This February 26, sixteen more martyrs of the religious persecution perpetrated by the communist faction during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) will be beatified at the cathedral of Granada, Spain. They include 14 priests, one seminarian, and one layman.
Among the priests is Fr. Cayetano Giménez Martínez, who, according to the Archdiocese of Granada, was “devout, austere, and charitable,” as well as a “good, wise, humble, and prudent minister of the Lord.” The description adds that Father Cayetano was “an elderly man of peaceful and venerable aspect” and “a man of peace.” His parishioners saw in him a servant of God “passionate about the Eucharist,” since he spent “long moments of adoration before the tabernacle.”
On July 23, 1936, when the civil war broke out, he had the opportunity to flee in a truck, but chose to stay at the parish. The church was quickly burned down, and the priest had to hide in the house of a doctor friend, where he was eventually discovered.
Imprisoned for three days, he was taken with six other people to the cemetery in the town of Loja, in Granada, where the group was to be shot. There, facing death, he asked his executioners to kill him last, so he could give absolution to each of his companions immediately before their death.
Like the Mexican Cristeros, who were also persecuted and murdered as a result of hatred for their faith, Fr. Cayetano Giménez Martínez was martyred shouting, “Long live Christ the King!”
The records of his cause for beatification note that his bravery did not go unnoticed by the murderers, who recognized “the courage that the old man had.”
Fr. Cayetano’s remains rest, unidentified, in the cemetery of Loja. He was martyred at the age of 69.
The motto of the beatification of this group of martyrs of communist hatred against the Catholic faith is: “Your Grace is worth more than life.”
And today we celebrate...