Beatification of the Marianist Martyrs of Madrid
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Beatification of the Marianist Martyrs of Madrid
On October 28, 2007 four members of the Society of Mary were beatified by Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in Rome, Italy. They were a part of a group of 498 Spanish martyrs. The following text is a report about the Beatification.
The 498 Spanish martyrs proclaimed blessed today marked the largest number to be beatified simultaneously in the history of the Church. Some fifty thousand people gathered in St. Peter's Square for the celebration of the martyrs who died in the 1930s in Spain. "The message of the martyrs is a message of faith and love," affirmed the Pope's representative, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for the Saints' Causes. In contrast to the practice of celebrating beatifications in the home country of the blessed, today's ceremony was held in the Vatican, as fifteen dioceses were home to the new blessed, and twenty-three of their causes of beatifications were based in Rome. The martyrs came from almost all the Spanish territory, as well as Cuba, France and Mexico.
For more information about these martyrs, read this article by José Maria Salaverri, S.M.