Cardinal Angelo Amato, the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes
of Saints, presided at the Mass of beatification of four Benedictine
monks who were martyred in 1936.Fathers José Antón Gómez, AntolÃn Pablos Villanueva, Juan Rafael Mariano Alcocer MartÃnez, and Luis Vidaurrázaga Gonzáles were monks of the Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos in Burgos and lived in the Priory of Santa Maria de Montserrat in Madrid.
At the beginning of his homily on October 29, Cardinal Amato recalled the example of Father Jacques Hamel, the French priest slain while offering Mass this summer, and said that “he was not afraid of holiness, he was not afraid of martyrdom, nor were these four Benedictine martyrs.”
“The sociopolitical climate of the 1930s was characterized by a manifestation of terror against the Church, a bloody persecution,” he continued. “At that time there was darkness over the earth.”
After his Angelus address the following day, Pope Francis recalled the beatification of the martyrs and said, “We praise the Lord and entrust to their intercession the brothers and sisters that unfortunately, yet today, are persecuted for their faith in Christ in several parts of the world.”