According to the many studies on the fratricidal violence that took hold of Spain in 1936, at least 7,500 priests and religious were assassinated along with thirteen bishops.
Hundreds have already been beatified and others canonized. Official recognition of their martyrdom was long-awaited. On Sunday, 13 October 2013 in Tarragona (Spain), the beatification took place of 522 Spanish martyrs, witnesses of the faith, including twenty-seven Daughters of Charity and a Child of Mary, beatified along with our Sisters. All of them dedicated their life totally to God in order to serve Him in the person of the poor in fidelity to the Gospel and the charism of the Company. They knew that Jesus’ prophecy could come to pass:
“Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you“
(Jn 15:20)
Martyrs of the faith
They foresaw the coming persecution and prayed in faith for the help of the Holy Spirit. The Eucharist gave them strength and nourishment and prepared them to witness to their faith, hope and charity. Their crime was being Daughters of Charity dedicated as servants to healing, caring, educating, welcoming, guiding and doing good like Jesus of Nazareth. They were not involved in any political activity. They were persecuted only for their condition as women consecrated to God. During the thirty years following their martyrdom unto death, these Sisters were truly seeds of future vocations. We hope that the knowledge of their witness of faith will open new furrows and germinate new seeds of faith and charity. What matters is replacing the course of materialism and comfort with paths of faith and happiness in the commitment to “leave everything” to be apostles of charity.
These are their names, places of mission and date of their martyrdom:
From Leganés (Madrid)
- Colegio La Inmaculada (†12.08.1936): Sister M. Adoración Cortés, Sister María S. Díaz-Pardo and Sister Estefanía Saldaña.
- From the Santa Isabel Psychiatric Hospital: Sister M. Dolores Barroso and Sister Asunción Mayoral (the latter had taken refuge there, but came from the Asylum for the Blind in Madrid).
–Anti-tuberculosis Hospital El Neveral in Jaén: They were persecuted and forced onto the “train of death,” sent to Madrid and then Vallecas (†12.08.1936): Sister Ramona Cao Fernández and Sister Juana Pérez Abascal.
–San Eugenio de Valencia Asylum: Having taken refuge in Puzol (Valencia) in the family home of a companion, they celebrated the Eucharist there with a Franciscan who was also in hiding. This was the cause of their death (†18.08.1936): Sister Rosario Ciércoles, Sister Mª Luisa Bermúdez and Sister Micaela Hernán.
Casa Misericordia of Albacete: Expelled by the authorities and threatened with death, they took refuge in Madrid, in the house of a relative of the Sister Servant. Three of them sought help at another relative’s house in Vallecas. They were not received but brutally martyred. (†03.09.1936): Sister Dolores Caro, Sister Andrea Calle and Sister Concepción Pérez Giral.
Hospital and Schools of Segorbe (Castellón): The community was expelled. They took refuge in a former orphanage. When Sister Martina Vázquez, the Sister Servant, was arrested, she asked that the other Sisters be freed. Only she was martyred. († 04.10.1936).
General Hospital of Valencia: The local community was expelled and dissolved. Sister Josefa Martínez Pérez took refuge in her family home in Alberique (Valencia). Her family was persecuted, and she offered to die in the place of her pregnant widowed sister, her husband having already been shot. Her offer was accepted, and she died a martyr of faith and charity († 14.10.1936).
Casa Beneficencia de Valencia: The Sisters were kicked out of the house. Some of them took refuge in a family home where two priests were hiding and sheltered. They celebrated the Eucharist clandestinely on a daily basis. This was their only crime and the cause of their martyrdom in Gilet (Valencia): Sister Joaquina Rey and Sister Victoria Arregui († 29.10.1936).
Santa Cristina Maternity Hospital in Madrid: Sister Modesta Moro Briz and Sister Pilar Isabel Sánchez Suarez were martyred. They hid in a boarding house in the center of Madrid. They were eager to celebrate the Eucharist on the feast of All Saints. When they left the house, they were arrested and condemned to death by a popular Tribunal (31.10.1936).
Hospitals of Atocha and Carabanchel of Madrid: The persecutors of Sister Josefa Gironés Arteta and Sister Lorenza Díaz Bolaños made immoral propositions to them. They were killed for their fidelity to their faith and vocation († 22.11.1936).
Colegio el Carmen de Bétera (Valencia): The local community sought refuge in a youth hostel in Valencia. Dolores Broseta, a Child of Mary, daily brought them the food prepared by the graduates of the school of Bétera. One day she was followed by those who were looking for the Sisters. The whole community was assasinated: Josefa Laborra, Sister Carmen Rodríguez Barazal, Sister Estefanía Irisarri, Sister Pilar Nalda, Sister Isidora Izquierdo and Mª Dolores Broseta, the Child of Mary who brought them food († 09.12.1936).
From Puerto Rico to Madrid and from Madrid to Heaven: Sister Gaudencia Benavidaes Herrero spent many years as a missionary in Puerto Rico. She came to Spain to be treated for her heart disease. Identified as a nun, she was arrested and placed in three different prisons where she was mistreated. Her body was covered with wounds. She was denied the necessary medical attention and died bearing witness to Jesus Christ and forgiving her persecutors. († 11.02.1937).
This is how our martyrs died: courageously confessing their faith in Jesus Christ. They forgave their persecutors and placed their lives in the hands of God the Father. They followed Christ’s teachings, to which they witnessed by their life and actions. They preferred to die rather than deny Him. May we live our faith with the same firmness and exemplary courage.
