The story of the martyrs of Damascus

The Catholic Church will have 14 new saints, among which is a group of 8 brave friars and three laymen murdered for their faith in Syria. This is his story:

Manuel Ruiz López was born in 1804 into a simple family in San Martín de las Ollas, Burgos (Spain). At the age of 21, he entered the Order of Friars Minor and was ordained a priest in 1830. Later, he was sent on a mission to the Holy Land, arriving in Jaffa (Israel) in August 1831.

With the aim of studying Arabic, the Franciscans moved to Damascus (Syria). Years later, due to illness, Manuel Ruiz was forced to spend time in Italy and also in his native country to recover. However, despite the political instability, in 1856 he decided to return to Damascus.

Beheaded to save the Body of Christ

At that time, the Druze people, who were sometimes considered a Shiite sect and even declared themselves Muslim, were leading a violent persecution of Christians settled in Libya and Syria.

The Franciscans, who lived in the Christian neighborhood of Chapter Tumawhere Saint Paul was, did not want to take refuge in the citadel and although they were offered shelter in the residence of the Turkish governor, they refused to abandon their people.

On July 10, 1860, after confessing and giving communion to his companions, Manuel Ruiz went to the Franciscan church of San Pablo to empty the tabernacle, when he was surprised by the Druze. There, they forced him to place his head on the altar and his throat was beheaded.

As indicated by the Royal Academy of HistoryAlong with Manuel, many other Christians were murdered, among them three secular Maronite Catholics, brothers Francisco, Mooti and Raffaele Massabki, who will also be canonized on October 20.

“We are Christians and in the faith of Christ we will die. As Christians, we do not fear those who kill the body, as the Lord Jesus said,” the brothers said before being brutally murdered.

The rest of the friars who also lost their lives because of their faith and who will be elevated to the altars were the Spaniards Carmelo Bolta; Nicanor Ascanio; Nicolás María Alberca; Pedro Nolasco Soler; Francisco Pinazo Peñalver; Juan Fernandez; and the Austrian Engelberto Kolland.

Refusing to renounce their Christian faith and convert to Islam, the 11 martyrs of Damascus were beheaded with sabers and axes, and others were stabbed or beaten to death.

“Greater love has no one than that which lays down one’s life for one’s friends and for Christ.”

Many of the family members and those close to them have traveled to Rome to witness the canonization ceremony presided over by Pope Francis.

He is the example of José Luis Loriente, parish priest of the Madrid municipality of Villarejo de Salvanés, where the future saint Nicanor Ascanio was born. There, according to Father Loriente, a relic of the holy martyrs is kept.

“We live in times in the Church in which the main thing must be testimony. And people who have come to give their lives for Jesus Christ give us the greatest testimony: no one has greater love than the one who gives his life for his friends; and he who gives his life for Christ, his friend, then shares the glory with Him,” said the Spanish priest.

Ascanio made the decision to travel to the Holy Land despite the fact that his loved ones, including Mother Patrocinio, also known as the “Nun of the Wounds,” warned him that if he went to the Holy Land “you will die a martyr,” and this was true. . In 1859 Nicanor embarked in Valencia and was sent to Damascus with Father Carmelo Volta to learn Arabic.

In 1872 he began his cause for beatification, although the loss of documents during the First World War delayed the work. Finally, the martyrs of Damascus were beatified in October 1926 in Rome by Pope Pius XI.