Homily for Memorial of Salesian Spanish Martyrs

Homily for the Memorial of
the Salesian Martyrs of Spain
Friday, 24th Week of Ordinary Time

Sept. 22, 2023                                    
Collect
1 Tim 6: 2-12
Provincial House, New Rochelle

Blessed Joseph Calasanz and 31 companions

from Barcelona and Valencia

beatified 2001

The 95 Salesian martyrs of the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939, “did not hesitate to die” for God and for the young, and “to share in the passion of Christ” (Collect).  They were hardly the only Catholics who did so, for those 3 years were marked by incredible brutality—by hatred of God and Christianity on the part of the so-called Republicans, and by hatred of Communism and socialism, and perhaps the hope of protecting privilege on the part of the Nationalists.  Thousands of priests, religious, and laity were killed; hundreds have been beatified, and other causes are still being studied.

Our 95 were beatified in 2 groups in 2001 among 233 Spanish martyrs and 2007 among 498 martyrs.  They came from several branches of the Salesian Family and from all parts of Spain:  39 priests, 24 coadjutors, 22 seminarians, 2 FMAs, 3 aspirants, 3 Cooperators, and 2 other laymen.  Most of the FMAs had fled, but one was too ill to do so, and a 2d sister stayed with her.  They paid with their lives.  Many of our confreres were caught by surprise when hostilities broke out and were quickly seized and shot, like Fr. Joseph Calasanz and those who were on retreat with him in Valencia.  Some managed to hide for a time but were eventually captured and executed.  Obviously, many of our confreres from the 3 provinces of Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, and Seville) survived.

Those who gave their lives testified by their blood to their love for Christ and their vocation.  Some like Fr. Henry Saiz succeeded in protecting the young in their care.  As we read in their letters, they accepted God’s will.  By that and their perseverance and courage they edify us.  They lived what St. Paul urged on Timothy:  “devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness,” and so “made the noble confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Tim 6:12).  May they intercede for us to give witness to the same qualities in our daily lives by which, as Don Bosco says in the introduction to the Constitutions, making up in duration what the martyrs suffer in intensity.