He was arrested on July 20, 1936, and held captive in Baeza, southern Spain. He was killed on Sept. 3, 1936.
Aquilino Pastor Cambero was born on Jan. 4, 1911, in Zarza de Granadilla, Extremadura. He joined the Fraternity of Diocesan Worker Priests in 1934 and was ordained to the priesthood on Aug. 25, 1935.
He served in Baeza as a prefect of students. As the civil war raged, he hid with Manuel Galcerá Videllet at a residence in Baeza, but was captured with him and taken to the city’s jail. He was taken out of the city on Aug. 28, 1936, and killed.
Millán Garde Serrano was born on Dec. 21, 1876, in Vara del Rey, Castilla–La Mancha. He was ordained on Dec. 21, 1901, and joined the Fraternity of Diocesan Worker priests in 1903.
He served in the seminaries of Badajoz, Valladolid, Salamanca, Astorga, Plasencia, and León.
Following the outbreak of war, he exercised his ministry clandestinely. On April 10, 1938, he was captured and denounced. He was imprisoned and severely tortured in Cuenca.
He was transferred to a Discalced Carmelite monastery, converted into a prison, where he died on the night of July 7, 1938, as a result of the torture.
Pope Francis asked for a round of applause for the new blesseds at his Angelus address on Oct. 31.
He said: “Yesterday in Tortosa, Spain, Francesco Sojo López, Millán Garde Serrano, Manuel Galcerá Videllet and Aquilino Pastor Cambero, priests of the Fraternity of Diocesan Worker Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, were beatified. All of them were killed in hatred of the faith.”
“Zealous and generous pastors during the religious persecution of the 1930s, they remained faithful to their ministry even at the risk of their lives. May their witness be a model especially for priests.”
Cardinal Semeraro announced that the new martyrs’ feast day would be Oct. 25, reported ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.
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Concluding his homily in Tortosa Cathedral, the cardinal said: “Considering the martyrdom of these blessed, some words of St. John Paul II come to mind: ‘Martyrdom is the definitive and radical test, the greatest test of man, the test of man’s dignity in the presence of God himself. It is “the” trial of man that takes place in the eyes of God, a trial in which man, aided by the power of God, brings victory.’”
Semeraro continued: “‘Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it,’ Jesus told us. And so it is. In Christ, life is never lost; on the contrary, it is found, because he is Life. What is more, as he said in dialogue with Martha, he is not only life, but also resurrection.”
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