Nine Brothers and Three Sisters, in the Year 1528

In this year 1528, nine brothers and three sisters were arrested at Bruck, on the Mur, in Steyermark. They were condemned for their faith, and taken in bonds out of the city to the place of execution; but they were glad and of good cheer, and said: "Today we will suffer in this place for the word of God, and offer to Him our sacrifice." Romans 12, verse 1; Second Timothy 4, verse 6. They also earnestly warned the lords of Bruck that they should know they were making themselves guilty of innocent blood. A ring having been formed, they all knelt down (Acts 7, verse 60; Acts 20, verse 36), and earnestly prayed to God that they might now finish this their evening sacrifice. They then rose and submitted to the sword. The executioner was sad, for he did not want to do it. The youngest of them all begged his brothers that, since he felt of good cheer and bold, they should let him suffer the first pain; he then kissed them and said: "God bless you, my beloved brothers; today we shall all be together in Paradise." Luke 23, verse 43. So these nine brothers were beheaded in a green field; they were so undaunted that it was astonishing to see. They knelt down, and so poured out their blood under the stroke of the sword. The three sisters were drowned; they would in no way depart from God and His truth. The youngest one laughed at the water, which many a one there saw. Some held that the devil had hardened them; but others were moved in their hearts, so that they confessed that God must have given this, since otherwise it could not be possible. So they valiantly testified to the holy and divine truth.