Three volunteer Red Cross nurses have been beatified as Catholic martyrs in Spain, 84 years after being raped and shot by anti-clerical Republicans at the start of the 1936-9 Civil War.
“These devout women died proclaiming Christ as King, and it is that profession of faith which makes them martyrs,” said Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Saints’ Causes. “Despite the danger, they did not abandon the wounded, but put their own lives at risk by helping them. They offer an example of closeness to the needy, especially in this time of pandemic – although we cannot be close physically for fear of infection, we can be close through prayer and assistance.”
The cardinal was preaching at the cathedral beatification Mass in northern Spain's Astorga diocese for Pilar Gullon Yturriaga (1911-1936), Octavia Iglesias Blanco (1894-1936) and Olga Perez-Monteserin Nunez (1913-1936). Meanwhile, the nurses' “simple fidelity of commitment” was also praised by Astorga's bishop, who said the three women had clung to their crosses and forgiven their executioners, offering a “model of Christian lay vocation”.
“They had a clear opportunity to avoid martyrdom by abandoning their responsibilities and renouncing their faith through some gesture,” said Bishop Jesus Fernandez. “Yet they all gladly put fidelity to Christ before their own lives, testifying to the truth of the Gospel.”
The three answered an appeal for Red Cross auxiliaries in summer 1936, working at Puerto de Somiedo hospital in Gijon, which was held by General Francisco Franco's National Army, and arrested that October when Republican forces stormed the hospital, killing its wounded soldiers and chaplain.
Witnesses said the women, mistaken for Catholic nuns, were tortured and raped overnight, with a car engine revving to drown their screams, and shouted “Viva Cristo Rey” (Long live Christ the King) when finally stripped and shot on 28 October.
A commentary on the Astorga diocese website said the International Red Cross had protested the nurses’ killing and pressed the Spanish government for justice, as well as assisting their exhumation from a mass grave and re-interment at Astorga cathedral in 1948.
“The life and martyrdom of these three lay women, healthcare workers in hard times of conflict, provide a valid reference point for Christian life today, in a world where women continue to be denigrated and Christians persecuted for their faith, and in which ordinary people, seeing their health threatened by a pandemic, especially value the work of health professionals and volunteers.”
Almost 2000 Catholics have been beatified or canonised as martyrs from the four-year Civil War, during which 8000 clergy, 12 percent of Spain's total, were killed after an anti-clerical Popular Front government sanctioned a campaign to desecrate and destroy church properties.
Loading ...
