Marianist Martyrs of Ciudad Real
Yesterday we celebrated the martyrdom of three Marianists. Blessed Carlos was born in Spain on November 2, 1884. He and his two companions, Blessed Fidel and Blessed Jesus were imprisoned in hatred of the faith in 1936 in Cuidad Real.
All were devoted to teaching and to the Marianist charism of Blessed William Joseph Chaminade. The three met in Ciudad Real in the summer of 1936 and suffered separate martyrdom.
When his school, the prestigious "Collegio Nuestra Señora del Pilar", was requisitioned, he felt hunted in Madrid and made a dangerous journey to Ciudad Real to seek help from his former students. Sadly, he found the two schools there had already been requisitioned and the communities scattered. "It will be as God wishes", he would say, as he calmly visited his confreres, without concealing his religious status. He was executed at dawn on September 18, 1936. His companions, Fidel and Jesus were martyred shortly afterwards.
