Testo originale del articolo in inglese qui
Testo del articolo in inglese qui
On June 18, 27 Dominican martyrs of the XX century in Spain become part of the Blessed of the Catholic Church. Among them there are 25 friars, a Dominican layman and a Dominican nun.
They underwent martyrdom in three places: Almería, Huéscar and Almagro (Ciudad Real) and many of them had not even reached 30 years of age when they gave their lives not to deny Christ.
As Frate Emilio Garcia, prior of the convent of San Tommaso d' Aquino in Siviglia, underlined, this was an adventure that even today shows how young people are able to give their lives for a great cause, and without doubt for the Vangelo of Jesus Christ".
Their example speaks of evangelical radicalism.
The approval of the beatification of this group of Dominicans also serves to make known the life and martyrdom of these friars also within their Order,
Lo sottolinea Frate Emilio García who spiega che "si tratta dei martiri della Provincia della Betica, o Andalusia, una delle tre che c'erano in Spagna fino al 2016,
This means that those of us who belonged to one of the other two knew less about the friars of Almagro, Almeria or Huescar and their particular history.
For this reason we believe that this beatification does not have the same resonance for us as it has for those who belonged to that Province, who were in fact imparted to the martyrs or who lived where they lived. But, obviously, they are our brothers, their example is very stimulating for all of us and speaks to us of evangelical radicalism and faithfulness to their own vocation, as well as an attitude of great Christian generosity in forgiving those who have tolerated their lives".
In fact, the arrival on the heights of these 27 Dominicans has brought "the oldest friars of that ancient Province to show commotion and affection for the history and the stories of these witnesses of Christ that have come down to us".
Martire, layman and journalist
The example of Fructuoso Pérez Márquez, a lay Dominican, is, due to its characteristics, the most diverse in this group of new beati.
A native of Almería, married and father of four children, he began working at the age of 24 in the Almería daily newspaper "La Independencia", where he would have become director. He has also collaborated with other media such as El Correo Español, El Universo, and El Debate.
In his articles he has clearly exposed the doctrine of the Church, especially in social matters. This experience of the charism of the preachers in the world of the media is still present today.
Manifesto of beatification
"The fact that, also in our Order, there are today many lay people who collaborate in this world for professional reasons, and are at the same time loyal to our spirituality, makes us think that, if necessary, they would also be ready to witness to their faith, exercising that noble profession," says Frate Emilio Perez.
Those who knew him remembered Fructuoso as a fervent Catholic, a courageous defender of the truth, kind and charitable, who was denounced, tried and finally imprisoned.
On July 26, 1936 Fructuoso was arrested in his home and transferred to an improvised prison located in the convent of the Adoratrici sisters. On August 3 he was taken to the ship "Segarra", where he was killed along with other companions, and his body was taken to the sea.
Le hanno schiacciato la testa tra due pietre
Particularly impressive is the testimony of the martyrdom of the only woman in this group of martyrs, Suor Ascensión de San José, who died after a bloody trial in Huéscar, where she was born in 1861.
This Dominican nun began her novitiate in the Dominican convent of Huescar around May 1884. Her life was marked by illness, which she endured with peace and much peace.
It was, for many years, the tornitrice of the convent. On August 4, 1936 the nuns were forced to leave their convent, taking refuge in the houses of relatives and charitable people.
The new Blessed was welcomed at home by a nun until February 1937 when she was arrested because she was wearing a cross on her neck. At almost 76 years of age, she was beaten and beaten for being accused of murder. The crudeness of the violence was such that the neighbor ended up on the ground soaked in her blood.
The following day, February 17, she was loaded onto a truck together with other prisoners up to the gates of the building. The detainees, including her boyfriend Florencio, were taken away. When she again refused to kiss him, they put his head on one foot and with another foot they crushed his skull.
The martyrs of Almagro
A large group of 13 of the new beati were part of the convent of Almagro. At the beginning of July 1936, several students, cooperator brothers and genitors were in the convent. Shortly after the end of the war, the country's syndicate wondered why the convent was destroyed, but that same night several men searched the convent for weapons.
In the following days the minacce intensified and on July 25 the friars began to leave the convent. At the request of the Libertarian Athenaeum, which maintained that the dispersion of the religious was a difficulty in keeping them under control, the syndicate ordered the confinement of the friars in an unoccupied house, and on July 30 began to send salvacondotti to the religious.
The trial was useless, because the members of the Ateneo Libertario, all very young young people arrested from the trains with which they had arrived, seized and killed them in various places.
On August 13 also the rest of the religious followed the path of martyrdom. Carried to the outskirts of Almagro, while they were waiting, the new beati were executed.
I martiri nuovi beati
Ángel Marina Álvarez, priest
Manuel Fernández (Herba), priest
Natalio Camazón Junquera, priest
Antonio Trancho Andrés, priest
Luis Suárez Velasco, priest
Eduardo Sainz Lantarón, priest
Pedro López Delgado, priest
Francisco Santos Cadierno, religious student
Sebastián Sáinz López, religious studente
Arsenio de la Viuda Solla, fratello cooperatore
Ovidio Bravo Porras, fratello cooperatore
Dionisio Perez Garcia, fratello cooperatore
Fernando García de Dios, novizio fratello fratello cooperatore
Antolín Martínez-Santos Ysern, novizio per sacerdozio
Paulino Reoyo García, professo studente
Santiago Aparicio López, professo studente
Ricardo Manuel López y López, professo studente
José Garrido Francés, priest
Justo Vicente Martínez, professo studente
Mateo (Santiago) de Prado Fernández, fratello cooperatore
Juan Aguilar Donis, priest
Tomás Morales Morales, priest
Fernando Grund Jiménez, priest
Fernando de Pablos Fernández, fratello cooperatore
Luis María (Ceferino) Fernández Martínez, fratello cooperatore
Fructuoso Pérez Márquez, secolare domenicano
Suor Ascensión de San José (Isabel Ascensión Sánchez Romero), Domenican Monk
