Freeing Prisoners

(Hope in a Prison of Despair by Evelyn De Morgan - found here)

“Since apostolic times, the Church has seen the liberation of the oppressed as a sign of the Kingdom of God. Jesus himself proclaimed at the beginning of his public ministry: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives’ (Lk 4:18). The early Christians, even in precarious conditions, prayed for and assisted their brothers and sisters who were prisoners, as the Acts of the Apostles (cf. 12:5; 24:23) and various writings of the Fathers attest. This mission of liberation has continued throughout the centuries through concrete actions, especially when the tragedy of slavery and imprisonment has marked entire societies.

Between the late twelfth and the early thirteenth centuries, when many Christians were captured in the Mediterranean or enslaved in wars, two religious orders arose: the Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Captives (Trinitarians), founded by Saint John of Matha and Saint Felix of Valois, and the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy (Mercedarians), founded by Saint Peter Nolasco with the support of the Dominican Saint Raymond of Peñafort. These communities of consecrated persons were born with the specific charism of freeing Christians who had been enslaved, placing their own possessions at the disposal of the enslaved and many times offering their own lives in exchange. The Trinitarians, with their motto Gloria tibi Trinitas et captivis libertas (Glory to you, O Trinity, and liberty to the captives), and the Mercedarians, who added a fourth vow to the religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, testified that charity can be heroic. The liberation of prisoners is an expression of Trinitarian love: a God who frees not only from spiritual slavery but also from concrete oppression. The act of rescuing someone from slavery and captivity is seen as an extension of Christ’s redemptive sacrifice, whose blood is the price of our redemption (cf. 1 Cor 6:20).

The original spirituality of these orders was deeply rooted in contemplation of the cross. Christ is the Redeemer of prisoners par excellence, and the Church, his Body, prolongs this mystery in time. Religious did not see redemption as a political or economic action, but as a quasi-liturgical act, the sacramental offering of themselves. Many gave their own bodies to replace prisoners, literally fulfilling the commandment: ‘No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends’ (Jn 15:13). The tradition of these orders did not come to an end. On the contrary, it inspired new forms of action in the face of modern forms of slavery: human trafficking, forced labor, sexual exploitation and various forms of dependency. Christian charity is liberating when it becomes incarnate. Likewise, the mission of the Church, when she is faithful to her Lord, is at all times to proclaim liberation. Even today, when ‘millions of people — children, women and men of all ages — are deprived of their freedom and forced to live in conditions akin to slavery,’ this legacy is carried on by these orders and other institutions and congregations working in urban peripheries, conflict zones and migration routes. When the Church bends down to break the new chains that bind the poor, she becomes a paschal sign.”

~Leo PP. XIV (from Apostolic Exhortation “Dilexi Te”)