Pope Leo XIV has authorized this Monday the promulgation of several decrees from the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, among which stand out the recognition of new Spanish martyrs from the religious persecution of 1936.
Spanish Martyrs from the 1936 Persecution
According to the April 27 bulletin from the Holy See, the Pontiff has approved the decree on the martyrdom of Stanislao Ortega García - a religious from the Institute of the Brothers of Christian Instruction of St. Gabriel - and 48 companions, along with the diocesan priest Emanuele Berenguer Clusella.
All of them were murdered between July and November 1936 in various locations in Catalonia, in the context of the religious persecution during the Spanish Civil War, and have been recognized as martyrs “out of hatred for the faith,” thus opening the path to their beatification.
The group is part of the cause of the so-called Gabrielist martyrs, religious dedicated primarily to education and belonging to a congregation with a strong educational presence.
The beatification cause was instructed in the Archdiocese of Barcelona, and its diocesan phase concluded in 2005, after the collection of testimonies and documentation on the circumstances of their death.
According to the data from the cause, several of these religious were detained in the context of the anticlerical persecution and subsequently executed in various places, including Montcada i Reixac.
Their death is framed within the wave of violence against priests, religious, and Catholic laity during the first months of the Civil War.
A Spanish Layman Recognized for the Offering of His Life
Among the approved decrees also appears the recognition of the offering of the life of the servant of God Pietro Emanuele Salado Alba, a Spanish layman and member of the “Hogar de Nazaret” association.
Born in 1968 in Chiclana de la Frontera, he died in 2012 in Ecuador. With this recognition, his cause advances in the process toward beatification, as his Christian offering is valued in extraordinary circumstances.
Other Decrees on Heroic Virtues
The Pope has also authorized the promulgation of decrees on the heroic virtues of several servants of God, including María Eletta de Jesús, a 17th-century Discalced Carmelite; María Teresa de la Santísima Trinidad, a Carmelite religious who died in the United States in 1926; and María Raffaella De Giovanna, an Italian founder of the 20th century.