Lycarion May

The following year, in 1889, the young Brother Lycarion was sent to Spain, a country where he would dedicate twenty years of his life to teaching and accompanying children, particularly the most destitute. After taking his perpetual vows on August 15, 1893, he first served as an educator in several localities in Catalonia, notably in Mataró, Girona—where he worked in the very first school directed by the Marist Brothers in Spain—, Torelló, and Canet de Mar. In 1895, he was sent to the Basque Country, to Artziniega (in the province of Álava), to direct a school there. In 1906, he was recalled to Barcelona to found and direct a new school project: the Saint-Joseph Workers' Patronage (Patronato Obrero de San José or Obrer de Sant Josep), located in the working-class and socially difficult neighborhood of Poblenou (Pueblo Nuevo). Under his direction for three years, this school provided free education to more than 200 children from working-class and disadvantaged families, transmitting to them the values of the Gospel. This Christian educational mission, however, encountered the growing hostility of openly anticlerical and antireligious movements present in the neighborhood, such as the secular school Escuela Moderna and the radical organization of the Jóvenes Bárbaros.

Despite a climate of social tension and increasingly palpable hostility, Brother Lycarion refused to back down or abandon his mission to the poor children. In July 1909, the situation in Barcelona degenerated during the "Tragic Week" (Semana Trágica), a popular uprising originally triggered by the mobilization of reservists for the war in Morocco. Fueled by anarchist, communist, and republican factions, the revolt quickly took on a violently anticlerical character, as the Catholic Church was perceived as an ally of the royal power of Alfonso XIII. Numerous churches, convents, and religious schools were targeted and set on fire. On the night of July 26 to 27, 1909, the Marist Brothers' school in Poblenou was set ablaze by rioters. On the morning of July 27, a rioter feigned a desire to protect the religious and cunningly invited them to leave the building in their habits. As soon as they crossed the threshold and found themselves in the street, a hostile crowd opened fire on them. Walking at the head of the group, Brother Lycarion was mortally wounded by several bullets. His body was then desecrated with stones and machetes by the angry crowd. His remains were later recovered and buried in a mass grave at the Montjuïc cemetery. His death is recognized as a martyrdom in hatred of the faith (in odium fidei), his only "fault" having been that he was a religious and was exercising his apostolate as a Christian educator.

The process for his beatification progressed over the decades. On January 27, 2025, the Pope authorized the promulgation of the decree officially recognizing the martyrdom of the Servant of God Lycarion May. The solemn beatification ceremony was celebrated on Saturday, July 12, 2025, at the Church of Saint-François-de-Sales in Barcelona, adjacent to the Marist school and located near the Sagrada Família. The celebration was presided over, in the name of Pope Leo XIV, by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, in the presence of Cardinal Juan José Omella, Archbishop of Barcelona, and a delegation from his native commune of Bagnes in Switzerland. On this occasion, a relic of the new blessed, consisting of some of his personal writings found shortly before in Champsec, was solemnly blessed. The following day, during the Angelus on July 13, 2025, Pope Leo XIV publicly hailed the beatification of this "martyr of the faith."

The spirituality of Blessed Lycarion May is deeply rooted in the Marist charism founded by Saint Marcellin Champagnat: the love of work, simplicity, attentive presence to young people, and a filial devotion to the Virgin Mary. As the postulator of his cause, Brother Guillermo José Villarreal Cavazos, points out, Brother Lycarion did not seek to evangelize through grand theoretical speeches, but through "closeness, dialogue, and respect" in daily life. His legacy is threefold: 1. Universal fraternity: of Swiss origin, he fully integrated into Spain, living his mission in a spirit of intercultural openness and reconciliation. 2. Education of the poorest: he gave his life to offer quality education and evangelical values to the children of the working class, seeing teaching as a powerful lever for social transformation. 3. The testimony of self-giving: aware of the risks and the surrounding hostility, he chose not to flee, embodying to the end the words of Christ about the grain of wheat that dies to bear fruit. He is the first Marist Brother to have suffered martyrdom in Spain, paving the way for many other members of his congregation who would give their lives during subsequent persecutions.