In November 2012, the Spanish Bishops' Conference set the date for the beatification of additional Spanish martyrs of the 20th century. The beatification will take place on October 13, 2013, in Tarragona, Spain. Among the group of martyrs is also P. Alberto Marco Alemán, O.Carm. with eight brothers from the Castilian province and P. Carmel Maria Moyano, O.Carm. with nine fellow brothers from the Betica province.
The Spanish Civil War lasted from July 17, 1936, to April 1, 1939. Especially in the early months, individual priests and entire religious communities were murdered by groups of communists and anarchists. At that time, society did not value priests and religious very much, and the government tried to suppress religion. During the war, 13 bishops, 4,172 diocesan priests and seminarians, 2,364 religious brothers, and 283 religious sisters died; a total of 6,832 victims. In addition to bishops, priests, and religious being murdered, churches were also destroyed and sacred places desecrated.
Among the murdered were also P. Alberto Maria Marco Alemán, the superior of the Carmelite house in Ayala in Madrid, and his eight fellow brothers from the El Carmen monastery in Onda in Castile. In the first week of the war, on July 20, 1936, the brothers in the Ayla monastery were warned by phone that their monastery was to be attacked. P. Alberto urged everyone to surrender to God's will and to dress in civilian clothes. He managed to hide the brothers in friendly families and conceal the monastery documents.
P. Alberto was hiding with the Aquiler sisters, who lived with their servant. His hiding place was discovered—most likely by a neighbor—and the soldiers imprisoned him and all three women. The women were later released, but P. Alberto was promised release only on the condition that he renounce his religious state. He refused that outright.
In prison, P. Alberto was a friend to everyone. He heard confessions, encouraged, and prayed the rosary with others. On November 23, 1936, his health suddenly deteriorated, and he was sent on what was called a night transport, which—as everyone knew—was equivalent to a death sentence. P. Alberto said goodbye to all the fellow prisoners. To his closest friend Jesus Sanchez, he simply said, “Farewell forever, and pray for me... let God's will be done, goodbye.”
No one came forward who was personally present at the execution of P. Alberto, but his night "transfer" effectively marks the end of his story. His brother Luis and friend Jesus Sanchez tried to find his body, but in a mass grave of 17,000 people, this was not possible.
Another 8 martyrs were students from the Carmelite monastery in Onda in Castile. On July 24, 1936, during a public novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, they were interrupted and ordered to end the prayer. They obeyed and continued their prayers behind closed doors. On July 26, the red guards poured gasoline on the monastery doors and attempted to set the monastery on fire. On July 27, at five o'clock in the afternoon, a large group of soldiers stormed the monastery and ordered that it be vacated within an hour. One student managed to escape through the back entrance, the shot from a soldier missed him. The other 21 received the Eucharist and sang Salve Regina. Dressed in civilian clothes, they were then transported by train about 80 km away to Valencia.
Although they were given a pass that was supposed to protect them, at every station they were threatened by groups of soldiers and shot at. During the journey, some students managed to escape, and only 12 arrived in Madrid. There, the soldiers took them to a social assistance center for beggars and the homeless. Two of the students had families in Madrid, and they were allowed to stay with them, thus surviving the war. One brother, Isidoro Garrido, somehow separated from the group, found his aunt in Madrid by some miracle, whose address he did not know, and spent the rest of the war with her.
After eight days in the social center, the remaining 8 brothers were transferred to the Institute for the Blind in Carabanchel Bajo. They stayed there for only four days, but they made a strong impression on the residents: they later testified about their love and desire to serve them.
On August 17 at midnight, the brothers were taken to a nearby cemetery and shot. Their bodies were left at the site. The next morning a passing woman noticed that one of the youngest was not dead but was trying to crawl away. Evidence suggests that it was Br. Bartholomè Maria, who was 19 years old. She told one of the soldiers, who ended his suffering with a fatal shot.
All day long the bodies of the brothers remained at the site for everyone to see. Then a doctor was called to issue their death certificates. Afterward, their bodies were stripped of their clothes. They remained lying naked until a command came for them to be buried in two graves in the same cemetery together with two other men who had been executed. In 1950, their bodies were found and transferred to the Carmelite Marian shrine in El Henar, where they were buried in the monastery's crypt.
Another group of Carmelite martyrs includes P. Carmelo Maria Moyano Linares and nine fellow brothers from the monasteries in Hinojosa del Duque and Montoro, in the Betica province. P. Carmelo Maria Moyano Linares, the provincial of this province, was killed on September 23, 1936. Before that, P. José Maria González Delgado was killed on July 27, 1936, and on August 14, 1936, brothers Eliseo Maria Carmargo Montes, José Luis Maria Ruíz Cardeñosa, Antonio Maria Martín Povea, and postulant Pedro Velasco Narbona were killed. In Montoro, brothers José María Mateos Carbadillo, P. Eliseo Maria Durán Cintas, brother Jaime Maria Carretero Rojas, and brother Ramón Maria Pérez Sousa died on July 22, 1936.
The aforementioned beatified martyrs will join a group of seventeen other Spanish Carmelite martyrs of the 20th century who were beatified on October 28, 2007. We recall that these were 12 Carmelites belonging to the community in Tarrego: P. Ángel Maria Prat Hostench, prior; P. Eliseo Maria Maneus Besalduch, novicemaster; P. Anastasio Maria Dorca Coramina from the community in Olot, who preached in Tarrego on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel; P. Eduardo Maria Serrano Buj, professor; brothers Pedro Maria Ferrer Marin, Andrés Maria Solé Rovina, Juan Maria Puigmitjà Rubió, Miguel Maria Soler Sala, and Pedro-Tomás Maria Prat Colledecarrara, philosophy students; lay brother Eliseo Maria Fontdecaba Quiroga and novices Elías Maria Garre Egea and José Maria Escoto Ruíz. They were arrested on July 28, 1936, at the Tarreze station, transported to Clots dels Aubens in Cervera, and shot the morning of July 29. During the execution, they called upon the name of Jesus and the name of Our Lady of Carmel.
On the night of August 13, 1936, Sr. Marie of St. Joseph Badía Flaquer, a cloistered nun, was also arrested in Vic, Barcelona, and was killed that same night while defending her purity.
Br. Eufrosino Maria Raga Nadal, a subdeacon and member of the community in Olot, was killed on October 3 of the same year.
Brothers Ludovico Maria Ayet Canós and Angel Maria Presta Batlle, Carmelites from the community in Terrassa (Barcelona) were arrested on July 21, 1936, and imprisoned in Modelo in Barcelona. On August 13, 1936, they were shot in the cemetery in Terrassa.
The superior of the community in Olot, P. Fernando Maria Llobera Puigsech, was killed in a ditch in Santa Elena de Montjuic (Barcelona) after a short trial just for being a religious man.
