Lactantius — Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died (c. 315)

A tutor at the imperial court tells the story of the emperors who persecuted the Church, and how their reigns ended.

Lactantius taught rhetoric in the eastern capital of Nicomedia when the Great Persecution began there in 303. His short, vivid book is one of the key sources for the period, including the Edict of Milan (313) that granted Christians freedom of worship.

Part of the Boston Made Reader’s special collection Courage, Conscience & Service. Every book and document here is free to read.

Eusebius — Church History, Book VIII (c. 325)

An eyewitness account of the Great Persecution under the Emperor Diocletian, the harshest the early Church ever faced.

Eusebius of Caesarea is called the father of church history. In Book VIII he describes the persecution that began in 303: churches destroyed, Scriptures burned, and believers imprisoned, tortured and killed across the empire.

Eusebius lived through it himself. A decade later, under Constantine, Christianity became legal, and his history records both the suffering and the survival.

Part of the Boston Made Reader’s special collection Courage, Conscience & Service. Every book and document here is free to read.

Tertullian — Apology (197)

“The oftener we are mown down by you, the more in number we grow; the blood of Christians is seed.”

Tertullian, a lawyer-turned-theologian from Carthage, wrote his Apology as a legal defense addressed to the governors of the Roman Empire. He argued that Christians were being condemned for a name, not for any crime, and that they were loyal, peaceful citizens.

It ends with one of the most quoted lines in Christian history: persecution only makes the faith grow.

Part of the Boston Made Reader’s special collection Courage, Conscience & Service. Every book and document here is free to read.

The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity (203)

A young mother’s prison diary: one of the earliest surviving texts written by a Christian woman.

In the year 203, in Carthage in North Africa, a 22-year-old noblewoman named Vibia Perpetua and her enslaved companion Felicity were arrested for becoming Christians. Perpetua kept a diary in prison, recording her visions and her struggles with her father, who begged her to give up her faith.

An editor completed the account after the two women died in the arena. Perpetua and Felicity are still remembered by name in the Catholic Mass today.

Part of the Boston Made Reader’s special collection Courage, Conscience & Service. Every book and document here is free to read.

The Martyrdom of Polycarp (c. 155)

The oldest surviving account of a Christian martyrdom outside the New Testament.

Polycarp was the elderly bishop of Smyrna, in what is now Turkey, and is said to have known the Apostle John. Around the year 155 he was arrested and ordered to curse Christ to save his life.

His reply has echoed for nearly two thousand years: “Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?” This letter, written by his church to other Christian communities, describes his arrest and death and became a model for honoring the martyrs.

Part of the Boston Made Reader’s special collection Courage, Conscience & Service. Every book and document here is free to read.

Seuk’s Army Animal Rescue

“No paws are left behind.” A nonprofit rescue honoring the legacy of Seuk Kim by moving animals out of overcrowded shelters.

Seuk’s Army is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit animal rescue that honors the legacy of Seuk Kim by rescuing dogs and cats from overcrowded shelters.

Its work happens in three steps. It partners with shelters to identify at-risk animals, transports them using a network of volunteer pilots, drivers, handlers and aviation partners, and places them with foster homes and adoption centers on the way to permanent homes. The organization reports moving more than seventeen hundred dogs and cats in 2026, with 75+ partner organizations.

How to help

Volunteer as a driver or handler, foster, adopt, or donate through the official site.

Part of the Boston Made Reader’s special collection Courage, Conscience & Service. Every book and document here is free to read.

LAZ Charitable Foundation

To create opportunities and inspire hope: the charitable foundation of LAZ Parking.

The founding partners of LAZ Parking established the LAZ Charitable Foundation in December 2009 to give back to the communities where the company’s employees live and work. Fittingly for this shelf, its very first beneficiary, chosen on an employee’s recommendation, was Special Olympics.

Today the foundation supports more than 80 organizations. Its mission is to bring hope and opportunity to underserved communities by supporting solutions for housing, education, food insecurity, mental health and career development, guided by the values of hope, inclusivity, empowerment and compassion.

Part of the Boston Made Reader’s special collection Courage, Conscience & Service. Every book and document here is free to read.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America

For more than 120 years, built on one idea: one caring adult can change the course of a young person’s life.

In 1904, Ernest Coulter, a clerk at the new New York Children’s Court, saw the same boys coming before the court again and again. He recruited 39 volunteers, each of whom agreed to befriend one boy. Around the same time the Ladies of Charity, later Catholic Big Sisters, began mentoring girls who came before the same court.

Those two efforts grew into Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the nation’s largest donor- and volunteer-supported mentoring network. “Bigs” are matched one-to-one with “Littles” and spend time together regularly, building friendships that often last for years.

How to help

Become a Big, donate, or find your local agency through the official site.

Part of the Boston Made Reader’s special collection Courage, Conscience & Service. Every book and document here is free to read.

Special Olympics

“Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.” The Special Olympics athlete oath.

On July 20, 1968, about 1,000 young people with intellectual disabilities from 26 U.S. states and Canada competed at Soldier Field in Chicago in the first Special Olympics International Summer Games. The event was led by Eunice Kennedy Shriver of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, with Chicago organizers including Anne McGlone Burke.

At a time when people with intellectual disabilities were often hidden away, the Games showed the world what they could do. Today Special Olympics reaches more than 5 million athletes in over 170 countries, with year-round training and competition.

How to help

Volunteer at a local event, coach, become a Unified Sports partner, or donate through the official site.

Part of the Boston Made Reader’s special collection Courage, Conscience & Service. Every book and document here is free to read.

Voices of the Manhattan Project — Oral Histories

Hundreds of interviews with the scientists, engineers, soldiers and families who lived through the Manhattan Project.

The Atomic Heritage Foundation and the Los Alamos Historical Society recorded interviews with people who worked on the Manhattan Project, including many who knew Oppenheimer personally. Transcripts and recordings are free online.

These first-person stories bring the history down to human scale: the secret cities, the young families, the pressure of the work, and the mixed feelings that followed.

Part of the Boston Made Reader’s special collection Courage, Conscience & Service. Every book and document here is free to read.