These religious offered themselves as hostages for the release of Christian prisoners

The gesture of Colonel Arnaud Beltrame who gave his life on March 23, 2018, for the release of the hostage of an Islamist, renewed with the tradition of two “redeemer” religious orders founded by two Frenchmen in the early 13th century, for the release of people held captive by the Barbaresques: the Order of the Most Holy Trinity for the Redemption of the Captives (Mercedarians) and the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Mercy (Trinitarians). These two orders still exist.

In 1194, the Provençal Jean de Mata, born in Barcelonnette (French Alps), had a vision of two chained slaves, a Christian and a Muslim. He obtained from Pope Innocent III permission to found a community dedicated to freeing them. Between the beginning of the 13th century and the end of the 18th century, the Trinitarian order paid the bond of 40,000 captives! The Mercedarians just celebrated their 800th year of existence, receiving a message from the Pope for the occasion. The Pope invited the religious to follow the example of the Virgin Mary, emphasizing the relationship between "the humility and simplicity of a hidden life, completely consecrated to God" and "the sacrifice of the old redemptive fathers, who offered themselves as hostages in exchange for prisoners' release."

The members of the Mercedarian order added a fourth vow to the three ordinary vows of poverty, chastity and obedience: they promised to surrender their own person, as a last resort, to deliver prisoners for whom a ransom could not be raised. Some great saints who honored this commitment include St Serapion of Algiers (eviscerated, dismembered and slaughtered in 1240), St Peter Armengol (hanged on a gibbet in 1266), and St Raymond Nonnatus (also martyred in 1240).

Source: La Vie