NUNC nuovo

NU N C
NUNTII DE UNIVERSA NOSTRA CONGREGATIONE
NUNC 508 • SPECIAL EDITION • DECEMBER 2013
MARTYRES CHRISTI
Tarragona 13 -X-2013
BLESSED CLARETIAN MARTYRS
OF SIGÜENZA, FERNÁN CABALLERO, AND TARRAGONA
BEATIFICATION
IN THE YEAR
OF FAITH
Tarragona, ecclesia Pauli, sedes
Fructuosi, patria martyrum.
The martyrdom of the Bishop
Fructuosus and his two deacons,
Augurius and Eulogius, Hispanic
protomartyrs, took place in the
amphitheater there in the year 259.
By faith, the martyrs
gave their lives, bearing
witness to the truth
of the Gospel that had
transformed them
and made them
capable of attaining
to the greatest gift of love:
the forgiveness of their
persecutors.
(BENEDICT XVI,
Apostolic Letter Porta Fidei, 13)
Martyrs in the center of the life of the Church
522 martyrs of the 20th century in Spain
4 515 Spanish martyrs, 3 French, 1 Cuban, 1 Colombian, 1 Filipino, 1 Portuguese.
4 3 bishops, 82 diocesan priests and seminarians, 15 hospital chaplains, 412 Religious, 7 laity.
4 Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Saints presided at the
celebration.
4 Attending were some 25,000 people, most of whom came on 340 buses.
4 Present were 104 bishops (8 cardinals), 1,400 priests, 2,800 religious, 4,000 families of the
Blessed.
4 The Press Center accredited 350 journalists.
4 The ceremony was seen by 1,800,000 people on TVE and 13TV.
4 800 volunteers helped with the organization.
4 With these beatified, the number of martyrs of the XX Century in Spain is 1,523 (11 have
been canonized).
2
SPECIAL EDITION • DECEMBER 2013
THE 23 BLESSED
CLARETIANS
The testimony of their death
“Long live Christ the King!” “Long live
the heart of Mary!”: through these
expressions, our brothers expressed their
faith, reaffirmed their faithfulness to their
vocation, and proclaimed their hope.
José María Ruiz Cano
Jesús Aníbal Gómez
Tomás Cordero
Abelardo García P.
Ángel López M.
Ángel Pérez M.
Antonio Lasa V.
Antonio Orrego F.
Cándido Catalán L.
Claudio López M.
Gabriel Barriopedro T.
Melecio Pardo L.
Otilio del Amo P.
Primitivo Berrocoso M.
Vicente Robles G.
Felipe González de H.
Frederic Vila Bartrolí
Antoni Vilamassana
Jaume Mir Vime
Antoni Capdevilla
Sebastià Balcells
Pau Castellà
Andreu F. Bartomeu
Faithful to the Covenant
In the heart of each one of the 23 martyrs
they found a strong movement of those
loves that made them brothers: the Word
of God, the Eucharist, the Heart of Mary,
our Fr. Founder, the Congregation,
and the mission.
They were absolutely not willing
to give up the vocation God had given
them and the pathway to follow it:
the Claretian missionary life.
They were faithful to the Covenant.
Many witnesses were impressed by the
way they surrendered their lives. Their
violent death, born from a trust in God
and forgiveness, was a powerful
proclamation of the hope in a “new
heaven and the new earth where justice
will dwell” (2 Pet 3:13) and of the way
leading to it.
Let’s keep their memory alive
“It is to be desired to keep alive in the
consciousness of the Church the memory
of so many witnesses to the faith as an
incentive for their celebration and
imitation.” (VC 86). I invite you to live the
grace of this beatification of our brothers
from three dimensions that are expressed
in three words: faithfulness, availability,
and fraternity.
Fr. JOSEP M. ABELLA, CMF,
Superior General,
in the Circular Letter on the occasion
of the beatification of the Martyrs.
SPECIAL EDITION • DECEMBER 2013
3
The martyrs are Christians won by Christ, disciples who have learned well the meaning of
“loving until the end” that led Jesus to the Cross. Christ showed us this “priority” of love;
the martyrs imitated him in love until the end.
(From the Message of POPE FRANCIS)
The Church, recapturing the tradition from the first centuries, cannot forget those who died for
the Lord and the Gospel. They wrote the book of the Truth signed with blood. They are those
who followed the Lord imitating him.
(Mons. JAuME PuJOL BALCELLS, Archbishop of Tarragona)
4
SPECIAL EDITION • DECEMBER 2013
522 martyrs, unarmed prophets of Christ's love. It is an extraordinary event of grace, which
removes all sadness and fills the Christian community with joy. These brothers and sisters
were not combatants. They were killed for the hatred of the faith, because they had Jesus as
their only treasure, more dear than life itself. They hated no one, they loved everyone.
(From the Homily of Cardinal ANGELO AMATO)
SPECIAL EDITION • DECEMBER 2013
5
The Archbishop of Tarragona
reads the petition of beatification
The martyrs offer the message of forgiveness and conversion of heart to goodness and mercy
Cardinal and Bishop concelebrants
6
The Postulator receives the Apostolic Letters
SPECIAL EDITION • DECEMBER 2013
Bishop Rubén González and Fr. Josep Abella, Sup. General
The joy of Colombia
Fathers Vicente P., Jorge M. Ayala and Mariano Martín
Students from Granada
Frs. Federico Gutiérrez and Julio Izquierdo,
postulants of Blessed José Mª Ruiz Cano
SPECIAL EDITION • DECEMBER 2013
7
In Tarso (Colombia) joy overflowed
And then came the expected day of the beatification of the
martyr Jesus Aníbal Gómez. In Tarso, the events began with the
morning star at 4:00 a.m. in the expectation of the beginning of
the celebration in Tarragona. The Eucharist, later on, was
presided over by Fr. Javier Pulgarín, Provincial Superior,
accompanied by Claretians from the missions of Medellín,
Manizales, and Cartagena. After the mass there was a pilgrimage
to El Paisaje farm, birthplace of the Blessed Jesús Aníbal.
Seville is excited and grateful
The Province of Betica celebrated its mass of
thanksgiving in the Seville Collegiate Church of
the Divine Savior. 1,500 Claretians from Spain
and Colombia, families of martyrs, friends and
devotees attended. Monsignor Juan José Asenjo,
Archbishop of Seville presided, accompanied by
Mons. Javier Travieso, CMF and Fr. Félix Jesús
Martinez Lozano, Provincial of Bética.
At the end of the Eucharist, more than 400
young ‘Claretians’, wearing t-shirts with the
motto. Love deserves Life traversed the
streets and plazas of Seville singing and
performing small acts.
In the evening, at the Claret sports complex, nearly
1,000 people enjoyed the Festival “Ponte a tiro por amor”
(for love offer your live). Situated in a railway station,
it tells the story of the martyrs of Fernán Caballero.
The thanksgiving celebration ended on Sunday
morning in the church where the remains of the
newly beatified repose. The prayer for the youth was
prepared by the Claretian students of Granada:
‘If then it was they who gave their lives, now it is up to the
youth of today’.
And in Vic, October 26th
Gathered together at the tomb of Fr. Claret, and before
the remains of the Blessed Frédéric Vila and Antoni
Capdevila, was a group of Claretians and relatives of
the newly Beatified. The celebration, presided over by
Fr. Maxim Muñoz, was deeply emotional:
“It is important to keep their memory alive and to do
everything possible to build the Congregation, the Church,
and the society that they dreamed of”.
Special edition of NUNC. (Nuntii de Universa Nostra Congregatione), Information Bulletin of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Claretians). Headquarters:
Via Sacro Cuore di Maria, 5 – 00197 Rome, Italy. (Tel. +39 06 809 100 11). Legal representative: Francesco Incampo, CMF. Director: Marcos Garnica, CMF. Design: Vicente
Pecharromán, CMF. English Translation: James Overend, CMF. Printer: Poker Print Color srl, Via Cosimo Tornabuoni, 29 – 00166 Roma. Printed in December 2013.