Learning to Pray with the Martyrs

“The graces obtained through the martyrs come more easily, because the martyrs are always waiting for us—ready to pray for us and with us.” With these striking words, Raffaele PENDIBENE, lawyer and father of a family, opened his testimony during our Sedes Guest encounter on Monday, 9 March 2026, following our community lunch.

During the meeting, Raffaele shared the profound experience of his visits to the churches, catacombs, and burial sites of the martyrs. Since 2022, on each martyr’s feast day according to the Roman Martyrology—their dies natalis—he has gone to these sacred places to pray, asking God for the grace of healing and conversion for various people.

Over the years, this practice has matured into a true pilgrimage of faith: a moment of prayer and catechesis in which Raffaele not only prays but also offers reflections on the martyrs to those who accompany him. In concluding, he emphasized that through this journey he has come to understand something essential: God’s grace responds to a specific request. Yet to receive it, one must believe, remain in a state of grace, and persevere in asking.