Vicente Soler Munárriz and 7 companions

The heart of this cause for beatification rests on the pastoral and missionary dedication of these men, particularly within the Order of Augustinian Recollects (OAR). Father Vicente Soler Munárriz (in religion Vicente de San Luis Gonzaga) was born in Malón (Zaragoza) on April 4, 1867. After making his religious profession in Monteagudo in 1883, he was sent as a missionary to the Philippines, where he was ordained a priest in Manila in 1890. For seventeen years, he exercised an intense and courageous apostolate, notably on the island of Mindoro and in Mamburao, a difficult sector where he ventured into the forests and mountains to evangelize the local populations and gather them into stable communities. Returning to Spain in 1906, he held important positions: he was superior of the Motril residence from 1908, provincial of Andalusia, and was even elected Prior General of the Order of Augustinian Recollects in 1926 (a position from which he resigned after a few months to return to a simpler life). In Motril, he deployed immense social and spiritual activity: he founded the "Saint Rita workshops" for poor young girls, opened an evening school for workers, established Nocturnal Adoration in 1912, and founded the Catholic Workers' Circle in 1914. His companions shared this same apostolic zeal: - Father José Rada Royo (José de la Virgen de los Dolores), born in Tarazona in 1861, was a missionary in the Philippines (where he received a civil merit medal for his social action) and then in Brazil, dedicating himself to Italian immigrants. - Father Vicente Pinilla Ibáñez (Vicente de San Luis Gonzaga), born in Calatayud in 1870, was also a missionary in the Philippines (where he was imprisoned during the revolution of 1898) and then in Brazil for twenty-five years before returning to Spain. - Father Deogracias Palacios del Río (Deogracias de San Agustín), born in Baños de Valdearados in 1901, was a missionary in Brazil and Argentina before becoming the superior of the Motril community in 1936. - Father Manuel Martín Sierra, born in Churriana de la Vega in 1892, was a diocesan priest of the Diocese of Granada. Appointed pastor of the Divine Shepherd parish in Motril in 1930, he distinguished himself by his piety, his charity toward the poor, and his absolute fidelity to his pastoral charge. - Father León Inchausti Minteguía (León de la Virgen del Rosario), born in Ajánguiz in 1859, and Father Julián Benigno Moreno Moreno (Julián Benigno de San Nicolás de Tolentino), born in Alfaro in 1871, were also exemplary priests devoted to prayer and ministry. - Brother José Ricardo Díez Rodríguez (José del Sagrado Corazón), born in Camposalinas in 1909, was the youngest of the group (27 years old) and served the community as a coadjutor brother with humility and dedication.

The martyrdom of these eight men was accomplished in a spirit of forgiveness and heroic charity. Faced with the hatred of the faith (in odium fidei) manifested by their executioners, they countered with the strength of Christian love.

During his seventeen-day captivity in the Motril prison, Father Vicente Soler Munárriz became a true pastor to his fellow sufferers. He transformed the cell into a place of prayer, leading the rosary and a Marian novena each day, and hearing the confessions of the detainees. His spiritual radiance was such that he obtained the sincere conversion of an atheist and revolutionary socialist prisoner, Juan Antúnez, who was shot shortly thereafter while confessing his faith.

Demonstrating sublime charity, Father Soler attempted to offer himself in place of a father of eight children, Manuel Pérez Reina, when the latter was called to be executed. However, the militiaman refused the exchange because Father Soler's name was already on the list of those condemned to death for the following night.

At the time of his execution on August 15, 1936, the feast of the Assumption, Father Soler encouraged his eighteen companions in suffering by saying to them: "Trust in God, I am going to give you absolution." He died while forgiving his executioners. Likewise, Father Vicente Pinilla, agonizing for three hours on the church square on July 26, was seen by witnesses raising his right arm to bless the city and his persecutors.

The informative process regarding the martyrdom of the Augustinian Recollects and Father Manuel Martín Sierra was opened in the Archdiocese of Granada in 1952 and concluded in 1972. After a meticulous examination of the testimonies and historical documents by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the validity of the process was decreed on May 2, 1986. On March 25, 1997, Pope John Paul II officially approved the decree recognizing their martyrdom in odium fidei. The beatification ceremony was celebrated by Pope John Paul II on March 7, 1999, in Saint Peter's Square in Rome. During his homily, the Holy Father emphasized: "They did not die for an ideology, but they freely offered their lives for Someone who had already died for them before. Thus, they offered to Christ the gift they had received from him." Their relics are today piously preserved and venerated in a mausoleum dedicated to them at the Motril cemetery, as well as in the Augustinian Recollect church in the city.

The spirituality of the martyrs of Motril is deeply rooted in the Augustinian Recollect charism: fraternal life, contemplation, the spirit of conversion, and service to the Church in simplicity. Their supreme sacrifice is the culmination of a daily life of abandonment to the will of God.

Before the storm of persecution fell upon them, Father Vicente Soler had prophesied to the Augustinian Recollect nuns of the city: "Some of us will fall and be martyrs, but after Good Friday comes the Resurrection." This theological hope sustained the entire group at the moment of trial.

Their legacy is particularly alive in Motril and in the Order of Augustinian Recollects. The sacrifice of these priests and religious was fruitful: the local Christian community saw the flourishing of numerous priestly and religious vocations in the decades that followed the Civil War, fulfilling Father Soler's word that the blood of martyrs is a seed of Christians. They remain models of pastoral fidelity, reconciliation, and forgiveness in the face of violence and political divisions.