Saint of the day September 22: Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War. Catholic Saints

Every September 22 the Church remembers the group of 233 martyrs of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) who were beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II on March 11, 2001. They are known as ‘the group of the 233 martyrs’. Spaniards’ or ‘the martyrs of Valencia’. They are sometimes also referred to as the group of ‘José Aparicio Sanz and his 232 fellow martyrs’.

Father Sanz and the 232

During the beatification ceremony, Saint John Paul II remembered the figure of José Aparicio Sanz, diocesan priest originally from Valencia, placed at the head of the list of new blesseds:

“This is how José Aparicio Sanz and his two hundred and thirty-two companions lived and died, murdered during the terrible religious persecution that devastated Spain in the 1930s. They were men and women of all ages and conditions: diocesan priests, men and women religious, fathers and mothers of families, young lay people. They were murdered for being Christians, for their faith in Christ, for being active members of the Church. All of them, as recorded in the canonical processes for their declaration as martyrs, before dying wholeheartedly forgave their executioners” (Homily of the beatification ceremony of the Servants of God José Aparicio Sanz and 232 fellow martyrs).

To this day, attention is drawn to the large number of beatifications celebrated in the same ceremony – unprecedented until that time – as well as the heterogeneity or diversity of the group of martyrs – something that was highlighted by the Supreme Pontiff at that time. Both aspects are moving: the martyrs were united by faith and love for Jesus and their brothers, far from any type of ideological commitment and very close to the heart of the Church that suffers persecution.

Unity in diversity

The list of blessed includes men and women with different states of life and from all social backgrounds:

“… Thirty-eight priests from the Archdiocese of Valencia, along with a large group of men and women from Catholic Action also from Valencia; eighteen Dominicans and two priests from the Archdiocese of Zaragoza; four Franciscan Minor Friars and six Conventual Franciscan Minor Friars; thirteen Capuchin Minor Friars, with four Capuchin Sisters and a Discalced Augustine; eleven Jesuits with a young layman; thirty-two Salesians and two Daughters of Mary Help of Christians; nineteen Capuchin Tertiaries with a lay cooperator; a Dehonian priest; the Chaplain of La Salle de la Bonanova College, in Barcelona, ​​with five Brothers from the Christian Schools; twenty-four Carmelites of Charity; a Servite Nun; six Religious Piarists with two lay cooperators, the latter from Uruguay and the first blessed women from that Latin American country; two Little Sisters of the Helpless Elderly; three Capuchin Tertiaries of Our Lady of Sorrows; a Claretian Missionary; and, finally, the young Francisco Castelló i Aleu, from the Catholic Action of Lleida” (Homily of the beatification ceremony of the Servants of God José Aparicio Sanz and 232 companions).

Mother courage: María Teresa Ferragud

It is worth highlighting – as Saint John Paul II did – some of the moving testimonial stories mentioned on the day of the beatification of the 233. The first of them was that of María Teresa Ferragud, an elderly woman who was arrested along with her four daughters, all contemplative religious. The five were sentenced to death. Maria Teresa was eighty-three years old at the time.

On October 25, 1936, the feast of Christ the King, María Teresa, aware of the fate that awaited them, asked to be next to her daughters and be the last to be executed. That mother wanted to accompany her daughters, one by one, as they gave up their lives, and, in this way, be able to encourage them until the final moment, so that the fear of dying does not break her faith.

The executioners, after witnessing what that mother had done, only managed to exclaim: “This is a true saint.”

Brave and authentic young people

Another story that the Holy Father referred to is that of Francisco Alacreu, a young man “of twenty-two years old, a chemist by profession, and a member of Catholic Action, who, aware of the seriousness of the moment, did not want to hide, but rather offer his youth as a sacrifice. of love for God and for his brothers, leaving us three letters, an example of strength, generosity, serenity and joy, written, moments before he died, to his sisters, to his spiritual director and to whoever was his girlfriend” (Homily of the beatification ceremony of the Servants of God José Aparicio Sanz and 232 companions).

Finally, there is the story of the recently ordained priest Germán Gozalbo, aged twenty-three, shot only “two months after having celebrated his first Mass” (ob. cit., 2).

Latin America, echoes and presence: Cuba and Uruguay

Among the 233 was Blessed José Calasanz Marqués, who was a Salesian missionary in Cuba. He was born in Spain on November 23, 1872 and met Saint John Bosco during his visit to Barcelona in 1886. At that time José was an intern in the Salesian House of Sarriá. He made his profession at age 18, and five years later, on Christmas 1895, he would celebrate his first Mass there.

Calasanz was secretary of Blessed Felipe Rinaldi for ten years and worked as a school director. In 1916 he was sent to direct the recently begun Salesian work in Camagüey (Cuba). He was then named Provincial of the Peruvian-Bolivian Province, and in 1925 he became superior of the Province of his origin in Tarragona, which included those of Barcelona and Valencia in Spain. It would be in this last region where he would receive the palms of martyrdom.

It should be noted that among the 233 martyrs are the first two Uruguayan saints, as mentioned above. They were two laywomen, Dolores and Consuelo Aguiar-Mella Díaz, sisters born in Montevideo (Uruguay) in 1897 and 1898, respectively; and that, despite not being Spanish citizens, due to their freely expressed religious fervor (one of them lived in the house of the Piarist nuns) they ended up murdered in Madrid, on September 19, 1936. At the time, Uruguayan diplomacy He sought to give them protection, but the militiamen anticipated the efforts.

The death of the Aguiar-Mella Díaz sisters caused the breaking of diplomatic relations between Uruguay and Spain.

Hope of the Church

Undoubtedly, these blessed people gave “testimony of serenity and Christian hope.” For us, they constitute a reason for encouragement and confirmation of our faith. Those men and women loved in an extraordinary way, even when they were victims of “hatred of the faith” – also present in our days. They are reliable proof that love and forgiveness are not only possible, but very real.

Along with the 233, all the martyrs of the Church must be remembered: those known and those anonymous, those of yesterday and, without a doubt, also those of today.