A protomartyr (Koine Greek, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} prôtos 'first' + {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} mártus 'martyr') is the first Christian martyr in a country or among a particular group, such as a religious order. Similarly, the phrase the Protomartyr (with no other qualification of country or region) can mean Saint Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian Church.
Saint Thecla the Protomartyr, the first female martyr of the Christian Church, is known as "apostle and protomartyr among women".<ref>Michael F. Bird, Scott Harrower, The Cambridge Companion to the Apostolic Fathers, Cambridge University Press (2021), p. 183; see also St. Thekla, Protomartyr and Equal to the Apostles (antiochian.org).</ref>
from Mexico<ref>Philip of Jesus, one of the companions of Peter Baptist, was long known as the first Mexican saint. This has technically no longer been the case since the canonization of the Child Martyrs of Tlaxcala by Pope Francis in 2017.</ref>
