Madrid, Spain sends to Rome 14,000 pages on 140 servants of God victims of religious persecution in the 20th century
The Cathedral of Santa María la Real de la Almudena hosted last Friday, December 16, the solemn closing session of the diocesan process of the cause of martyrdom promoted by the Archdiocese of Madrid, the Diocese of Getafe, the Catholic Association of Propagandists ( ACdP), the Catholic Action of Madrid and the Getafe Catholic Action, with a total of 140 servants of God. All of them were victims of religious persecution in Spain in the 30s of the 20th century and are "united by their fidelity to the blood to faith in Jesus Christ and love for the Church", as stressed by the auxiliary bishop of Madrid Monsignor Juan Antonio Martinez Camino, SJ:
Timoteo Rojo Orcajo and 60 fellow diocesan priests. Timoteo Rojo Orcajo, 45, was the canon archivist of the Cathedral of San Isidro. Madrid owes him that the incorrupt body of San Isidro Labrador had not disappeared in the revolution, since he took it upon himself, with other companions, to find a good hiding place for it.
They couldn't get the secret out of him. We also owe him the first biography of the venerable Francisco de Asís Méndez Casariego, another Madrid canon saint, whom the martyr describes as a pearl seeker, since he had dedicated himself to collecting and sheltering and training girls and urchins from the streets of Madrid.
Rufino Blanco Sánchez and 78 lay companions. Rufino Blanco Sánchez, 75, was a wise teacher and pedagogue, well known in his specialty circles, co-founder of the School of Higher Education Studies. In March 1936 he had entered the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, with a remarkable speech, in which he did not hide the deep religious inspiration of his science and his life. He had nine children, of whom Julián, a journalist, who was at his father's house when the revolutionaries arrived in search of the old champion of the Catholic magisterium, did not want to leave him alone and accompanied him to his martyrdom.
Throughout the last two years, thanks to God, who "has guided the work with his loving providence" in the expression of Monsignor Martínez Camino, and to the work of the Instructive Commission - chaired by the episcopal delegate for the Causes of Saints , Alberto Fernández Sánchez—, the Historical Commission —chaired by Javier Sebastián Moreno— and the postulator, Pablo Sánchez Garrido, have collected and accredited all the information available, both documentary and testimonial.
Now, at the request of the Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal Carlos Osoro, the auxiliary bishop himself will take almost 14,000 pages to the Department for the Causes of Saints about these "saints next door" who "are not yet beatified" or perhaps never. they are, but "we know that they are exceptional Christians" as was, for example, Saint Isidro Labrador.
After the reading of all the names of the servants of God, which can be consulted on the website of the Delegation of the Causes of the Saints of the Archbishopric, Monsignor Martínez Camino was sworn in as bearer of the minutes, while the Cardinal Osoro, the delegated court and the postulator swore to have fulfilled the entrusted mission and that they will keep the secret of trade.
"The greatest thing is to be holy"
In a speech at the end of the session, the archbishop thanked the Lord "for having witnesses of the faith at our side, people who have been capable of giving their lives", for "not denying Our Lord" and for "affirming the fundamental option in the life of a human being, which is to feel like a child of God and a witness of Our Lord Jesus Christ in this world, in whatever circumstances it may be”. "The greatest thing is to be saints, to be men and women of God who announce Jesus Christ with our lives," he asserted, before showing his gratitude to Monsignor Martínez Camino, to the delegate Alberto Fernández and to "all of you who have worked so that we can live this moment in the days before the birth of the Lord».
In this sense, the cardinal remarked that, although "the judgment will be given by the Church", this act dedicated to the 140 servants of God was "a day of grace" and that "we can privately avail ourselves of their intercession". "Let us pray for the beatification of these brothers, let us pray through their mediation, let us pray that the Lord and the Holy Spirit may raise up in our diocese of Madrid and in the whole Church priests and laity who are truly humble witnesses, leading in their lives and announcing with his life the joy of the Gospel”, he added.
Source: https://www.archimadrid.org/index.php/oficina-de-informacion/noticias-madrid/madrid-manda-a-roma-14-000-folios-sobre-140-siervos-de-dios-victimas-de-la-persecucion-religiosa-del-siglo-xx
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