Since 2010, November 6 has been a day of remembrance for the martyrs of the 20th century in Spain. This date is dedicated to all those who died defending their faith in this country during the 1930s. Although the exact number of the deceased is unknown, since 1987 2,128 martyrs have been beatified, recognized by the Church on the basis of credible testimonies that they died for the faith.
Among them are our 25 martyred Sisters, killed for their commitment to the faith in different communities in Spain in 1936.
In the work “Witnesses of Faith”, Sister Yolanda Moreno presents all the murdered sisters, the communities in which they lived their mission, and how the martyrdom occurred. It is a moving and highly recommended read, available for download from our library.
Today we are also happy to share the new translations of this work, also available in our library:
- in English under the title “Witnesses of the Faith”.
- in French under the title “Témoins de la foi”.
We also have a few words that the author herself, Yolanda Moreno, wanted to share with us on this special date.
1931: The Republic was proclaimed; the military orders of Calatrava and Montesa were dissolved. Montesa.
1934: Asturias suffers direct aggressions against the Church to the point of proving abundant martyrs.
1936: Alarming correspondence between the Vedruna Communities and Sister General, Apolonia Lizarraga: … some of our schools are being closed; sisters are forced to leave their community houses; the assassination of Calvo Sotelo produces consternation throughout Spain….
Signed, Apolonia Lizarraga.
Martyr, does it not mean, “witness”, and martyrdom, “testimony”? Witness of what, of whom? As Jesus is a witness of the Father, the Christian martyr is the person who becomes a witness of the Good News, of the Gospel, of Jesus….
We officially consider martyrs, we give the appellative of martyr, to those who have been unjustly and violently executed for the Name of Jesus, for the Name of God, in a given situation.
However, except in exceptional cases in which, perhaps, the power of the Spirit can awaken and excite the passion for God, at that critical moment, apart from its vital process, is this spontaneous response considered martyrdom, if it is not supported by the experience of life?
Concretely, the process that we know of our 25 martyr sisters, -on the Spanish Mediterranean coast-, the light they offer us, the testimony they give us, their experience of surrender of life, their testimony of martyrdom, when did it happen, those days of August-November 1936? Only them and for that tragic circumstance?
Witness, that witness, is possible only through love.
But love is not a feeling. Love is to know, to intuit, to welcome, to embrace the object of love. It is relationship, it is freedom, it is a kind response in trust and faith.
It is from this -which we can now call love- that our life becomes a witness to the extent that it identifies itself with the Gospel, with the Good News of Jesus, and with Him, of the Father.
Each person, in his works, according to Jas. 2:14-18, knows how bloody is his experience of love, of surrendering his life in freedom, with the violence that circumstances demand.
Our life, in its process of giving ourselves freely, with the joyful guarantee of the pain that identifies us with Jesus, is it not being, equivalently, a testimony of the Good News, even if it does not involve the shedding of blood?
Those of us who are trying to live seriously the Gospel of Jesus are in this process.
So, could we be living a martyrdom process? From me, I cannot and would not have dared to think about it, although, from this reflection, I am starting to think about it.
But beware of the illusion of thinking of myself in a personal process of this magnitude!
However: if I refer to it, if I sense it, if I caress it in the experience of my sisters, of my brothers… If I recognize it in their real and spontaneous dedication, in their sincerity of life, in their experience of compassion with their neighbor, in the inevitability of their defects and relapses, in their patience with their temper or their deviations, in the frustration perhaps of their setbacks… will I not look at it full of affection, of sincere and deep compassion, in the light of my weak process?
How fraternal love would grow in me, among us, in our Christian life, where “love is not sentiment”, but something similar to the love with which I feel looked at by God when He tells me by (Jeremiah 31, 3.18-20:)
… but I remember you always full of affection: my heart trembles for you, I am full of tenderness… I will change your anguish into deep peace, your sadness into dance…
If I were to love in this way, would I not also be in the joy of giving my life, in the violent process of the testimony of love?
Yolanda Moreno, CCV
