In Vatican City, on December 19, 2011 Zenit.org reported Pope Benedict XVI on Monday met with Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, and authorized the promulgation of decrees concerning miracles, martyrdom and heroic virtues for a number of causes. Among those were Mariano Acala and 18 fellow Martyrs of the Order of Mercy. This beatification will take place on Tarragona, Spain, October 13, 2013. Here is the formal announcement from the Mercedarian Generalate:
With the title “19 Palms. Martyrs of Mercy of Aragon in 1936 “Fray Joaquin Rubio Millan published in 2010 a careful publication on the martyrdom of the nineteen martyrs of the Order of Mercy in the province of Aragon, whose list is headed by the Servant of God Mariano Alcala Perez, born May 11, 1867 and executed on September 15, 1936.
The other 18 religious who met a violent death are: Padre Tomás Carbonell Miquel, Padre Francisco Gargallo Gascón, Padre Manuel Sancho Aguilar, Padre Mariano Pina Turón, Fray Pedro Armengol Esteban Hernández, Fray Antonio Lahoz Gan, Fray José Trallero Lou, Fray Jaime Codina Casellas, Padre José Reñé Prenafreta, Fray Antonio González Penín, Padre Tomás Campo Marín, Padre Francisco Llagostera Bonet, Fray Serapio Sanz Iranzo, Padre Enrique Morante Chic, Padre Jesús Eduardo Massanet Flaquer, Padre Amancio Marín Mínguez, Padre Lorenzo Moreno Nicolás, y Fray Francisco Mitjá Mitjá.
Beatification
The religious were 19 Mercedarians of the Province of Aragon who died martyrs, killed “in odium fidei” or out of hatred for the faith between July 25, 1936 and January 1, 1937 in Barcelona and Teruel, Spain. The diocesan process opened in Lleida in 1957 and concluded in 1959. The Congregation of Saints gave legal validity in Rome on June 9, 1995. The commission of theologians gave a favorable opinion on September 30, 2009. The December 13, 2011 the Congress of Cardinals and Bishops have recognized that the said servants of God were killed by fidelity to Christ and the Church. The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI then approved the martyrdom of the 19 Mercedarians on 19 December 2011. The celebration will be in Tarragona, Spain, 13 October 2013.
522 Spanish martyrs obeyed imperatives of faith before the world, remember Bishop
Held up as heroic witnesses to the Catholic faith in a world that spurns belief in God, a Mercedarian priest and his 18 companions who were killed in the Spanish Civil War took a step closer to canonization in Rome Dec. 19.
Some of the martyrs were burnt, some were shot, and some died of exposure and starvation. Shown above is a Spanish church destroyed during the civil war.
Servants of God Mariano Alcala Perez and eighteen companions of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy were confirmed as martyrs by the Vatican’s Congregation of the Causes of Saints, which stated that they were killed “in hatred of the faith in Spain” between 1936 and 1937.
“This has been a long time in coming,” stated Fr. Joseph Eddy, O. de M., the order’s vocation director in the United States. “These men courageously chose death rather than deny their faith,” and are greatly admired by the Mercedarian brethren and others. We have been praying for this for several years, and thank God for their recognition by the Church.”
To Be Recognized as Blessed
Mariano Alcala Perez, Servant of God
The next step will be their formal recognition as “blessed,” which should take place in Spain sometime next year, and then the process continues toward canonization as saints.
The Mercedarian Order counts as among victims of the war 27 of its friars during this time of strife, between 1936 – 39, at which conservative rebels, led by Francisco Franco, successfully battled an atheistic regime then in power.
About one thousand Spanish martyrs have been beatified or canonized by the Church, and for some two thousand additional martyrs, the beatification process is underway. In all, nearly 7,000 priests, religious, nuns, friars and monks were martyred during what is known as Spain’s Red Terror.
Widespread Bloodshed
It was a time of widespread bloodshed involving tens of thousands of civilians, as well as great animosity against any Church personnel, as well as many pious lay persons.
The victims were executed and tortured. The official report released in 1939 by the Very Rev. Alfred Scotti, the Order’s superior general, paints a horrible picture of suffering and hatred. In the Madrid house of the Order, nine priests were assassinated and four were killed in the College of St. Peter, Madrid. Another four were killed in the house at Harencia. At Olivar, in Aragon, ten priests were killed; four at Barcelona, six at Lerida, and three at the famous House of Ransom.
“The ways of their death were various,” according to the report, carried in the July 21, 1939 Catholic Herald, in the United Kingdom. “Some were burnt, some were shot, some died of exposure and starvation.”
Spared for Only a While
The report states,
The Rev. Mariano Pine Turon was made prisoner …. [and then] killed. His corpse was burnt. At the same period the Rev. Mariano Alcala Perez, former Superiorof the Order, was made prisoner. At the time his life was spared because of his great age. Later, when he testified that he was a member of the Order of Mercy, he was shot…. The Rev. Tomas Carbonell Miguel, Provincial of the Order in Aragon, was discovered in a house near the convent in Lerida. He was dragged to the cathedral and shot….
NearLerida, the Rev. Edouardo Massanet and Jose Uragui were battered to death. The Rev. Thomas Campo Marin was shot, with 68 other prisoners, in the cemetery at Lerida. The Rev. Fauetino Gazulla Galve, well-known historian, died of wounds, following a bombardment.
Killed for Saying “Jesus”
The report continues, “The Rev. Jose Rene Prenafreta was killed in Barcelona, for having pronounced the word ‘Jesus.’” Other priests killed include the Rev. Francesco Gargailo Gascon, Manuel Sancho Agutlar, Antonio Gonzalez Penin and Francesco Mitja.
The material damage to the Order in Spain shows a pointed hatred. “The church in Barcelona and house of the Order have been destroyed,” the report says. “In Lerida the church was turned into a cinema with a wine bar. The house in Olivar was destroyed. At Puig the church was pillaged and the statue of the Virgin cut into pieces.”
Only “Fault” — Believing in Christ
In one of Pope John Paul II’s canonizations of the martyrs of the Spanish Civil War, he said,
To this glorious band of martyrs belong many Spanish Christians, executed out of hatred for the faith in the years 1936-1939 … during the wicked persecution unleashed against the Church, its members and its institutions. Bishops, priests and religious were persecuted with particular hatred and cruelty; their only fault – if one can express it that way – was believing in Christ, preaching the Gospel and leading the people on the road to salvation. The enemies of Christ and of his teaching believed that by eliminating them, they could make the Church completely disappear from Spanish soil.
(John Paul II, “Decree of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints,” 1992)
The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy was founded in Spainin 1218 and is present in Pennsylvania, three other states in the United States, and in numerous other countries in Europe, South/Central America, Africa, and India.
With the title “19 Palms. Martyrs of Mercy of Aragon in 1936 “Fray Joaquin Rubio Millan published in 2010 a careful publication on the martyrdom of the nineteen martyrs of the Order of Mercy in the province of Aragon, whose list is headed by the Servant of God Mariano Alcala Perez, born May 11, 1867 and executed on September 15, 1936.
