Martyrdom

Sister Mary Martha has an interesting post about martyrdom, in which she discusses Father Thomas Byles. He was a British priest who got invited to preside at his brother's wedding in the States. So he hopped on a big boat.

Unfortunately it was the Titanic, and as we all know know, the ship ran into Godzilla and sank.

According to Wikipedia:

He said Mass on the morning of the sinking, Low Sunday, 14 April 1912, for both second- and third-Class passengers in their respective lounges. The sermon was on the need for a spiritual lifeboat in the shape of prayer and the sacraments when in danger of spiritual shipwreck in times of temptation.^[1][2] Father Byles was walking on the upper deck praying his breviary when the Titanic struck the iceberg. As the ship was sinking, he assisted many third-class passengers up to the Boat Deck to the lifeboats. He reputedly twice refused a place on a lifeboat. Toward the very end, he recited the rosary and other prayers, heard confessions, and gave absolution to more than a hundred passengers who remained trapped on the stern of the ship after all of the lifeboats had been launched. His body, if recovered, was never identified.

Not a martyr (in case you were wondering ), but a good priest.