the setting sun glinted through the depictions of first john the baptist , ( the plaque below his image read circa 30 ad : beheaded ) , then stephen ( circa 33ad : stoned to death ) , polycarp of smyrna ( circa 155ad : stabbed , burned on a pyre ) , then joan of arc ( circa 1431ad : burned alive at stake ) , then the north american martyrseight men ( circa 1600sad : killed by aborigines ) , then finished off with maria goretti ( circa 1902ad : stabbed , died as the result of attempted rape ) .