2024-09-22 00:00:00
Every September 22 the Church remembers the group of 233 martyrs of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) who were killed by Pope St. John Paul II on March 11, 2001. They are called ‘the group of the 233 martyrs’ or ‘martyrs of Valencia’. Sometimes they are also called the group of ‘José Aparicio Sanz and his 232 fellow martyrs’.
Father Sanz and the 232
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During the feeding ceremony, Saint John Paul II remembered the figure of José Aparicio Sanz, a diocesan priest originally from Valencia, who was placed at the head of the list of newly blessed people:
“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, religious men and women, family fathers and mothers, young lay people. They were killed for being Christians, for their faith in Christ, for being active members of the Church. All of them, as recorded in the canonical processes of their declaration as martyrs, sincerely forgave their executioners before they died” (Homily of the victorious 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 to the heterogeneity or diversity of the group of martyrs – which the Arch Pontiff emphasized at the that time The two elements are moving: the martyrs were united by faith and love for Jesus and their brothers, far from any kind of ideological commitment and very close to the heart of the Church that suffers persecution.
Unity in diversity
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The list of blessed people includes men and women of various walks of life and from all social backgrounds:
“… Thirty-eight priests from the Archdiocese of Valencia, together 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 Minors and six Franciscan Minor Minors; thirteen Capuchin Minors, with four Capuchin Sisters and an isolated Augustine; eleven Jesuits with a young man; thirty two Salesians and two Sisters of Mary Help of Christians; nineteen Capuchin Periods with a lay collaborator; Dehonian priest; Chaplain of the College of La Salle de la Bonanova, in Barcelona, with five Brothers from the Christian Schools; twenty-four of the Carmelites of Charity; a nun; six Religious Piers with two lay collaborators, the second from Uruguay and the first blessed women from that country in Latin America; two Little Sisters for the Helpless Elderly; three Capuchin Periods of Our Lady of Sorrows; Claretian Missionary; and, finally, the young Francisco Castelló in Aleu, from the Catholic Action of Lleida” (Homily the winning ceremony of the Divine Services of José Aparicio Sanz and 232 companions).
Mother’s courage: María Teresa Ferragud
It is worth highlighting – as did St. John Paul II – some of the moving testimonial stories that were mentioned on the day of the beating of the 233. The first of these was María Teresa Ferragud, an elderly woman who was arrested with her four children. daughters, all reflective faith. All 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 near her daughters and be the last person 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 last moment, so that the fear of death would not weaken their faith .
The executioners, after witnessing what the mother had done, rose only to exclaim: “He is a true saint.”
Brave and authentic young people
Another story that the Holy Father referred to is the story of Francisco Alacreu, a young man “twenty-two years old, a chemist by profession, and a member of Catholic Action, who did not want to, aware of the seriousness of the moment, it to hide, but to offer his youth as a sacrifice of love to God and his brothers, leaving us three letters, an example of strength, generosity, serenity and joy, written, moments before he died, to his sisters, his sisters. spiritual director and for whoever was his girlfriend” (Homily of the guessing ceremony of the Servants of God José Aparicio Sanz and 232 companions).
Finally, there is the story of the recently ordained priest Germán Gozalbo, at the age of twenty-three, shot “two months after celebrating his first Mass” (ob. cit., 2).
Latin America, echoes and presence: Cuba and Uruguay
Among the 233 people was Blessed José Calasanz Marqués, who was a Salesian missionary in Cuba. He was born in Spain on 23 November 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 the age of 18, and five years later, on Christmas 1895, he would celebrate his first Mass there.
Calasanz was Blessed Felipe Rinaldi’s secretary for ten years and worked as a school director. In 1916 he was sent to direct the Salesian work that had recently begun in Camagüey (Cuba). He was then named the Peruvian-Bolivian Province, and in 1925 he became the head of his home Province of Tarragona, including those of Barcelona and Valencia in Spain. It was in this latter region that he would receive the hand of martyrdom.
It should be noted that the first two Uruguayan saints, as mentioned above, are among the 233 martyrs. They were two lay people, Dolores and Consuelo Aguiar-Mella Díaz, sisters who were born in Montevideo (Uruguay) in 1897 and 1898, respectively; and, although they were not Spanish citizens, because of their freely expressed religious zeal (one of them lived in the nunnery of the Pearce) they were murdered in Madrid on September 19, 1936. At the time , he sought Uruguayan diplomacy to protect them, but the militias anticipated the efforts.
The death of the Aguiar-Mella Díaz sisters caused the break of diplomatic relations between Uruguay and Spain.
Hope of the Church
Undoubtedly, these blessings gave “witnesses to Christian peace and hope.” For us, they are a reason to encourage and strengthen our faith. Those men and women loved in an extraordinary way, even when they were victims of the “hatred of religion” – also present in our days. They are reliable proof that not only love and forgiveness can be found, but that they are very real.
Together with the 233, we must remember all the martyrs of the Church: those known and unknown, those who were there yesterday and, without a doubt, the martyrs of today as well.
Central Editing
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