29 March 1987 1 October 1989 29 April 1990 25 October 1992 10 October 1993 1 October 1995 4 May 1997 10 May 1998 7 March 1999 11 March 2001 by Pope John Paul II 29 October 2005 28 October 2007 23 January 2010 17 December 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI[1] 13 October 2013 1 November 2014 5 September 2015 3 October 2015 21 November 2015 23 April 2016 8 October 2016 29 October 2016 25 March 2017 6 May 2017 21 October 2017 11 November 2017 10 November 2018 9 March 2019 23 March 2019 22 June 2019 7 November 2020 29 May 2021 16 October 2021 30 October 2021 6 November 2021 26 February 2022 18 June 2022 22 October 2022 18 November 2023 23 November 2024 by Pope Francis
During the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, the Catholic Church in Spain supported and was strongly supported by and associated with the Spanish monarchy. The Second Spanish Republic saw an alternation of leftist and conservative coalition governments between 1931 and 1936. Amidst the disorder caused by the military coup of July 1936, many supporters of the Republican government pointed their weapons against individuals they considered local reactionaries, including priests and nuns.
A paradoxical case for foreign Catholics was that of the Basque Nationalist Party, at the time a Catholic party from the Basque areas, who after some hesitation supported the Republican government in exchange for an autonomous government in the Basque Country. Although virtually every other group on the Republican side was involved in the anticlerical persecution, the Basques did not play a part.[3] The Vatican diplomacy tried to orient them to the National side, explicitly supported by Cardinal Isidro Goma y Tomas, but the BNP feared the centralism of the Nationals. Some Catalan nationalists also found themselves in the same situation, such as members of de Unió Democràtica de Catalunya party whose most relevant leader, Manuel Carrasco i Formiguera was killed by the Nationalists in Burgos in 1938.
History
During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, and especially in the early months of the conflict, individual clergymen were executed while entire religious communities were persecuted, leading to a death toll of 13 bishops, 4,172 diocesan priests and seminarians, 2,364 monks and friars and 283 nuns, for a total of 6,832 clerical victims, as part of what is referred to as Spain's Red Terror.[4]
Pope John Paul II beatified 473 martyrs in the years 1987, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997 and 2001. Some 233 executed clergy were beatified by John Paul II on 11 March 2001.[5] In 1999 he also canonized a Christian Brother[6] and the nine Martyrs of Turon, the first group of Spanish Civil War martyrs to reach sainthood.[7] Regarding the selection of Candidates, Archbishop Edward Novack from the Congregation of Saints explained in an interview with L'Osservatore Romano: "Ideologies such as Nazism or Communism serve as a context of martyrdom, but in the foreground the person stands out with his conduct, and, case by case, it is important that the people among whom the person lived should affirm and recognize his fame as a martyr and then pray to him, obtaining graces. It is not so much ideologies that concern us, as the sense of faith of the People of God, who judge the person's behavior."[8]
Benedict XVI beatified 530 martyrs in the years 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2011, with the biggest being the 498 Spanish martyrs in October 2007,[9] in the largest beatification ceremony in the history of the Catholic Church.[10] In this group of people, the Vatican has not included all Spanish martyrs, nor any of the 16 priests who were executed by the nationalist side in the first years of the war. This decision has caused numerous criticisms from surviving family members and several political organisations in Spain.[11]
The beatification recognized the extraordinary fate and often brutal death of the persons involved. Some have criticized the beatifications as dishonoring non-clergy who were also killed in the war, and as being an attempt to draw attention away from the church's support of Franco (some quarters of the Church called the Nationalist cause a "crusade").[12] Within Spain, the Civil War still raises high emotions. The act of beatification has also coincided in time with the debate on the Law of Historical Memory (about the treatment of the victims of the war and its aftermath) promoted by the Spanish Government.
Responding to the criticism, the Vatican has described the October 2007 beatifications as relating to personal virtues and holiness, not ideology. They are not about "resentment but... reconciliation". The Spanish government has supported the beatifications, sending Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos to attend the ceremony.[13] Among those present was Juan Andrés Torres Mora, a relative of one of the martyrs and the Spanish MP who had debated the memory law for PSOE.[14]
The October 2007 beatifications have brought the number of martyred persons beatified by the Church to 977, eleven of whom have been canonized as saints. Because of the extent of the persecution, many more cases could be proposed; as many as 10,000 according to Catholic Church sources. The process for beatification has already been initiated for about 2,000 people.[10]
At 28 October 2007 beatifications, Pope Benedict underscored the call to sanctity for all Christians, saying it was "realistic possibility for the entire Christian people".[15] He also noted, "This martyrdom in ordinary life is an important witness in today's secularized society."[15]
Pope Francis beatified 522 martyrs on 13 October 2013, at Tarragona, Spain; among them was Eugenio Sanz-Orozco Mortera from Manila, Philippines, who became the first Filipino martyr of the Spanish Civil War.[16] He also approved additional beatifications for Spanish martyrs that took place for a priest on 1 November 2014 as well as two sets of group martyrs on both 5 September 2015 and 3 October 2015. The pope also approved the beatification of 26 Capuchin martyrs, which took place on 21 November 2015. The beatification for Valentín Palencia Marquina and his four companions took place on 23 April 2016 in Burgos.[17]
The 114 Almerian martyrs were beatified on 25 March 2017, and Antonio Arribas Hortigüela and his six companions were beatified on 6 May 2017 in Girona.[18][19] The beatification of Mateo Casals Mas & 108 companions were beatified in Barcelona on 21 October 2017 and Vicenç Queralt Lloret & 20 companions as well as José Maria Fernández Sánchez & 38 companions were beatified in Madrid on 11 November 2017. The beatification of Teodoro Illera del Olmo & 15 Companions was held on 10 November 2018. The beatification of Ángel Cuartas Cristobal and his 8 companions was held in Oviedo on 9 March 2019 while María Isabel Lacaba Andia and her 13 companions were beatified in Madrid on 22 June 2019. María Pilar Gullón Yturriaga and 2 companions was beatified in Astorga on 29 May 2021. The beatification of Juan Elías Medina and 126 companions will be held in Córdoba on 16 October 2021, Francisco Cástor Sojo López and 3 companions in Tortosa on 30 October 2021 Benet Domènech Bonet & 2 companions in Barcelona on 6 November 2021 The beatifications of Cayetano Giménez Martín & 15 Companions in Granada on 26 February 2022, Angel Marina Álvarez & 19 Companions, Isabel Sánchez Romero, Juan Aguilar Donis & 5 Companions in Almería on 18 June 2022 and Vicente Nicasio Renuncio Toribio & 11 Companions in Madrid on 22 October 2022.
Controversy
A number of controversies have arisen around the beatification of some of these clerics. Some objectors oppose the notion of these priests being killed for mere religious hatred and, while not excusing their brutal murders, putting them in the context of the historical moment. Others question the appropriateness of beatification for some individuals who have less than saintly backgrounds. A third objection is the perceived partiality of the Church, where victims of the left have been proposed for beatification, while victims of the right have been ignored.[citation needed]
Of the first objection, one of the most notable cases has centered on Cruz Laplana y Laguna, Bishop of Cuenca, a well-known supporter of the monarchist regime. After the proclamation of the Second Republic he carried out a number of right-wing political campaigns throughout the province, and had established close contacts with military officials such as General Joaquín Fanjul, a supporter of the Nationalist rebellion. Laplana y Laguna was described by his biographer as "supreme advisor" to the general, as well as being closely involved with the Falange. In 1936 he personally endorsed Falangista leader José Antonio Primo de Rivera as a candidate in the 1936 local elections. When the Nationalist uprising in Cuenca failed, Laplana y Lagun was arrested by Republican militiamen for treason. He was tried for conspiring against the Republican government and executed on 8 August.[20]
Another is Fulgencio Martínez, a priest in the village of La Paca in Murcia, who was shot after the uprising, who was reported by many locals to be closely allied to the local landowners. Over several days before the uprising, Father Fulgencio met with these landowners in the village casino—the hub of social life for the local elites in rural Spain—to organize support for the rebellion. He offered guns and money to anyone who would join an improvised militia. On 18 July, the day of the uprising, Father Fulgencio was among the persons who went through the village streets on lorries, rallying support for the uprising with shouts of "Viva el Ejército!" ("Long live the Army") and "Viva General Queipo de Llano!"[21]
Public statements by some of these clerics have also been widely publicised as a form of criticism against their beatification. Rigoberto Domenech, Archbishop of Zaragoza, declared publicly on 11 August 1936 that the military uprising was to be supported, and its defensive actions approved, because "it is not done in the service of anarchy, but in the benefit of order, fatherland, and religion" in response to the Red Terror. Another statement was that given in November 1938 by Leopoldo Eijo Garay, Bishop of Madrid-Alcalá, regarding a possible truce between Republican and rebel forces: "To tolerate democratic liberalism... would be to betray the martyrs".[22]
Of the second, the controversy surrounding the beatification of Augustinian Friar Gabino Olaso Zabala, listed as a companion of Avelino Rodriguez Alonso, concerns his previous life. Friar Zabala was martyred during the Civil War and was beatified. Attention was called to the fact that Fr. Olaso had been a missionary in the Philippines during the Katipunan rebellion against Spanish rule, and had been accused of torturing Friar Mariano Dacanay, an alleged rebel sympathizer.[23] However this objection ignores the Church proclamation that even sinners can repent and turn into saints, such as in the case of Augustine of Hippo. It also misunderstands the nature of a cause for martyrdom, where the primary factor is the person's death due to religious hatred of the faith, rather than the saintliness of his previous life.[citation needed]
The Church, which upheld the idea of a 'National Crusade' in order to legitimize the military rebellion, was a belligerent part during the Civil War, even at the cost of alienating part of its members. It continues in a belligerent role in its unusual answer to the Historical Memory Law by recurring to the beatification of 498 "martyrs" of the Civil War. The priests executed by Franco's Army are not counted among them... Its selective criteria regarding the religious persons that were part of its ranks are difficult to fathom. The priests who were victims of the republicans are "martyrs who died forgiving", but those priests who were executed by the Francoists are forgotten.[24]
While much of Republican Spain was anti-clerical in sentiment, the Basque region, which also supported the Republic, was not; the clergy of the region stood against the Nationalist coup, and suffered accordingly. At least 16 Basque nationalist priests (among them the arch-priest of Mondragón) were killed by the Nationalists,[25] and hundreds more were imprisoned or deported.[26] This included several priests who tried to halt the killings.[27]
The martyrs of Turon were a group of eight De La Salle Brothers, and the Passionist priest who was with them, who were executed by striking miners at Turon in October 1934. This was nearly two years before the outbreak of the civil war, therefore they shall not be regarded as martyrs of the Spanish Civil War. They were beatified by Pope John Paul II on 29 April 1990, and were canonized by him on 21 November 1999.
Saint Innocencio of Mary Immaculate, born Emanuele Canoura Arnau, was a member of the Passionist Congregation and martyr of the Spanish Civil War. Born on 10 March 1887 in Santa Cecelia del Valle de Oro in Galicia, Spain, he died at Turon, with his eight companions, on 9 October 1934. He was beatified on 29 April 1990 and was canonized by Pope John Paul II on 21 November 1999.
Jaime Hilario Barbal, born Manuel Barbal Cosán, was raised in a pious and hardworking family near the Pyrenees mountains. Entered the seminary at age 12, but when his hearing began to fail in his teens, he was sent home. Joined the Brothers of the Christian Schools at age 19, entering the novitiate on 24 February 1917 at Irun, Spain, taking the name Jaime Hilario. Exceptional teacher and catechist, he believed strongly in the value of universal education, especially for the poor. However, his hearing problems grew worse, and in the early 1930s, he was forced to retire from teaching, and began work in the garden at the La Salle house at San Jose, Tarragona, Spain. Imprisoned in July 1936 at Mollerosa, Spain when the Spanish Civil War broke out and religious people were swept from the street. Transferred to Tarragona in December, then confined on a prison ship with some other religious. Convicted on 15 January 1937 of being a Christian Brother. Two rounds of volley fire from a firing squad did not kill him, possibly because some of the soldiers intentionally shot wide; their commander then murdered Jaime with five shots at close range. First of the 97 La Salle Brothers killed in Catalonia, Spain during the Spanish Civil War to be recognized as a martyr. He was beatified on 29 April 1990, and was canonized by Pope John Paul II on 21 November 1999.
He was a priest, the founder of the Teresian Association and a Martyr of the Spanish civil war. He was beatified on 10 October 1993 and canonized on 4 May 2003.
They were a group of priests and brothers of the Passionist Congregation killed by Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War. They were beatified by Pope John Paul II on 1 October 1989. Eyewitnesses reported that all of the Passionists had forgiven their murderers before they died. A witness to the murder of Father Niceforo reported that after being shot the priest turned his eyes to heaven then turned and smiled at his murderers. At this point one of them, now more infuriated than ever, shouted:
Eugenio Sanz-Orozco Mortera (Jose Maria of Manila) was born on 5 September 1880 in Manila, Philippines. He was a Franciscan Capuchin priest. He died a martyr on 17 August 1936, in Madrid, Spain, during the Spanish civil war. He is venerated in the Catholic Church, which celebrates his feast on 6 November. He was beatified on 13 October 2013.
Bartolomé Blanco Márquez was born in Cordoba, Spain in 1914. He was arrested as a Catholic leader—he was the secretary of Catholic Action and a delegate to the Catholic Syndicates—on 18 August 1936. He was executed on 2 October 1936, at age 21, while he cried out, "Long live Christ the King!" Born in Pozoblanco 25 November 1914, Bartolome was orphaned as a child, and raised by family with whom he worked. He was an excellent student, studying under the tutelage of the Salesians.
Pedro was educated by Jesuits. Trained as an architect, graduating in 1915. he worked on schools, churches and houses for religious. He was ordained priest in the diocese of Vitoria, Spain in 1924. He was executed on 29 August 1936. He was beatified on 1 November 2014.
Mariano was a SpanishRoman Catholicdoctor who also served as the mayor for Arbeca from 1924 until March 1930. He died on 13 August 1936. He was beatified on 23 March 2019.
Isabel was a religious from the Dominican Order. She died on 15 February 1937. She was set to be beatified on 19 September 2020 but it was postponed to 18 June 2022 due to COVID-19 pandemic.
The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales or Cuthbert Mayne and Thirty-Nine Companion Martyrs are a group of Catholic, lay and religious, men and women, executed between 1535 and 1679 for treason and related offences under various laws enacted by Parliament during the English Reformation. The individuals listed range from Carthusian monks who in 1535 declined to accept Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy, to seminary priests who were caught up in the alleged Popish Plot against Charles II in 1679. Many were sentenced to death at show trials, or with no trial at all.
This page is an index of lists of people considered martyrs. A martyr is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, refusing to renounce, or refusing to advocate a belief or cause as demanded by an external party. This refusal to comply with the presented demands results in the punishment or execution of the martyr by the oppressor.
Red Terror is the name given by historians to various acts of violence committed from 1936 until the end of the Spanish Civil War by sections of nearly all the leftist groups involved. The May 1931 arson attacks against Church property throughout Spain and the determination of the Republican Government to never compromise upon and strictly enforce its ban against classical Catholic education were the beginning of a politicidal campaign of religious persecution against the Catholic Church in Spain. No Republican-controlled region escaped systematic and anticlerical violence, although it was minimal in the Basque Country. The violence consisted of the killing of tens of thousands of people, including 6,832 Roman Catholic priests, the vast majority in the wake of the rightist military coup in July 1936, the Spanish nobility, small business owners, industrialists, conservative politicians, and known or suspected supporters of the right-leaning parties or the anti-Stalinist Left, and the desecration and arson attacks against monasteries, convents, Catholic schools, and churches.
Inocencio of Mary Immaculate, CP, born Manuel Canoura Arnau, was a Catholic priest and member of the Passionists who was killed during the Asturias revolt. He and his companions are known collectively as the Martyrs of Turon. He was canonised by Pope John Paul II in 1999.
Eugene Bossilkov, CP was a Bulgarian Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Nicopolis from 1947 until his assassination in 1952. He was a member of the Passionists.
The Passionist Martyrs of Daimiel were a group of priests and brothers of the Passionist Congregation killed by anti-clericalist forces during the Spanish Civil War.
Jaime Hilario Barbal, FSC was a Spanish Catholic and professed Brother of the Christian Schools. He served for almost two decades as a teacher in the schools that his order managed until being caught up in the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War, which saw the forces of the Second Spanish Republic execute him.
The Martyrs of Japan were Christian missionaries and followers who were persecuted and executed, mostly during the Tokugawa shogunate period in the 17th century. The Japanese saw the rituals of the Christians causing people to pray, close their eyes with the sign of the cross and lock their hands together – this was seen as psychological warfare against the Japanese and this was punished as such. More than 400 martyrs of Japan have been recognized with beatification by the Catholic Church, and 42 have been canonized as saints.
José María of Manila was a Filipino-born Spanish Catholic priest and friar of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. He was martyred in the early phase of the Spanish Civil War, and is the third Filipino to have been declared blessed by the Roman Catholic Church.
The 498 Spanish Martyrs are a group of murder victims in the Spanish Civil War who were beatified by the Catholic Church in October 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI. They originated from many parts of Spain. Their ages ranged from 16 years to 78 years old. Although almost 500 persons, they are only a small part of the Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War.
The Martyrs of Turón is the name given by the Catholic Church to a group of eight members of the De La Salle Brothers, a Catholic religious-teaching congregation, and one Passionist priest who were executed by insurrectionists in Turón in Asturias, Spain in October 1934. The Martyrs of Turón were killed by far-left rebels for their religious activities during the Asturian miners' strike of 1934 of the Revolution of 1934. They were canonized in 1999 by Pope John Paul II.
Catholicism in the Second Spanish Republic was an important area of dispute, and tensions between the Catholic hierarchy and the Republic were apparent from the beginning, eventually leading to the Catholic Church acting against the Republic and in collaboration with the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.
The 233 Spanish Martyrs, also referred to as The Martyrs of Valencia or Jose Aparico Sanz and 232 Companions, were a group of martyrs from the Spanish Civil War, who were beatified in March 2001 by Pope John Paul II. This was the largest number of persons beatified at once up to that time. They originated from all parts of Spain but mostly served and died in the diocese of Valencia.
The 522 Spanish Martyrs were victims of the Spanish Civil War beatified by the Roman Catholic Church on 13 October 2013 by order of Pope Francis. It was one of the largest number of persons ever beatified in a single ceremony in the Church's 2000-year history. They originated from all parts of Spain. Their ages ranged from 18 to 86 years old.
The Martyrs of Natal were a group of 30 Roman Catholic people of Colonial Brazil – two of them priests – killed in the northern part of the colony in massacres that a large group of Dutch Calvinists led. One priest was a Colonial Brazilian Jesuit missionary, while the other priest was an evangelizer himself. The others were all lay Catholics, most of them anonymous members of the Church, some of them children.
Fernando Olmedo Reguera OFMCap, also known as Fernando of Santiago, was a Catholic religious priest and victim of the Spanish Civil War. At the outbreak of war in 1936, Reguera was forced to leave his convent and was arrested, imprisoned and beaten by Republican forces. Refusing to reveal penitents' confessions, he was then tried by a popular tribunal and sentenced to death. He was executed by firing squad. On 13 October 2013, Fernando was beatified by Pope Francis in Tarragona.
The Martyrs of Damascus were eleven Catholic saints martyred while praying inside a Franciscan-run parish in Damascus by Druze during the 1860 civil conflict in Mount Lebanon and Damascus. They consist of The Massabki Brothers and Manuel Ruiz Lopez and Companions. The Massabki Brothers were three Maronite Catholics from Damascus, in present-day Syria and sons of Nehme Massabki. Emmanuel Ruiz and the seven other martyrs were Franciscans, seven from Spain and one from Austria.
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