Catholics martyred in World War II, Spanish Civil War beatified

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, Archbishop of Luxembourg, presided at the Mass of beatification of Raymond Cayré, diocesan priest; Gérard-Martin Cendrier, religious of the Order of Friars Minor; Roger Vallée, seminarian; Jean Mestre, layman, and 46 of their companions.

They were among three different groups of martyrs, nearly 200 in total, who were beatified in celebrations in the Cathedral of Jaen, in Spain, and in Paris on the same day.

The majority of the Catholics beatified at the Mass in Paris came from the Young Christian Workers and died primarily in concentration camps where they had been sent because of their apostolate – an activity prohibited by the Hitler regime.

They were part of the “Mission Saint Paul”, a form of clandestine chaplaincy set up by French bishops to provide spiritual assistance to young people requisitioned for the Compulsory Labour Service, which involved at least 600,000 workers.

That scheme was introduced on February 16, 1943, by the Vichy Regime to send a large number of French citizens to work in Germany and fill the places of Germans engaged at the front.

Many priests, religious and lay people belonging to Catholic associations covertly followed French workers sent to German territory to provide them with moral and spiritual support. As a result, they were arrested for subversive activity against the Third Reich, tortured and put to death mainly in the concentration camps of Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Dachau or Neuengamme.

Most died there, while others lost their lives due to the suffering they endured.

At the Cathedral in Jaen, 124 martyrs of the Spanish Civil War were beatified in a celebration presided over by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

The beatifications celebrated in Spain concerned the martyrdoms of diocesan priest Manuel Izquierdo Izquierdo and 58 companions; and the martyrdoms of his colleague Antonio Montañés Chiquero and 64 associates, all killed between 1936 and 1937. The two groups were the subject of separate causes for canonisation.

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50 Catholics martyred by the Nazis beatified in France (By Pierfrancesco Loreto/Vatican News)