Today, August 13, is the memorial of the Blessed Claretian Martyrs of Barbastro.
The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) witnessed the killings of priests, nuns, religious, and Catholic lay leaders throughout Spain. Among those killed were 51 Claretians, most of them young seminarians who just arrived at the Claretian community in Barbastro to finish the final year of their Theology studies.
On July 20, 1936, the students, their professors and superiors, and some Claretian brothers became victims of fake news and disinformation. They were arrested and accused of hiding weapons by revolutionary militiamen. They were brought to the Piarist seminary auditorium, where the Claretians were tortured psychologically and physically.
Within August, all 51 were shot to death for choosing to remain loyal to Jesus Christ.
Two Argentinean Claretians were spared. They served as witnesses to the events leading to the martyrdom of their confreres. The martyrs’ own accounts were found in the writings they left on scraps of paper, on bits of chocolate wrappers, and in the inscriptions they made on the back of a piano stool.
The martyrs sang, forgave their tormentors, and proclaimed their Christian faith. On the way to their death, they were shouting, “Long live Christ the King! Long live the Heart of Mary!”
They were all beatified by Pope St. John Paul II in 1992.