives to remain faithful to that religion,” he told ACI Prensa.

When asked about the main motivation that leads to the persecution of Christians or whether there is a common factor among the persecutors, the Spanish priest was clear: “The Christian message is what scares them. Christianity is the only religion that has fostered a democratic context, freedom among people. Where Christians are persecuted, there are essentially dictatorships, and the message of freedom is a message they don’t accept.”

“Christianity,” Aurelio continued, “is the only religion on a philosophical and theological level that looks to the person as he or she is, and therefore seeks his or her well-being.” In Christianity, “one of life’s foundations is freedom.”

He emphasized that Christianity gives every person a sense of freedom, something that “terrifies dictatorships … Anything that is contrary to the pursuit of the common good of the person, which is Christianity, must be persecuted,” he pointed out.

He also cited the subservience and obedience practiced in some religions, especially Islam. “It is not accepted; the concept of personhood doesn’t exist in these religions. There is the concept of ‘Sunnah,’ a series of regulations that govern social interaction, but the person has no identity,” he maintained.

“It seems like we’re talking a lot about the common good these days,” he said. “That’s a modern idea of ​​the common good, but the first person to use that word was St. Paul, in his letters. This whole desire to look to the person as the center of that freedom, of that well-being, frightens any dictatorship that exists in the world, and, therefore, those who embrace this way of life must be persecuted.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.