Leo XIV authorized the promulgation of decrees relating to the beatification of nine seminarians, a priest and a layman, martyrs of the Spanish Civil War of the last century, and an Argentine family man, Enrique Ernesto Shaw, a businessman committed to several ecclesiastical works. Also venerable from today are Brother Berardo Atonna and Sister Domenica Caterina dello Spirito Santo, both Italians, and Joseph Panjikaran, an Indian priest.
Tiziana Campisi – Vatican City
Pope Leo died in 1962, and three new Venerables — two Italians, Brother Berardo Atonna and Sister Domenica Caterina dello Spirito Santo, and an Indian, Joseph Panjikaran, priest — who had their heroic virtues recognized.
The Spanish martyrs
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There are eleven Spanish martyrs, killed between 1936 and 1937 during the violent anti-Christian persecution of that period in Spain, in the territory of the current dioceses of Madrid, Getafe and Alcalá de Henares.
Seminarian Ignacio Aláez Vaquero, imprisoned for refusing to enlist in the army and preferring to study to become a priest, was killed along with his father on November 9, 1936. Like his father, the martyrdoms of Pablo Chomón Pardo, seminarian, and his uncle, Father Julio Pardo Pernía, chaplain of the Hospitaller Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Ciempozuelos, died on August 8, 1936. 1936; Antonio Moralejo Fernández-Shaw, seminarian, and Father Liberato Moralejo Juan, who allowed himself to be arrested to defend his son, and ended up being killed along with him; and also the seminarians Jesús Sánchez Fernández-Yáñez, Miguel Talavera Sevilla, Ángel Trapero Sánchez-Real, Cástor Zarco García — who was forced to enlist as a reservist and denounced by some comrades for his behavior considered benevolent, was murdered after suffering several humiliations and being forced to dig his own grave; Mariano Arrizabalaga Español and Ramón Ruiz Pérez, who was tortured along with about twenty lay people, arrested and killed with them.
They were all murdered out of hatred for the faith: their martyrdom was part of the anti-Catholic climate of that period in Spain. Ample documentation demonstrates the clear willingness of seminarians to give their lives for God, aware of the anti-Christian hatred unleashed against members of the Church. Having remained close to his family and friends, without hiding, despite the danger, his fame for martyrdom spread quickly and persists to this day.
Enrique Ernesto Shaw
Enrique Ernesto Shaw, born in Paris on February 26, 1921, will also be blessed. He later moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, his family’s homeland. A young man with an unshakable Catholic faith, he joined the Navy and, during long periods at sea, gave catechetical lectures to sailors. Called to work in the family business, he dedicated himself to implementing the principles of the Church’s Social Doctrine in the business world, establishing a fraternal relationship of collaboration with all his employees.
He married Cecilia Bunge, with whom he had nine children; He joined Catholic Action and the Christian Family Movement, promoting several other associations linked to the world of work and publishing conferences, articles and essays. In 1961, he was named president of the Men of Catholic Action.
He died of cancer on August 27, 1961. His intercession was responsible for the miraculous healing of a five-year-old boy, who was hit in the back of the head by a horse’s kick on a farm near Buenos Aires, on June 21, 2015. The child’s severe head and brain trauma was confirmed, and he underwent several surgeries. On July 15, doctors were surprised to find that his ventricular system had returned to normal size. In 2019, the child was examined by two specialists who considered him to be in good health, with no significant neurological sequelae. Today, she leads a normal life.
Frei Berardo Atonna
Brother Berardo Atonna, in the Giuseppe century, is Venerable from today onwards. He was born on July 1, 1843, in Episcopio di Sarno, in the province of Salerno, the eldest of five children. He joined the Order of Friars Minor Alcantarinos at the convent of Santa Lucia al Monte, in Naples. Ordained a priest on February 18, 1866, he dedicated himself to popular missions in Campania, Lazio, Umbria and Apulia, holding various positions and demonstrating great fervor in religious life.
He met several personalities with whom he established a fruitful spiritual understanding, including Saint Bartolo Longo, Saint Maria Cristina Brando and Blessed Serafina Micheli. He was spiritual director of Antonietta Fiorillo, founder of a charity institution in Naples, “Villa Fiorillo”, for elderly women, which later began to welcome young orphans. Brother Berardo supervised the spiritual direction of the institution, but was the target of false accusations and denunciations, of which he was later cleared. He passed away on March 4, 1917. His spiritual life was intense, oriented towards a strong Christocentric and Marian dimension, nourished by prayer. He was particularly devoted to Saint Joseph and his life was inspired by Christian hope, which gave him confidence in divine mercy and serenity in times of difficulty. He was always concerned about alleviating the suffering of the poor, the sick and the vulnerable, in whom he saw the face of Christ. He lived in poverty, practicing charity with the little he had, encouraging the rich to be generous with those most in need.
Catherine of the Holy Spirit Sunday
A native of the small Ligurian town of Ne, near Chiavari, Domenica Caterina dello Spirito Santo, known as Teresa Solari, was born in December 1822. Having lost her mother at a young age, she spent the first part of her life in very difficult circumstances, which exposed her to various illnesses and resulted in numerous and prolonged hospital stays. In 1855, he befriended another young patient, Antonietta Cervetto, with whom he began charitable work in 1863, providing moral and material assistance to poor girls. This work, under the spiritual guidance of the Dominican priest Vincenzo Vera, became the “Little House of Divine Providence”, and on June 4, 1870, Teresa received the habit of the new community, adopting the name Sister Domenica Caterina dello Spirito Santo. Later, to ensure the Dominican direction of the Institute, the nuns requested official affiliation with the Order of Preachers, which occurred after the death of Sister Domenica Caterina on May 7, 1908, in Genoa. She demonstrated a simple and intense faith, fueled by prayer and guided by a deep Marian devotion. It was the poverty she experienced early in life that led her to assist and help young women in need.
Joseph Registration
Also Venerable Joseph Panjikaran. He was born on September 10, 1888, in Uzhuva, in the State of Kerala, India, into a large aristocratic family belonging to the Syro-Malabar Christian community. He lived his priestly mission among the poor and marginalized in a society rigidly defined by caste divisions. After entering the seminary, he was ordained a priest on December 21, 1918 and, after holding various positions, in 1924 he was sent to Rome to direct the Syro-Malabar section of the Universal Missionary Exhibition organized for the Holy Year of 1925. Upon returning to India, he worked on the construction of the Dharmagiri Hospital (Mount of Charity) in Kothamangalam, for the free care of the poor. He founded the Congregation of the Medical Sisters of Saint Joseph to manage the hospital. He passed away on November 4, 1949. He faced the many difficulties encountered in his mission with great faith and generosity.
