The Beatification of 498 Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War
Here are links to some articles and blog posts about today's beatification (updated November 9 with the homily now available in English translation):
The Holy Father's words at the noonday Angelus were about martyrdom. A separate post is devoted to that address.
His apostolic letter raising the 498 martyrs to the glory of the altar is not yet available in English on the Vatican's website. I will add a link later as it probably will be translated into English soon.
Cardinal Martins' homily from the Mass is now available in English translation on the Vatican website. Here is an excerpt from it:
The Martyrs scaled the peak of heroism in the battle in which they gave their lives for Christ. The heroism to which God calls us is hidden in the thousand skirmishes of our life each day. We must be convinced that our holiness - this holiness, let us have no doubt about it, to which God calls us - consists in achieving what John Paul II called the "high standard of ordinary Christian living" (Novo Millennio Ineunte, n. 31).
The message of the Martyrs is a message of faith and love. We must examine ourselves courageously and make practical resolutions to discover whether this faith and this love are expressed heroically in our own lives; heroism also of faith and love in our action, as people inserted into history like the leaven that causes dough to rise properly.
This significant statement about forgiveness is a portion of the Curia's news coverage of the beatification:
The splendid beatification ceremony took place on Sunday 28th October at St Peter’s Square in Rome. In preparation, the Provincial of Castile sent a pastoral letter to the Province. In it he emphasized that the Carmelite martyrs died pardoning their executioners. It was this that inspired the hymn composed for the occasion by Fr Luis Miguel Sánchez, from the Toledo community, titled “Witnesses of pardon in a world thirsting for peace …” The Provincial recalled in his circular letter the words written by Fr Tirso de Jesús María in the letter sent to his family on the eve of his execution: “Pardon them and bless them and amen to everything, just as I love them and pardon them and bless them.....”
Vatican Radio audio report yesterday on preparations for the beatification.
Vatican Radio audio report today on the beatification.
Moniales (a blog by Dominican sisters) has a post from yesterday about a Dominican contemplative among those beatified.
Tucson Priests beatification blog concerning two of the 498 martyrs beatified today, with entries by Fr. Jose Luis Ferroni, OCD. The two Tucson priests were Discalced Carmelites who were among a group of Spanish Carmelites living in Tucson. They returned to Spain and were martyred after their return. Fr. Ferroni is now studying Church history in Rome. He was formerly at El Carmelo Retreat Center, where he was the Carmelite priest assigned to the Secular Carmelites here in San Diego.
Rorate Caeli post from October 25.
Zenit article from October 24.
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