233 Spanish Martyrs

The group of 233 martyrs brings together very varied profiles, the majority of whose causes were investigated in the Archdiocese of Valencia, although they originated from various regions of Spain. Among them are: 38 diocesan priests of the Archdiocese of Valencia, led by Blessed José Aparicio Sanz. Born in Enguera in 1893 and ordained a priest in 1916, he was a zealous pastor, deeply Eucharistic, nicknamed "the saint" by his parishioners for his heroic charity, notably during the 1918 flu epidemic. Arrested in October 1936, he supported his fellow captives before being shot on December 29, 1936, in Paterna. A large number of laypeople, men and women of Catholic Action of Valencia. Among them, María Teresa Ferragud, an 83-year-old mother from Algemesí. Arrested with her four contemplative religious daughters (María Jesús, María Verónica, Josefa de la Purificación, and Felicidad), she asked to be executed last on October 25, 1936 (the feast of Christ the King) in order to be able to encourage her daughters until the end in their sacrifice. Her executioners, impressed by her strength of soul, exclaimed: "Here is a true saint." Numerous religious men and women of various orders: 18 Dominicans, 4 Franciscans, 6 Conventual Franciscans, 13 Capuchins (including Blessed Isabel Calduch Rovira), 11 Jesuits, 32 Salesians, 24 Carmelites of Charity, 6 religious of the Pious Schools (Scolopi), and others. The young Francisco Castelló y Aleu, a 22-year-old chemist, member of Catholic Action of Lérida (Lleida). Born in 1914, he refused to hide his faith and offered his youth as a sacrifice. A few moments before his execution on September 29, 1936, he wrote letters filled with serenity and joy to his family, his spiritual director, and his fiancée. Father Jean-Marie de la Croix (Mariano García Méndez), a priest of the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart (Dehonian). Born in 1891, he was arrested in Valencia after publicly protesting against the desecration and burning of a church. He was shot on August 23, 1936. Dolores and Consuelo Aguiar-Mella Díaz, two lay sisters born in Montevideo (Uruguay), former students of the Pious Schools. Martyred in Madrid on September 19, 1936, they are the first blessed from Uruguay. Their assassination caused the rupture of diplomatic relations between Uruguay and Spain at the time.

The process of recognizing the martyrdom of these 233 servants of God required a colossal amount of research and documentation. The diocesan inquiries began approximately 50 years before their beatification, primarily under the impetus of the Archdiocese of Valencia, but also the dioceses of Barcelona and Lleida. Each case was subject to a rigorous individual examination in order to prove that their death was directly linked to hatred of the faith and that they had led a holy life worthy of being proposed as a model. The decree recognizing their martyrdom was officially promulgated by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and read before Pope John Paul II on December 18, 2000. As martyrs, they were dispensed from the requirement of a miracle for their beatification.

The solemn celebration of the beatification took place on Sunday, March 11, 2001, in Saint Peter's Square in Rome, presided over by Pope John Paul II. This event marked the history of the Church in two ways: it was the first beatification of the third millennium and, at that date, the largest ever celebrated at one time. More than 30,000 pilgrims, mainly Spanish, attended the ceremony. A particularly emotional moment was the transport to the altar of a large silver reliquary engraved with the names of the martyrs, carried by three children of martyrs (José María Torres, María Luisa Díaz, and María Adelaide Alonso). In his formula of beatification, Pope John Paul II set the collective liturgical memorial of these martyrs for September 22.

The spirituality of the 233 Spanish martyrs rests on an absolute fidelity to Christ and a heroic charity that is expressed through the forgiveness of offenses. As John Paul II emphasized in his beatification homily, they are models of Christian consistency who "lived by loving and died by forgiving." Before dying, all of them forgave their executioners with all their hearts, refusing to enter into the logic of hatred or vengeance. Many of them went to their martyrdom shouting "¡Viva Cristo Rey!" ("Long live Christ the King!"), affirming the spiritual kingship of Jesus above earthly ideologies. Their legacy is a message of peace and reconciliation. Pope John Paul II expressed the wish that their blessed memory might forever banish from Spanish soil all forms of violence and resentment, and that the younger generations might draw from it the strength to build a society founded on freedom and peace. In Uruguay, the Blessed Dolores and Consuelo Aguiar-Mella Díaz remain major spiritual figures, symbols of a faith lived out to the point of self-giving.