Martyrs of Barbastro

During their captivity at the Piarist college, the young Claretians transformed their prison into a place of prayer and intense spiritual preparation. Despite the stifling heat of the Aragonese summer, the lack of water, and the deplorable hygienic conditions, they maintained a rigorous religious discipline. They recited the Divine Office and the Rosary daily and encouraged one another toward martyrdom. Their spiritual strength rested above all on the Eucharist. During the assault on the seminary, Father Luis Masferrer Vila had managed to hide the Blessed Sacrament in a small briefcase. During the first days of their detention, they were thus able to receive communion clandestinely. Subsequently, the community's cook brother sometimes managed to pass them consecrated hosts hidden in their daily food. The militiamen tried by all means to break their resolve and obtain their apostasy. They forbade them from praying, subjected them to repeated mock executions, and even introduced prostitutes into the room to try to make them violate their vow of chastity. Several of them received individual offers of release if they agreed to renounce their religious habit and their faith, but none yielded. Two seminarians of Argentine nationality, Atilio Parussini and Pablo Hall, were finally spared and released due to their status as foreigners. It was they who, upon leaving Spain, clandestinely carried away the writings, farewell letters, and testimonies of their companions, thus allowing the heroism of the community to be known to the world. Among these documents is the famous farewell letter addressed to the Claretian Congregation, written on a chocolate wrapper by the seminarian Faustino Pérez García on behalf of all his brothers.

The martyrdom of the 51 Claretians took place in several waves during the month of August 1936: * August 2, 1936: The three superiors of the community, Fathers Felipe de Jesús Munárriz Azcona, Juan Díaz Nosti, and Leoncio Pérez Ramos, were the first to be executed. Without any trial, they were shot at dawn against the walls of the Barbastro cemetery. * August 12, 1936: A group of 6 religious, including Father Sebastián Calvo Martínez and Brother Gregorio Chirivás Lacambra, was shot at the same location. * August 13, 1936: 20 seminarians and brothers were led to martyrdom. * August 15, 1936: Another group of 20 Claretians was executed. * August 18, 1936: The last two seminarians, Jaime Falgarona Vilanova and Atanasio Vidaurreta Labra, who were being treated at the hospital due to their state of health, were in turn shot. All walked toward death with a serenity that struck the witnesses. They embraced one another, explicitly forgave their executioners, and refused to have their eyes bandaged. They died with their arms in the shape of a cross, shouting: "¡Viva Cristo Rey!" (Long live Christ the King!) and "¡Viva el Corazón de María!" (Long live the Heart of Mary!). After the end of the Civil War, in 1939, the bodies of the martyrs were exhumed and identified. Their mortal remains were first transferred to a special section of the cemetery, then, in 1952, solemnly deposited in the crypt of the Church of the Heart of Mary in Barbastro.

The beatification process for the martyrs of Barbastro opened after the war and progressed rigorously. On March 7, 1992, Pope John Paul II signed the decree recognizing their martyrdom in odium fidei (in hatred of the faith), which dispensed with the requirement of presenting a miracle.

On October 25, 1992, Pope John Paul II presided over the solemn celebration of their beatification in Saint Peter's Square in Rome. In his homily, the Sovereign Pontiff described this community as a "martyr-seminary." He emphasized that their communal death constitutes a unique testimony of ecclesial fidelity and spiritual preparation, offering a model of commitment for the entire Church and in particular for the formation of future priests.

The spirituality of the martyrs of Barbastro is deeply rooted in the Claretian charism, characterized by an intense filial devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and an ardent missionary zeal. Their sacrifice is not an act of political resistance, but an offering of love and reconciliation. Their writings testify to the total absence of hatred or resentment toward their persecutors, for whom they prayed until the end.

Their memory is preserved today with fervor in Barbastro. The crypt of the Church of the Heart of Mary houses their relics, and the Museum of the Claretian Martyrs, completely renovated and blessed in December 2023, displays their personal items, their original writings, and traces their heroic journey.

Their testimony has also been popularized through the Spanish historical film Un Dios prohibido (A Forbidden God), directed by Pablo Moreno in 2013, which faithfully recounts their final weeks of captivity and their martyrdom based on the preserved historical documents.