Leo XIV approves decrees of 11 martyrs murdered by Nazi Germany and the communists

Pope Leo XIV on Friday authorized decrees recognizing 11 new martyrs as well as four new venerables to be honored by the Church.

During his October 24 audience with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the Holy Father approved decrees recognizing the martyrdom of nine 20th-century Europeans murdered “out of hatred of the faith” under the Nazi and communist regimes.

The Polish Servants of God Jan Świerc, Ignacy Antonowicz, Ignacy Dobiasz, Karol Golda, Franciszek Harazim, Ludwik Mroczek, Włodzmierz Szembek, Kazimierz Wojciechowski and Franciszek Miśka were murdered in the concentration camps of Auschwitz (Poland) and Dachau (Germany), between 1941 and 1942.

Victims of the Nazi regime after the German occupation of Poland in 1939, the nine religious priests —who belonged to the Salesian Society of Saint John Bosco— were tortured and executed for being Catholic clerics.

The other martyrs approved by Pope Leo to be proclaimed saints are the Servants of God Jan Bula and Václav Drboladiocesan priests from the former Czechoslovakia who were executed between 1951 and 1952 after the communists took power in 1948.

On Friday, the Holy Father also approved decrees for four servants of God to be declared “venerable” by the Church in recognition of their “heroic virtues.” Among the new venerables, three are professed religious from Europe.

The Spanish Servant of God José Merino AndrésOP, born in 1905 in Madrid, was known for his missionary and pastoral zeal and his fidelity to the Dominican charism, and trained approximately 700 priests in Palencia, Spain, as novice master of the Order of Preachers before his death on December 6, 1968.

Before joining the Discalced Carmelites, el Siervo de Dios Joachim of the Queen of PeaceOCD, was custodian of the Shrine of the Queen of Peace in Liguria, Italy. He was a tertiary Carmelite for 10 years before making his solemn profession in the order in 1967. He died at the age of 95 on August 25, 1985.

The Servant of God María Evangelista Quintero MalfazOCist, entered the Cistercian order as a nun in Spain in the early 17th century with a reputation as a mystic. Through monastic life and intense prayer, she offered her life for the conversion of sinners and was venerated by her religious sisters who sought her advice. He died in Spain in 1648.

Founder of the Missionary Institute of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Servant of God Angelo Angioni He is the only diocesan priest among the four venerables approved by Pope Leo on Friday.

Born in Italy on January 14, 1915, Angioni was ordained a priest for the diocese of Ozieri in 1938. He spent several years supporting parishioners, seminarians and other priests of the diocese before being sent as a “priest the gift of faith” serving the Diocese of São José do Rio Preto (Brazil), in 1951.

Known for his love of the poor and the Gospel, Angioni’s reputation for his humble and serene holiness spread in Brazil and Italy before his death on September 15, 2008.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.

Editor’s note: Originally the article referred to the canonization of the Servants of God. The title and body of the article have been corrected to correctly reflect the facts.