Would

In the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Church, Christians would celebrate the anniversary of a martyr's death for Christ (known as the saint's "birth day") by serving an http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-Night_Vigil, and then celebrating the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucharist over their tomb or place of martyrdom. In the fourth century, neighbouring http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocese began to transfer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relics, and to celebrate the feast days of specific martyrs in common. Frequently, a number of Christians would suffer martyrdom on the same day, which naturally led to a joint commemoration. In the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Diocletian the number of martyrs became so great that a separate day could not be assigned to each. But the Church, feeling that every martyr should be venerated, appointed a common day for all.

I have learnt to write the modal verb 'would' in the case of a hypothesis. Marius and a few others taught me this recently.
I don't know the reason to write the modal verb 'would' in the first sentence of the above.
I would write the following:
In the early Church, Christians celebrated the anniversary of a maty'r death for Christ ...
What is wrong with my way of writing in this context ? It was a past event so to write simple past tense is appropriate.
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Now look at the following:
Frequently, a number of Christians would suffer martyrdom on the same day, which naturally ...

What is the necessity of writing 'Christians would suffer' here?

I would write the following:

Frequently, a number of Christians suffered martyrdom on the same day, which naturally ...
Is the above incorrect in the given context?

[People of this country celebrate or rather pay a great attention to All Saint's Day.]