International Dominican Information

Contents:

• MARTYRS OF THE 20TH CENTURY IN SPAIN
• BENEDICT XVI
• HOMILY OF CARDINAL JOSÉ SARAIVA MARTINS
• NEW SOCIUS FOR THE PROVINCES OF THE IBERIAN PENINSULA
• FEAST OF THE BEATIFICATION OF OUR MARTYRS
• HOMILY BY BRO CARLOS A.AZPIROZ COSTA OP
• THE DOMINICAN FAMILY CELEBRATES THE MARTYRS OF THE XX CENTURY
• NEW SOCIUS FOR THE PROVINCES OF ITALY AND MALTA
• WHO ARE THESE AND WHERE DID THEY COME FROM? (REV 7, 13)
• HOMILY BY CARDINAL TARCISIO BERTONE
• MARTYRS LINK LOUISIANA WITH SPAIN
• B. BONAVENTURE GARCÍA PAREDES
• 800 YEARS!
• LETTER OF THE MASTER OF THE ORDER BRO BUENAVENTURA GARCÍA DE PAREDES O.P. TO THE SISTERS

The Master of the Order Bro Carlos A. Azpiroz Costa op, wishes each and every member of the Dominican family abundant blessings from heaven for Christmas and the New Year. May we be attentive hearers of the Good News and bearers of Joy and Peace.

MARTYRS OF THE 20TH CENTURY IN SPAIN

The beatification of 498 martyrs of the 20th century in Spain was held in Rome, on October 28, 2007. Seventy four of them belonged to the Dominican Family. For this reason, there were many pilgrims who went to Rome in order to take part in the different activities prepared for the occasion. Many faithful coming from the different regions of Spain and from other parts of the world gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

I wished to keep reflecting on what was celebrated, going beyond the genuine emotion that such an event arouses in those taking part and in the spectators who followed the celebration through the means of communication. I could not but notice the dignity and respect with which the greater part of the audience participated in these activities. Brothers and sisters of some of the beatified are still alive, as also many other close members of the family. The Spanish dioceses were represented through the participation of many bishops and with the presence of many faithful. The different religious families were represented by a large number of their members.

Animated by the faith we profess, we want to understand the meaning of the martyrdom of the beatified. The experience of faith allows us to discover some nuances in the reflection: inherent to their confession is the necessary call for fidelity. On many occasions, even the first Christians were faced with the violent incomprehension of some of their contemporaries and also with the demands made by their faith.

On the other hand, we should not forget that yesterday’s and today’s martyrs are still loved by many people. Because of the historical proximity of the death of the martyrs that were just beatified, we can still testify to their youth and their constructive spirit. Some of them were especially loved and appreciated not only by their family but also by those with whom they worked and whom they served.

Who can deny today that the laying of one’s life, be he a believer or not, because of social commitment, for education, health, spiritual consolation or in order to make better the socio-economic and working conditions of the moment, is a value that has to be acknowledged and for which one has to be grateful? Well! The martyrs who were beatified stood out for having given their lives for the above-mentioned causes and for others that are not less valuable.

In some social sectors of the country, the coinciding socio-political circumstances made it difficult to establish whether the beatification was opportune or not. It is true, not all those who are here, are; and not all those who are, are here! Because of the tragedy of our history, we know that many were the victims in the different sectors of society. The different tendencies in the country suffered the horror of fratricidal war, the revenge between victors and the defeated, and the trail of accumulated hatred which has not yet been cured in our days.

To cure the wounds of our history is not the same as to forget them. We need to keep on making memory, not in order to keep scratching the wounds, neither in order to provoke revenge, but rather to bring about justice. The victims deserve it. In their memory, justice is done. In Christian living we acquire our own language in this respect: we speak of justice that reconciles. The value of their lives goes beyond the tragic circumstances of their death.

Jesús Dias Sariego op

ORIGINAL: SPANISH

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BENEDICT XVI
ANGELUS - St. Peter’s Square, Sunday, 28 October 2007

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This morning, here in St Peter’s Square, 498 Martyrs killed in Spain in the 1930s have been beatified. I thank Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, who has presided at the celebration, and I address my cordial greeting to the pilgrims gathered here for this happy event. Today’s addition to the roll of Blesseds of such a large number of Martyrs shows that the supreme witness of blood is not an exception reserved for only a few individuals, but a realistic possibility for the entire Christian People. Indeed, they are men and women of different ages, vocations and social classes who paid with their lives for their faithfulness to Christ and his Church. St Paul’s words which resounded in this Sunday’s liturgy can be well applied to them: «I for my part am already being poured out like a libation», he writes to the Apostle Timothy. «The time of my dissolution is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith» (II Tm 4: 6-7). Paul, in prison in Rome, saw death approaching and sketched an evaluation full of recognition and hope. He was at peace with God and with himself and faced death serenely, in the knowledge that he had spent his whole life, sparing no effort, at the service of the Gospel.

The month of October, dedicated in a special way to missionary commitment, thus ends with the shining witness of the Spanish Martyrs, who come in addition to the Martyrs Albertina Berkenbrock, Emmanuel Gómez Gonzàlez and Adílio Daronch, and Franz Jägerstätter, beatified a few days ago in Brazil and in Austria. Their example testifies that Baptism
commits Christians to participating courageously in the spreading of the Kingdom of God, if need be cooperating with the sacrifice of life itself. Of course, not everyone is called to martyrdom by bloodshed. In fact, there is a non-bloody «martyrdom» which is equally significant, such as that of Celina Chludziñska Borzêcka, wife, mother of a family, widow and Religious, who was beatified yesterday in Rome: this is the silent and heroic witness of so many Christians who live the Gospel without compromise, doing their duty and dedicating themselves generously to the service of the poor. This martyrdom of ordinary life constitutes a particularly important witness in the secularized society of our time. It is the peaceful battle of love which every Christian, like Paul, must fight without flagging: the race to spread the Gospel that involves us until our death. May the Virgin Mary, Queen of Martyrs and Star of Evangelization, help us in our daily witness.

© Copyright 2007 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

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BEATIFICATION OF 498 MARTYRS WHO DIED DURING THE RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN SPAIN
HOMILY OF CARDINAL JOSÉ SARAIVA MARTINS

1. Charged by Pope Benedict XVI to act as his Delegate, I have had the pleasant task of making public the Document through which the Holy Father proclaims blessed 498 Martyrs who poured out their blood for the faith during the religious persecution in Spain in 1934, 1936 and 1937. These Martyrs include Bishops, priests, men and women religious and faithful of both sexes. Three were 16 years old and the oldest was 78.

Until their martyrdom, this large group of Blesseds expressed their love for Jesus Christ, their fidelity to the Catholic Church and their intercession with God for the whole world.

Before dying, they forgave those who persecuted them - and even prayed for them -, as was recorded in the causes for their Beatification introduced in the Archdioceses of Barcelona, Burgos, Madrid, Mérida-Badajoz, Oviedo, Seville and Toledo, and in the Dioceses of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Gerona, Jaén, Málaga and Santander.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms: «Martyrdom is the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith» (n. 2473). Indeed, following Jesus also means following him in suffering and accepting persecution for love of the Gospel (cf. Mt 24: 8-14; Mk 13: 9-13; Lk 21: 12-19): «And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake» (Mk 13: 13; cf. Jn 15: St. Peter’s Square, Sunday, 28 ottobre 2007 21). Christ anticipated that our lives would be bound to his own destiny.

2. The logo of this Beatification, which is of historical importance because of the very large number of new Blesseds, has as its central theme a cross that is red, the symbol of love taken to the point of pouring out blood for Christ.

The cross is flanked by a stylized palm branch which intentionally resembles tongues of fire, in which we see symbolized the victory of the Martyrs who with their faith conquer the world (cf. I Jn 1: 4), as well as the flames of the Holy Spirit that came to rest on the Apostles on the Day of Pentecost, and likewise the burning bush that was not consumed by the flames (cf. Ex 3: 1-6), where God appeared to Moses in the Exodus account and is an expression of his very being: the Love that is given and
is never extinguished.

These symbols are framed by a circular caption which calls to mind a map of the world: «Beatificacíon Mártires de España [Beatification Martyrs of Spain]. The caption says «Martyrs of Spain» and not «Spanish Martyrs» because Spain was the site of their martyrdom and the homeland of many of them, but there were also some who came from other nations, in fact, from France, Mexico and Cuba.

In any case, martyrs are not the exclusive patrimony of a single diocese or nation. Rather, because of their special participation in the Cross of Christ, Redeemer of the Universe, they belong to the whole world, to the universal Church.

A saying of the Lord from the Gospel according to Matthew was chosen as the motto for this Beatification: «You are the light of the world» (Mt 5: 14). As the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, declares in the opening line: «Christ is the light of humanity» (n. 1); this light is reflected in the face of the Church down the centuries.

Today, it shines in a special way in the Martyrs whose memory we are celebrating.

Jesus Christ is the light of the world (cf. Jn 1: 5-9) that enlightens our minds, so that in recognizing the truth we may live in accordance with our dignity as human beings and children of God.

Thus, we too, transformed into the light of the world, may enlighten all people with the witness of a life lived in total consistency with the faith we profess.

3. «I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith» (II Tm 4: 7). This is what St Paul, already nearing the end of his life, wrote in the text of the Second Reading for this Sunday. With their death, these Martyrs made St Paul’s same convictions come true.

The Martyrs did not win glory for themselves alone. Their blood that soaked into the ground became a source of fertility and abundant fruit.

The Holy Father John Paul II expressed this in one of his Messages, inviting us to cherish the memory of Martyrs: «If we forget the Christians who sacrificed their lives to strengthen the faith, the present time with its projects and ideals would lose a precious element, since the great human and religious values would no longer be comforted by a concrete witness integrated into history» (Message to Cardinal Paul Poupard, 6 November 2003, n. 2; L’Osservatore Romano English edition, 3 December, p. 5).

We cannot be content with only celebrating the memory of Martyrs, admiring their example as we trudge wearily on in our own lives. What message do the Martyrs offer to each one of us present here?

We are living in an age when the true identity of Christians is constantly threatened. This means either that they are «martyrs», that is to say, they adhere consistently to their baptismal faith, or that they are obliged to make compromises.

Since Christian life is a daily personal confession of faith in the Son of God made man, this consistency may in some cases even require Christians to pour out their blood.

But just as one Christian’s life given in defence of the faith has the effect of strengthening the whole Church, the act of proposing the example of the Martyrs means remembering that holiness does not only consist in the reaffirmation of values common to all but in personal adherence to Christ the Saviour of the cosmos and of history. Martyrdom is a paradigm of this truth based on Pentecost.

Personal confession of the faith makes us take another step. It enables us to discover a strong bond between the conscience and martyrdom.

«The profound sense of the witness of the martyrs», as the then Cardinal Ratzinger wrote, lies in the fact that «they witness to man’s capacity for truth as a limit to all power and a guarantee of his divine likeness. It is precisely in this sense that Martyrs are the great witnesses of the conscience, of the human ability itself to perceive, over and above power, also duty, and therefore, to pave the way to true progress, to true ascesis» (J. Ratzinger, Elogio della coscienza, Rome, 16 March 1991, p. 89).

4. The Martyrs who are inscribed in the Roll of the Blesseds today behaved as good Christians, and when the moment came, they did not hesitate to offer their lives with the cry on their lips: «Long live Jesus Christ!».

To the men and women of our day they say aloud that we are all called to holiness, all of us without exception, as the Second Vatican Council solemnly declared in dedicating a chapter of its most important Document - chapter V of the Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium - «The call to holiness».

God created and redeemed us so that we might be saints! We cannot be satisfied with a lukewarm Christian life.

Nor can Christian life be reduced merely to a few individuals and isolated acts of piety: it must embrace every moment of our days on this earth.

Jesus Christ must be present in the faithful fulfilment of our ordinary daily duties, interwoven with details that seem small and unimportant, but these tasks acquire importance and supernatural grandeur when they are done out of love for God.

The Martyrs scaled the peak of heroism in the battle in which they gave their lives for Christ. The heroism to which God calls us is hidden in the thousand skirmishes of our life each day.

We must be convinced that our holiness - this holiness, let us have no doubt about it, to which God calls us - consists in achieving what John Paul II called the «high standard of ordinary Christian living» (Novo Millennio Ineunte, n. 31).

The message of the Martyrs is a message of faith and love. We must examine ourselves courageously and make practical resolutions to discover whether this faith and this love are expressed heroically in our own lives; heroism also of faith and love in our action, as people inserted into history like the leaven that causes dough to rise properly.

Faith, Benedict XVI tells us, helps to purify reason so that it may succeed in perceiving the truth.

Being consistent Christians therefore obliges us not to feel inhibited as we face the duty to contribute to the common good and always to shape society in accordance with justice, defending - in a dialogue modelled by love - our convictions on the dignity of the person, on life from conception to natural death, on the family founded on the one indissoluble matrimonial union of a man and a woman, on the parent’s primary right and duty to decide on the education of their children, and on other matters that arise in the daily life of the society in which we live.

Let us conclude, united with the Holy Father Benedict XVI and the universal Church alive on all five continents, by invoking the intercession of the Martyrs beatified today and by turning with trust to Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs so that, on fire with a burning desire for holiness, we may follow their example.

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/csaints/index.htm

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NEW SOCIUS FOR THE PROVINCES OF THE IBERIAN PENINSULA

On October 28, 2007, Bro Carlos A. Azpiroz Costa op, Master of the Order, named Bro Antonio García Lozano op Socius for the Provinces of the Iberian Peninsula, namely those of Spain and Portugal.

Bro Antonio belongs to the Province of Aragon, Spain. He was born in Fuentelespino de Moya (Cuenca), Spain on May 19, 1950. He made his first profession in the Order of Preachers on October 17, 1967 and was ordained priest on March 30, 1974. At the time of his nomination he was assigned to the convent of St. Vincent Ferrer in Valencia, Spain.

ORIGINAL: ENGLISH

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FEAST OF THE BEATIFICATION OF OUR MARTYRS
INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND VESPERS IN S. SABINA 28.10.2007

We wish to thank the gift of the beatification that the Church gave today to our Dominican Family. This is a good moment in which to give free flow to the many sentiments that have flooded our hearts during the celebration held in St. Peter’s Square. The names of those who head the 23 Causes of martyrdom that started many years ago and reached a happy end resounded there.

Four of these Causes belong to us in a special way. One is headed by the former Master of the Order, Blessed Buenaventura García Paredes, 78th successor of Saint Dominic and first Superior General to be beatified as a martyr. In this Cause, which started in the basilica of the Atocha in Madrid in 1961, includes a group of 26 priests and 8 cooperator brothers from the Provinces of Spain and of the Holy Rosary. Three students and a novice from the Province of Andalusia should be included here.

Another Cause started in Barcelona in 1958 and is headed by the newly beatified layperson Beato Antero Mateo Garcia. Together with his companion in the fraternity, Blessed Miguel Peiró, they are the first Dominican laypersons in Spain ever to be beatified. Sr. Josefina Sauleda, a nun from the Monastery of Montesión of Barcelona was also the first Spanish contemplative nun to be beatified and that on the 8th centenary of the foundation of Prouilhe. The seven sisters from the Congregation of the Anunciata, Ramona Fossas and her six companions, and the two sisters from the Congregation of the Teaching Sisters of the Inmaculada, Blessed Carmen Zaragoza and Blessed Rosa Adrover are also the first fruits of their Congregations.

The third Cause, headed by Blessed Celestino Alonso Villar, was opened in Oviedo in 1958 and brings together 6 priests and 4 cooperator brothers from the Province of Spain.

Finally, the fourth one started in Santander in its diocesan phase between 1963 and 1964 and includes 8 priests and 6 cooperator brothers, who dedicated their lives to the divine service around the Marian sanctuaries of Las Caldas de Besaya and Montesclaros. It is headed by Blessed Enrique Izquierdo Palacios.

The liturgical proper of our Order then was enriched by 74 new blessed, brothers and sisters belonging to all the branches of the Family of St. Dominic.

Our fraternal meeting this afternoon is being held here in the incomparable framework of the Basilica and Convent of Santa Sabina. As we all know, Pope Honorius III gave it to Our Father and to his Order of Preachers 786 years ago.

Here we find traces of his footsteps, of his dedication to prayer, to study and preaching. Here a multitude of brothers have lived along all these centuries, of whom I want to recall only the names of some, that of Blessed Jordan of Saxony, to St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Raymond of Peñafort, St. Pius V, Henry-Dominique Lacordaire, and Hyacinth-Mary Cormier. Many popes have come here in the course of history. Finally, here Blessed Buenaventura García Paredes presided over many liturgical celebrations. His successor at the head of the Order, Bro Carlos Azpiroz Costa, 86th successor of St. Dominic, will preside our celebration. We thank him for his generous welcome in this Common Home of us all.

Bro Vito Gomez op
Postulator General

ORIGINAL: SPANISH

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HOMILY BY BRO CARLOS A.AZPIROZ COSTA OP
DURING SECOND VESPERS OF SUNDAY, CELEBRATED IN THANKSGIVING IN THE BASILICA OF SANTA SABINA. – SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2007

We meet in this Basilica, the common home of the sons and daughters of Saint Dominic, built in memory of Saint Sabina martyr. In this temple relics of Sabina and Seraphia (her slave – also a martyr – who, according to tradition, led her to the knowledge of the Gospel) together with other witnesses of the faith – Eventulus, Theodulus and Pope Alexander – are kept.

Saint Dominic, wishing to offer his life to Jesus Christ, used to pray prostrate on the marble slab which, in the middle of the choir, marks the place in which, in his days, the relics of these martyrs were kept (which are now in an urn beneath the main altar).

We gather here to thank God on a very special day: the beatification of 498 martyrs, among whom 74 of our brothers and sisters. I point out again, as Bro Vito did at the beginning of this liturgy, several «firsts» or «scoops» that fill us with emotion and at the same time point to a luminous path.

• It is the first beatification that gathers – in one and the same group – sons and daughters of Saint Dominic belonging to all the branches of his Family … branches of a flourishing tree through which runs the same sap, the same blood… These martyrs are truly blood of our blood, flesh of our flesh, bone of our bones (Gen 2, 23).
• During this Jubilee year that recalls the 800 years of the foundation of the first Dominican contemplative community (Prouilhe), we celebrate Blessed Josefina (Sauleda Paulís), the first contemplative nun beatified as a martyr and the first Spanish Dominican contemplative sister to be beatified. For this reason, many religious sisters from the Federation of the Inmaculada from Aragon together with their Federal Prioress Sr. María Teresa Gil, and a group of nuns from our Monastery of St Dominic in Caleruega (Federation of Saint Dominic) and a nun from the community of Málaga (Federation of Andalusia). Greetings on such a beautiful day!
• Nine Dominican sisters were beatified today who belong to two very dear Congregations: the Dominican Sisters of the Anunciata (7 sisters beatified) and the Dominican Sisters of the Schools of the Immaculate Conception (2 sisters beatified). I greet and congratulate in a special way Sr. Natividad (Martínez de Castro) and Sr. Luz (Ortigosa Gambra), prioresses general of the two congregations, who are here with us today accompanied by a large group of sisters. Congratulations!
• We also celebrate the first Spanish lay Dominicans beatified as martyrs.
• Finally, we thank God for Blessed Bro Buenaventura Garcia Paredes, first Master of the Order – successor of St. Dominic – beatified as a martyr.

They are men and women, young and adults, men and women religious, laypersons, preachers, missionaries …

Our new blessed belong to four «groups» or «causes» (Madrid, Barcelona, Santander and Oviedo) which, as cardinal points, guide us and send us to all nations. In fact, many of them were missionaries in different countries. In truth, our hearts are moved when we read the life of Blessed Buenaventura and the visits he made to the vast missionary fields of his province in the East (China, Vietnam, and the Philippines).

This is why our celebrations attract pilgrims coming from several countries. First of all the members of the families of several of the new blessed (and I ask them to identify themselves so we can congratulate them also). Pilgrims arrived from Mexico (following in the footsteps of Blessed Reginaldo Hernández, born in San Miguel el Alto, Jalisco) and from the Philippines (where Blessed Buenaventura García Paredes, Antonio Varona Ortega, Inocencio García Díez, Jesús Villaverde Andrés, Manuel Moreno Martínez, Maximo Fernández Marinas and Pedro Ibáñez Alonso carried out their preaching ministry).

Our brothers and sisters are witnesses to Christ during their life and in their death. However what impresses us most during the time of so many irreconcilable divisions is that they pardoned those who persecuted and killed them, in the image and likeness of the only and true Master who, from the Cross cried «Father, forgive them for they know not what they do»!

This beatification of Dominican martyrs – along with a first group that was beatified in March 2001 – brings forth two questions. We have to answer them … it is just and necessary to do so. As Dominicans we are not afraid of the quaestiones disputatae, we are not afraid of the effort of our reason, enlightened by faith, to try to understand what seems incomprehensible. We are not afraid of discussion, of dialogue, of questionings which could lead us to the contemplation of truth.

The first question is: Why? – or more explicitly – Why did these things happen? In Spanish «Why?» refers rather to the reason or motivations. In order to answer this question we must also carry out a profound historical and social analysis. Indeed, the context of martyrdom responds at the same time to different and complex causes and circumstances.

To answer this question we have to enter also into the meanders of the human heart. There, where love makes its nest, hate also does. Wherefrom peace is built, peace is also destroyed by violence (unheard of, sometimes). It is the source of courage and bravery and also of fear. It is the mystery hidden in human passions!

In Jeremiah we read «More tortuous than all else is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it?» Thank goodness! The Lord’s answer is quick to come «I, the LORD, alone probe the mind and test the heart…» (Jeremiah 17, 9-10) Human reason demands that we could judge attitudes and behaviours, actions… However, in the light of the Gospel we have learnt not to judge persons and their intentions! Only Jesus Christ, Lord and Judge of history shall judge the living and the dead, and reward everyone according to his ways. (Cfr Jeremiah 17, 10)

The second question would be: What for? The answer points rather to the goal or final meaning of their sacrifice. Then we are enlightened; the whole panorama is lit, as if the dense smoke and hate of the fratricidal war is suddenly dispelled, a sign of the presence of Christ and of his Kingdom! (I do not refer to the realm of those who choose their own crowns, but rather to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ who was born in a crib and died on a cross).

The death of our brothers and sisters becomes a memory, a presence and an anticipation of this Kingdom. It is a memory that purifies itself, a presence that enlightens, and an anticipation that guides us all to our goal.

A well-know Spanish poet once pointed out three great «absences»: war, prison and death. The testimony of these our brothers and sisters strongly announces the presence of the passion and death of Christ amid such atrocious absences…

Martyrdom somehow makes «public» the human grief hidden behind every war, every prison, and every death.

The final commitment of our beatified brothers and sisters makes «public» somehow this grief, giving it a final meaning. «Public» does not mean «visible» or «on the front page of the magazines or papers that sell most». In this context, «Public» means «in the name of the Church». The Church, faithful to Jesus Christ, wants to embrace all humanity, like the Bernini columns embraced us this morning in Saint Peter’s Square, without intending, by this, to enclose us in impenetrable precincts; without stopping others from joining our celebration.

We want to proclaim from on top of the roofs the Good News of the Gospel … good news «for all the people» (Lk 2, 10). In the Gospel there is no place for divisions or exclusions. Christ is our Peace and overcomes all divisions that we human beings try to impose to the benefit of some, excluding others.

Indeed, it is important to admit that the temptations of the apostles of Jesus are also our temptations:

• Exclusion: «Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow in our company.» (Lk 9, 49).
• Vengeance: The apostles said: «Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?» – referring to a Samaritan village that did not want to receive Jesus because he was on his way to Jerusalem. (Lk 9, 54)

We know the clear answers Jesus gave to his disciples on both occasions.

We cannot deny that each one of us has his own ideology. It is like a DNA that always accompanies us… We are sons and daughters in a family, born in clearly defined circumstances of space and time. We live in a particular place, in a certain country or nation. We were given a certain type of education, we think in a certain way, react in a certain way when we face certain ideas or questions put by the others, etc.

However, yes, we confess and acknowledge that no ideology and no way of thinking can contain the Gospel and, at the same time, that Jesus called us to preach to all nations; the Gospel is for everybody.

So then?

If the blood of martyrs is the seed of new Christians (Tertullian) our mission is to discover also – wherever it might be – the seed of the Word! (St. Justin).

What do these brothers and sisters offer us today? Surely their holiness, their devotion, their patience, their religiosity… however, I repeat, before anything else they offer us a key, a true key for life and a way of reading history, a precise and precious key: forgiveness.

It allows us to open our eyes, our heart and our preaching to all, for every man and every woman is my brother and my sister.

In this manner martyrs help us to read the past, the present and the future from another point of view.

Martyrs help us to discover here and there that «the others» also «belong to our group» and for this reason they teach us to overcome human divisions brought about by the different ideologies, racial or ethnic criteria, certain types of religious, cultural, local, regional and national differences… anyway: divisions between winners and defeated.

Yes, it is true, these blessed are «our» brothers and sisters; however with their preaching, with their forgiveness, they open up our view, our heart and our preaching in order to discover that everybody – especially those we consider to be farthest from us – «belong to our group».

I am thinking particularly:

• of the sons of Israel and all the prisoners and the tortured in the concentration camps, detention or refugee centres of yesterday and of today;
• of our Muslim brothers who are daily presented as «the bad men of the film»;
• of the Buddhist monks in Burma who are peacefully struggling for democracy in their country;
• of those who, because they think in a different way, are immediately called «enemies», «subversives» or «terrorists» as an excuse for them to be eliminated;
• of those who are always defeated, the poor, the ministers of the word and catechists, men and women who are massacred only because they hold the Bible in the hands or keep them in their homes… assassinated by regimes of different colours, who – although they call themselves «Christians» – only know how to stamp as belonging to the left or to the right «those who are NOT of our group», for these must remain outside, they must be expelled.

In the beautiful symphony of creation and in the even more beautiful polychromy of grace we discover seeds or signs of the presence of the Word we were unable to see before.

If the mechanism of «psychological projection» makes us sometimes find enemies even where there are none (and so we end up inventing some)… the Cross of Christ manifested in the life and death of these our brothers and sisters in the form of an extraordinary current of love and light, helps us to discover traces of God, even where it seems impossible to find them. There are traces of His creation in everything that is true, good and beautiful; traces of his grace in every aspiration for «something more», in the most profound yearnings of men and women.

The Church said so, wanting to understand and embrace all of humanity: «The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.» (Gaudium et Spes n° 1)

Let us contemplate the mosaic of the dedication of this Basilica: it represents the Church of Christ as two women each one of them holding a book with Hebrew and Greek characters respectively. One represents the Old and the other the New Testament. Beneath their feet an inscription identifies them: Ecclesia ex circumcisione and Ecclesia ex gentibus. The Church of Christ, in fact, overcomes past antinomies. The wall that separated Jews and Gentiles was pulled down.

In the same manner the barriers that separated the slave from the freeman, men from women, «victors» from the «defeated», are pulled down.

Dominic, prostrated on the relics of the martyrs, longed to identify himself with them, to go to the Cumans, not in order to conquer or eliminate them, but to preach to them the Gospel that gives life, giving in turn his life for them as his Master did.

Where there was a fratricidal war, fratricidal prisons and fratricidal death, forgiveness penetrated and with it a luminous explosion of the Beatitudes. In all the poor, in all the afflicted and patient, in all that are hungry and merciful, in the pure of heart and in all the peace workers, in all that are persecuted for practicing justice, and in those who are insulted and calumniated, they help us to discover those that are blessed, the presence of Christ among us!

Our martyrs’ forgiveness makes us open our arms to all of them that Jesus called blessed; they also belong «to our group»!

Our blessed are the source of our joy because they correct our gaze, widen our hearts and inform our preaching. So, by overcoming the divisions we also build with false or mean claims (without completely understanding the value of their lives and of their martyrdom), forgiveness builds new bridges that no human «victory» achieved by the force of arms could destroy.

We have the possibility to cross these bridges and to let others cross them. Let us never try to make them «drawbridges» in order that others, those who do not belong to «our group», could not cross them. We sometimes would have wished to do this in order to be able to live in an impenetrable and secure castle.

In this context, I would like to paraphrase the words John Paul II pronounced during the solemn and beautiful liturgy for the Day of Pardon, First Sunday in Lent of the Great Jubilee (12.03.2000) celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica … for this beatification offers a message to us also (and not only to those who are «outside»).

Brothers and sisters, in this liturgy we celebrate the Lord’s mercy and we also purify the memory of the journey made by Christians over the centuries…

May this feast awaken in the whole Church, in the Order, in each one of us, a commitment of fidelity to the perennial message of the Gospel.

Never again actions opposed to charity in the service of truth,
never again actions against the communion of the Church,
never again offences against any people,
never again recourse to the logic of violence,
never again acts of discrimination, exclusion, oppression, contempt for the poor and the defenceless

I am about to conclude. Thanks to the testimony of our martyred brothers and sisters, who purify our gaze over the past, present and future, I can borrow the words of a poet who died in the same context of space and time as theirs (even though – just to be graphic – he was «one of the others»). Our martyr’s gaze, heart and preaching make ours these words of a man who, by portraying three terrible «absences»: war, prison, death … somehow becomes one of «our group». After all, the Resurrected Jesus – like our martyrs today – does not offer any other sign of his Life than the wounds of his passion and death:

He came with three wounds.
The wound of love,
The wound of death,
The wound of life.

With three wounds he comes:
The wound of life,
The wound of love,
The wound of death.

Three wounds have I:
The wound of life,
The wound of death,
The wound of love.

Miguel Hernández *

May the Lord, through his grace, complete our good intentions and lead us to eternal life together with these martyrs… Amen.

* Born in Orihuela on 30.10.1910, he died of tuberculosis in the infirmary of the Alicante prison on 23.03.1942.

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THE DOMINICAN FAMILY CELEBRATES THE MARTYRS OF THE XX CENTURY

I write these reflections, at the request of our brother, Carl Trutter OP, to share a few impressions of my experience of participating in the celebration of the beatification of the 498 Spanish martyrs this past weekend in Rome (all martyred between 1934-1937, during the Spanish Civil War). Though I did not see any of our other brothers from the Southern Province at the ceremony, one friar from Santa Sabina told me that he sat next to our brother, Jose David Padilla. It was a sea of humanity!

The weekend of celebration and reflection began for me on Saturday morning, Oct. 27th, the day before the beatifications, when fr Vito Gomez, OP, the Order’s Postulator General (and the grand nephew of one of the Spanish martyrs), preached a very moving homily during the morning mass at Santa Sabina in Rome (where fr Carlos, Master of the Order, was present). Speaking about St. Dominic’s long hours of prayer before the tomb of St. Peter in Rome in the winter of 1217, fr Vito noted that it was precisely at Peter’s tomb that Dominic had the profound spiritual experience in which Peter and Paul appeared to him in a vision. St. Peter gave him a staff («and not a cross,» noted fr Vito) and St. Paul gave him a book. Then they said to Dominic, «Ve y predica» («Go and preach!»). «It was very soon after that experience,» he said, «that the second papal Bull, calling the Order a universal Order of Preachers, was issued.» Then, referring to the more than seventy Dominican martyrs soon to be beatified, fr. Vito went on to say, «Tomorrow, here in this chapel of Santa Sabina, the picture of Buenaventura Garcia Paredes OP, former Master of the Order, will be venerated publicly for the first time. Many of these martyrs served as missionaries (in China, the Philippines, Peru, Central America and Louisiana). They are the fruit of Dominic’s prayer, for it was there, at Peter’s tomb, that the universal mission of the Order was confirmed by the Church.»

It seemed only right, then, that the beatification of our brothers and sisters in St. Dominic (friars, sisters, laity and one contemplative nun) would also happen at the tomb of Peter. Under a lovely blue sky and a hot, autumn sun, Cardinal Saraiva presided at the beatification ceremony, along with hundreds of concelebrants (all wearing the religious garb of their respective martyrs) and tens of thousands of people stuffed into every corner of St. Peter Square. Dominican women and men, lay and religious, from many different countries, but especially from Spain, were present for the celebration. Pope Benedict XVI also made an appearance at the end of the ceremony, greeting the crowd in several languages and leading us in the praying of the Angelus.

Before the beginning of the mass, several very moving excerpts from letters and testimonies of some of the martyrs were read. One testimony told of a layman removing his shoes before being led to his execution. When his persecutors asked why, he responded, «Jesus went to the Cross barefooted; I will too.» He was shot with his arms outstretched in the form of a cross, praying for forgiveness for those who were about to kill him.

The evening before the beatification ceremony, at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, a poem was read that had been written by a lay Dominican, Antero Mateo García, for his Carmelite daughter on the day of her profession. Both Antero, a railway worker, and his wife had joined the lay Dominican chapter in Barcelona. On several occasions Antero had served as a «camillero,» helping to carry the infirmed in cots on pilgrimage to Lourdes. On August 6, 1936, while waiting for his wife and Carmelite daughter’s arrival at the train station, Antero was detained. On the night of August 8, beneath the «Dragon Bridge» in Barcelona, he was executed. He was 61 years old.

At the head of the Dominican list of martyrs was the former Master of the Order, Buenaventura Garcia Paredes OP. As prior provincial, with residency in Manila in the Philippines, he helped to strengthen the missionary efforts in China and Vietnam, and purchased the property where the University of Santo Tomás is located today in Manila. In 1911 he helped to establish the presence of the Spanish Dominicans in the Tangipahoa region of Louisiana, USA. In 1926 he was elected Master of the Order, and finally retired to Ocaña, Spain a few years later. On August 12, 1936, at the age of 70, he was martyred in Madrid. Next to his body they found his rosary and breviary.

Another of the Dominican martyrs was a young Mexican by the name of Reginaldo Herdández Ramírez. Forced to flee the diocesan seminary in Guadalajara, he was sent to Spain where he entered the Order in Asturias. Known for his writing and language skills, as well as his gifts as an artist and painter, he was sent to Madrid to study Law very soon after being ordained in 1933. When the Republican persecution of the Church began to spread, he sought safe haven in the Mexican embassy, but was refused because he was a priest. Captured on August 13, 1936, he immediately identified himself to his captors, «I am the Mexican religious that you are looking for.» He was executed the same day. He was 27 years old.

Also in this list of the 498 «Spanish Martyrs of the XX Century,» we find the name of the first Spanish contemplative nun to be beatified. She is also the first Dominican nun to give her life as a martyr. Sister Josefina Sauleda Paulis OP, from Barcelona, entered the monastery in 1905, where she served as infirmarian, chantress, procurator, prioress and mistress of novices. On July 19, 1936 she and her sisters were forced to flee the monastery and hide out in the homes of different families. She was captured on August 31 and interrogated for twelve hours. Despite many threats, she refused to reveal the whereabouts of the chaplain and other sisters. She was finally led outside to a waiting car, but before getting into the car she said, «If you are going to kill me, why don’t you do it right here?» Her body was found the next day at the local racetrack. She was 51 years old.

And the list goes on and on

There is a final note that I would like to add to this reflection. Two days before the Spanish martyrs were beatified in Rome, another European martyr was beatified in Austria: Franz Jagerstatter. In fact, our brother Art Kirwin OP (Province of St. Martin de Porres) attended the beatification of Jagerstatter, a husband and father of three, who was beheaded on August 9, 1943 for refusing to be conscripted into Hitler’s army during World War II. The chaplain that visited him before he was killed stated, «I can say with certainty that this simple man is the only saint I have ever met in my lifetime.»

I think it is important to mention this second beatification because it reminds us that martyrdom is a path of fidelity to Christ and not the result of siding with one or another political ideology. Just as there are Spanish martyrs who were killed by communist extremists, so too are there martyrs who were victims of Franco and Mussolini’s fascism and Hitler’s Nazism in Europe. Fidelity to Christ knows no boundaries. What a marvellous witness to know that our Dominican Family was present at both beatifications. I pray that the martyrs of the XX Century will show all of us the way to faithful discipleship in our living out of the gospel of Christ.

Brian J. Pierce, OP
Siena, Italy

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NEW SOCIUS FOR THE PROVINCES OF ITALY AND MALTA

On October 15, 2007, Bro Carlos A. Azpiroz Costa op, Master of the Order, named Bro Bernardino Prella op socius for the Provinces of Italy and Malta.

Bro Bernardino belongs to the Province of St. Dominic in Italy. He was born in Vercelli on August 13, 1945. He made his first profession in the Order of Preachers on September 26, 1962 and was ordained priest on September 5, 1971. Until his nomination he was assigned to St. Dominic’s Priory in Bologna, Italy.

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WHO ARE THESE AND WHERE DID THEY COME FROM? (REV 7, 13)

After the slow progress of the causes for the beatification of each one of the martyrs, their Processes have arrived to their desired end, the official recognition by the Church of God. Those who one day fell along the side of the road, those we call martyrs, really were and are martyrs and the supreme authority of the Church of God declared them so on October 28.

Having spoken about the multitudes of the elected, the Book of Revelation contemplates them in front of the throne of God and to the question asked by one of the elders «Who are these wearing the white robes, and where did they come from?» (v. 13), we hear the answer: «These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.» (v. 14)

This question that the Seer of Patmos expressed in the past during times of great tribulation, which has been prophetically repeated later on many occasions and which received the same answer, becomes real and relevant on the occasion of the beatification of these 498 martyrs of the 20th century in Spain that were beatified last October 28.

Who are they and where did they come from?

They are religious of active and contemplative life coming from every part of Spain, mature persons even though many of them were young. All of them came from the great tribulation to which they were submitted during their life and in their faith and love of the Lord and of the brethren. They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb (v.14). After having contemplated this multitude, each one distinct from the other but united by the same cause and in one testimony – faith in God and in his Christ – one is amazed and asks…

Lord! How is it possible? Where did they find such strength? The word of God comes forward and tells us: You are not the ones to speak; rather the spirit of God will speak for you. This spirit of fortitude spoke through them and faced with courage the tribulation up to the last moment, decidedly, unhesitating, unquestioningly, outright. There is no other explanation.

During those critical moments they considered that the sufferings of the present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us. They remembered that in life or in death we belong to the Lord and following him they offered their lives. The death of the martyrs is an act of love since no one has greater love than this, to lay one’s life for those whom he loves, an act of love that forgives. They did not do this in hate but lovingly and pardoning. This is why the memory of the martyrs is always a moment of grace and a call to the need to go forward along the path of reconciliation.

Who are they and where did they come from?

They are our brethren.

They came from our cloisters the ones we walk around with respect and hope.

To celebrate these martyrs today is a kairós we should take advantage of in order to direct our lives according to the inspiration of the Spirit. It is a moment in which to stir up the embers of our first love, revive our hope in a different way, more inflamed, with more enthusiasm, able to fulfill the hopes of personal and ecclesial life, able to influence those who pass near us or those who watch us as if spectators from the seats of the football ground or look at us like those who look as yet undecided at a showcase full of options.

Who are they?

They are our brothers who, attracted by the ideal of St. Dominic, put on our habit, embraced with fidelity the demands of the Gospel, hurried after Christ and with Him up to death and resurrection. Such a truth so perceptively received, contemplated and lived.

They belonged to our group, as Christians and as Dominicans. They were living and attractive examples. They were admirable, belonging to different age groups, mature persons and young persons of 19, 20 and 23 years respectively, full of faith and burning with love and passion for Jesus Christ and for the Order. Notwithstanding the opportunity to free their lives from death, they opted in a definitive way for the resurrected life of Jesus of Nazareth. A marvellous grace that of martyrdom, in the fullness of youth, opening paths of clear and powerful light, of fruitful hope, of generous love, for those who came after them, for us, today.

Bro Herminio de Paz Castaño op

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THANKSGIVING MASS FOR THE BEATIFICATION
HOMILY OF CARDINAL TARCISIO BERTONE - 29.10.2007

Dear brothers in the episcopate, beloved priests, religious and lay faithful

The beatification of four hundred and ninety eight Spanish martyrs, celebrated yesterday, offered another opportunity for us to note that the multitude of Christians drawn by the example of Jesus and supported by his love has never been interrupted since the time of the preaching of the apostles. We are now gathered to offer a fervent thanksgiving to the Lord for this ecclesial event. We want to entrust ourselves to the intercession of these our brethren whose existence has become a strong beacon of light for us and for the pilgrim people of God in Spain and in other countries. They have become a pressing call for us to live the gospel radically but in simplicity, offering a public and courageous testimony of the faith we profess.

It is true, martyrdom occurs in tragic historical circumstances, which sometimes takes on the form of persecution, and leads to a violent death because of the faith. However, even in the midst of such tragedy, the martyr could transcend the concrete historical moment and contemplate his fellow human beings through the heart of God. Thanks to this light that comes to him from Above, and in virtue of the blood of the Lamb (cfr Rev. 12, 11), the martyr chooses to confess the faith rather than to live, thus diminishing the power of the aggression with prayer and the heroic immolation of self. Loving his enemies and praying for those who persecute him (Cfr Mt 5, 44), the martyr makes visible the mystery of the faith he received and becomes a strong sign of hope, announcing redemption for all people, with his own witnessing. Uniting his blood with that which Christ sacrificed on the cross, the immolation of the martyr is transformed into an offering before the throne of God, imploring grace and mercy for the persecutors. Pope John Paul II teaches that «martyrs have found suitable ways to proclaim the Gospel amid situations of hostility and persecution; often even making the supreme sacrifice by shedding their blood … they show the vitality of the Church… Even more radically, they tell us that martyrdom is the supreme incarnation of the Gospel of hope.» (Ecclesia in Europa, 13).

Thus, martyrdom is an eloquent sign of how the vitality of the Church does not depend only on projects of human calculations, but springs out of the complete adhesion to Christ and to his message of salvation. Martyrs were well aware of this. They did not find strength from a yearning for personal protagonism; they found it rather in their unreserved love of Jesus Christ, even at the cost of their life.

In order to understand even more the real Christian sense of martyrdom, therefore, we have to let the martyrs themselves speak. Through their example, they left us a will that we sometimes do not dare open. However, if we pay attention, their existence will surely speak to us about faith, fortitude, generous courage and fervent love, in the face of a culture that at times tries to marginalize or scorn the moral and human values taught by the Gospel.

We all know that the 20th century has given the Church in Spain immense fruits of Christian life: the birth of religious congregations and institutes dedicated to teaching, to assistance in hospitals and to the poorest among the poor, as well as those who are given to many other forms of social and cultural works. Eminent examples of sanctity also emerge, and a large number of martyrs, bishops, priests, seminarians, religious men and women and laypersons.

These martyrs were not presented for the veneration of the people of God because of their political involvement, neither for having fought against anybody, but in order to offer their existence as a testimony of love for Christ and with full awareness of being members of the Church. For this reason, at the moment of death, all of them addressed those who were killing them with words of forgiveness and mercy. Thus, amid the many such examples it is surely moving to hear the words that one of the Franciscan friars from the Consuegra community addressed his confreres: «Brothers, lift up your eyes to heaven and say your last Our Father, for in a few moments we shall be in the Kingdom of heaven, and forgive those who are about to kill you».

This is why these new blessed have enriched the Church in Spain with their sacrifice, and are for us today a testimony of faith, of solid hope against all fear and of love up to the end (Cfr Jn 13, 1). Their death brings us all an important stimulus which impels us to overcome divisions, and give new life to our ecclesial and social commitment, always in search of the common good, of harmony and peace.

Because they loved life, these dear brothers and sisters of ours, among whom there are also two French persons, two Mexicans and a Cuban, offered their lives to Christ. They lived an exemplary existence, totally given to their many forms of apostolate, convinced of the religious option they had made or of the fulfilment of their duties to their families. These humble but positive testimonies of the gospel are a light that guides our earthly pilgrimage. Today, as we venerate all those who, as the book of Revelations teaches us, «come from great distress» (ib. 7, 14), let us ask the Lord to give us their intrepid faith, their solid hope and their profound love.

Dear brothers and sisters, we are meeting here in Rome, where at the beginning of the Church an infinite number of martyrs professed their faith in Christ even up to bloodshed. Both the first Christians and those who were beatified yesterday should not awaken in us only an attitude of admiration. They are not, in fact, mere heroes or characters from a far away era. Their words and their gestures speak to us and impel us to always conform ourselves fully to Christ, and find in Him the source from which an authentic ecclesial community springs forth, so as to be able to offer to today’s society a coherent testimony of our love and of our commitment to God and to our brethren.

The martyrs, with their example and their intercession, help us today not to let ourselves succumb to discouragement and confusion, and to avoid inertia and sterile lamentations. The time we live in, as that in which they lived, is a time of grace, a propitious occasion in which to share with others the joy of being disciples of Christ.

Through their existence and the testimony of their death, they teach us that authentic happiness is found in listening to the Lord and putting his words into practice (Cfr Lk 11, 28). For this reason, the most precious service we can render today to our brothers and sisters is to help them meet Christ who is «the Way, the Truth and the Life» (Cfr Jn 14, 6), the only One who can satisfy the most noble aspirations of man.

May God permit that this beatification arouses in Spain a vigorous call to revive the faith and to strengthen the ecclesial community, asking the Lord that the blood of these martyrs be a fecund source of numerous and holy vocations to the priesthood and to consecrated life. May it also be a constant invitation to the families, founded on the sacrament of matrimony, to be an example and a school of true love for their children and a «sanctuary of the great gift of life».

Finally, let us also ask the Lord that the example of sanctity given by the new martyrs obtain for the Church in Spain and in the other nations from which some of them come, abundant fruits of authentic Christian life: love that wins over tepidity, enthusiasm that stimulates hope, respect that welcomes truth, and generosity that opens the heart to the needs of the poorest of the world.

May the Virgin Mary, Queen of Martyrs, obtain for us from her divine Son this grace that in complete trust we now put into her motherly hands. Amen!

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MARTYRS LINK LOUISIANA WITH SPAIN

USA - On Oct. 28, 2007, six Dominican friars with close links to Louisiana were beatified in Rome, according to Fray Vito T. Gómez García, the Dominican postulator of causes. On Sat., October 27, Fray Vito Gómez preached the homily at the morning Mass at Santa Sabina in Rome (in the presence of Fray Carlos Azpiroz, the Master of the Order). That evening at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls during the welcoming ceremony, a poem was read that had been written by a lay Dominican, Antero Mateo García; this lay Dominican was executed on Aug. 8, 1936 in Barcelona and beatified on Oct. 28 of 2007.

Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, C.M.F., Prefect of the Congregation of Saints, presided at this Beatification Ceremony of Spanish martyrs in the Plaza of St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 28. Pope Benedict XVI made an appearance at the end of the ceremony, greeting the crowd in several languages. And on the succeeding Monday, a Mass of Thanksgiving was celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone presiding.

These six priests, along with numerous other Dominicans (two laity, one nun, nine sisters, ten lay brothers and 46 priests) and so many other Catholics, were martyred 71 years ago (in 1936) during the persecution against Catholics at time of the Spanish Civil War (which pitted the Leftist Republicans against Franco’s Nationalists).

These Dominican men had significant connections with the Rosaryville House of Theology near Ponchatoula, LA. This Rosaryville Theological Seminary was established in 1911 in the same place the Benedictine monks had previously located their St. Joseph Abbey. The Dominican seminary continued there until it was transferred to the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary’s in 1938 and eventually became the Rosaryville Spirit Life Center. 16 of the Spanish Dominicans, who studied, taught or served at Rosaryville and died between 1908 and 1936, are buried in the Friars’ Cemetery there.

The Dominicans were members of Holy Rosary Province, one of four Spanish provinces of friars—this one dedicated to foreign missions, especially in the Philippines. Because of their need to learn the English language and to avoid civil conflicts in their native Spain, Fray Tomás Lorente Ibáñez in New Orleans arranged for them to come to rural Tangipahoa Parish for 27 years. Many of these were later martyred back in Spain—10 at Oviedo, 14 in Santander and 38 in Madrid.

The 78th master general of the Dominican friars (from 1926-1929 with residence in Manila), Fray Buenaventura García Paredes, was instrumental in bringing this theology seminary to Louisiana in 1911. At the same time, his Holy Rosary Province assumed the pastoral ministry of all the Catholic parishes in Tangipahoa (where Dominican friars still care for Ponchatoula, Tickfaw and Hammond). Fray García Paredes, at the age of 70, was among the Spaniards martyred on Aug. 12, 1936 in Madrid.

Fray Jesús Villaverde Andrés was the prior at Rosaryville from 1921-1924. After leaving Spain, he had gone to the Philippines to teach; then he served his term as superior in Louisiana. From there he travelled back to Manila to become dean at Santo Tomás University and then rector there of San Juan de Letrán. After his missionary and academic ministry in the Philippines, he returned to his native Spain. During the night of Oct. 15, 1936, he was arrested and was martyred the next day.

Four other Dominican priests, who shed their blood in 1936, had lived at Rosaryville for a number of years.

Leoncio Arce Urrutía, after his solemn profession in 1917 at ¢vila, during 1920-1922 was studying theology at Rosaryville. In 1923, Archbishop John W. Shaw of New Orleans ordained Fray Leoncio a deacon and on June 10, 1924 Archbishop Shaw ordained him to the presbyterate. After his time in Louisiana, Fray Arce went back to Spain (Valladolid, Avila and Madrid); he was arrested in July of 1936 and was martyred at Porlier in Spain on Sept. 10, 1936.

Antonio Varona Ortega, after his solemn profession on Jan, 18, 1922, went to Rosaryville. He continued his theological studies during 1922-1924 in Washington, DC and received a Master of Arts degree in education at the Catholic University of America. He returned to Rosaryville and was ordained subdeacon in 1924 and priest on June 13, 1926 by Archbishop Shaw. Shortly thereafter he was missioned to the Philippines, but while teaching there he contracted tuberculosis and in 1933 he returned to Avila in Spain. Fray Varona became a martyr at Algodor, Spain on July 25, 1936.

José María López Carrillo came from Avila to Rosaryville where he was living in 1915 and where he professed his solemn vows. He was ordained a deacon at Rosaryville by Auxiliary Bishop Jean M. Laval in 1918 and was ordained a priest on Jan. 15, 1919. From 1919 until 1935 he lived in the Orient—first at Manila and then at the Fokién mission in China. Because of a serious illness, he returned to Spain; he became a martyr on Aug. 27, 1936 back in Madrid.

Pedro Ibáñez Alonso has studied theology at Avila, by 1914 he was at Rosaryville and professed his solemn vows there; in 1916 he traveled to Manila for further studies and was ordained a priest on Apr. 1, 1917. After serving in China and the Philippines he went back to his home in Spain, where he was killed for defending his Catholic faith in Madrid on the same day as Fray López.

A seventh Dominican martyr, although not connected with Louisiana, had lived in Cuero, Texas (about 21 miles northwest of Victoria). Fray Vicente Rodríguez Fernández left Salamanca in Spain for Chihuahua and Tampico in Mexico. There he encountered the religious persecution of President Plutarco Elías Calles and was expelled from Mexico. He escaped to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Cuero, where other exiled Spanish friars were caring for the people in Dewitt and Lavaca Counties. He later returned to Spain and, although he survived the Mexican persecution, he was martyred in Madrid on Nov. 7, 1936.

At this time of their 2007 beatification, these martyred friars, along with so many hundreds of other martyred lay women and men, religious, priests and bishops in Spain, offer us in the United States the example of fortitude in serving Jesus Christ. And the recommended feast day for these Spanish martyrs is Nov. 6.

Carl B. Trutter, O.P.

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B. BONAVENTURE GARCÍA PAREDES
78TH SUCCESSOR OF ST DOMINIC

A new site for the Angelicum

On 9 June 1928, after having overcome not a few difficulties, permission was obtained from the Italian government to repossess pleno iure the monastery of SS. Dominic and Sixtus in Rome. The intention was to transfer there the Angelicum college, which the Master of the Order, Blessed Giacinto Maria Cormier, had founded in via San Vitale. Br Paredes had laboured for some two years to reach this objective. He and other of the brethren regarded this as an ideal place, set between the hills of the Esquiline and the Quirinale, in the very centre of ancient Rome. Since 1873, by means of the laws of suppression, the government had expropriated from the nuns, who lived there since 1575, more than three quarters of the old monastery built by St Pius V. In 1927 the Italian government put up for sale the part occupied by the administration of Beni del Culto, and the Order decided to purchase it, above all because the Angelicum in Via San Vitale was becoming increasingly cramped. The new purchase extended over 17,000 square continues from last edition metres. [1] The inaugural Eucharist for the academic year 1928-9 was already celebrated in the church of Saints Dominic and Sixtus, and Br Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange gave the solemn lecture. In that year, the students became 490, of whom 77 belonged to the Order.

On the occasion of the purchase of the monastery of SS. Dominic and Sixtus, the Pope, Pius XI, on 18 June 1928 sent a letter to the Master, expressing pleasure that the Order thus had a building suited to promoting the doctrinal apostolate; the place – the Pope believed – was very appropriate, as everyone recognized. Moreover, it included a garden space which made allowed the possibility of future buildings. He was sure that the purchase would be of great advantage, not only for the Dominican family, but also for the Church, although, admitted Pius XI, the economic effort to buy it was very substantial and further investments would be needed to adapt the buildings to their intended new use. It was for this reason that he wished the Master to receive support from the whole Order.

Animating life in the Order

In 1928 Br Marie-Vincent Bernadot, of the Province of France, founded the review La Vie Intellectuelle. From 1 January 1929 publication started in Zagreb, in the Province of Dalmatia, a new review called Duhovni Zivot (Spiritual Life), edited by Br Hyacinth Boskovic.

On 20 June 1928, he addressed a letter to the whole Order in which he declared Saint Louis Bertrand the special patron of novitiates. The initiative came from the 1926 General Chapter, but the Master confessed that for him nothing was more welcome and pleasing than to carry out the decisions taken by the brethren. ‘St Louis’, he wrote, had formed for a long time and in a very solid manner the young religious entrusted to him. He went before his disciples setting an example of prudence, rectitude and healthy discipline, a true son of St Dominic he preached the gospel in many parts of Colombia and succeeded in bringing very many to the Church of Christ’. [2] Days earlier, 13 June 1928, he gave a new proof of his devotion to St Catherine by taking part in the congress of the Collegio dei Caterinati, to outline above all the idea of an international congress to be held in Rome in 1930. On 7 June he appointed Br Dominique Chenu as secretary of the General Study House of Le Saulchoir.

Resignation from governing the Order

On 30 March 1929, Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, informed him, in the name of the Holy Father Pius XI, that the resignation he had presented to the Pope had been accepted. The Pope, one reads in the letter from the Cardinal, had accepted the resignation with difficulty and regret (ægre). But reasons of health had weighed most heavily in accepting it. His merits were recognized and all his work in the three or so years he had been Master of the Order was praised. [3] A few days later, the Prefect of the Congregation for Religious, named as Vicar General, until the next General Chapter, Br Juan Casas, socius of the Master, born in Catalonia and a son of the Province of Andalusia.

The 27 March, having presented his resignation, even though it had not yet been accepted, he went to the shrine of Madonna dell’Arco, near Naples, for some rest. When the resignation was made public he returned to Rome on 10 April to hand over to the Vicar General. He left the Angelicum college, where he resided, on 30 April and transferred to the priory of the Most Holy Trinity (in Via Condotti), the priory of his Province in Rome. A few days later he returned to Spain. The chronicler in the periodical Analecta O.P. ended his account with these words: As much as when he was elected as on withdrawing from his office he offered the present and future brethren a clear example of simplicity and humility which no one will be able to forget’. [4]

After a brief spell in Madrid, at the beginning of June 1929 he went to the priory of Ocaña where, in conformity with the Constitutions he chose to reside. The only reason for his resignation cited explicitly in official documents was his state of his health, although the abovementioned letter from Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, Secretary of State, leads one to sense there were also other reasons. From France pieces of information reached the Holy See according to which certain friars were involved in the Action Française movement, a nationalist movement monarchical in nature, which Pius XI had already condemned by December 1926. [5] In the face of the wish of the Holy See that the Master remove from his priories friars accused of supporting the movement referred to, the Master postponed for a few months his intervention until he had personally verified the truth of the information, which annoyed the Pope.

It is evident that a documented biography of the new Blessed is needed, making use of Vatican and Order documents, now available to academics. It is known that the documentation for the period of Pius XI’s pontificate is already available for consultation in the Vatican Secret Archive. More easily, the respective sections of the General Archive of the Order of Preachers at Santa Sabina in Rome can be consulted.

From a chronicle published in the review Rosas y Espinas, founded in Valencia by the Blessed Luis Urbano, we know he travelled to Paris in September 1926. In any case, it is certain that he was in France. He went there from Spain and, before he crossed the border, he went out of his way to go to Vic (Barcelona) where he presided at the clothing of 30 postulants of the Sisters’ Congregation of the Dominicans of the Annunziata. During this ceremony he spoke of the Kingdom of Christ on earth, and he encouraged to merit it by firmness and courage through the exercise of the religious virtues. In the name of the Congregation, he was greeted by the Prioress General, Mother Mercedes Miralpeix. He was also greeted by the Bishop of Vic, Dr Muñoz, the Dominican tertiary Jaume Collell and the seminary professor Ramón Puig y Coll, a relative of the Blessed Francis Coll, martyred in 1936. [6]

Six months after he was relieved of his office, on 31 December 1929, he wrote from Ocaña to a Dominican religious, Sister Pilar of Jesus: ‘I have preferred to come to this priory where I spent my novitiate and which in addition is a real shrine of the Province, because our martyrs of Tonquino were formed here. Now they have moved to here one of the stages of our studies and regular life is observed with greater care. I never cease to thank God for the good he has granted me and for the most gentle peace of the spirit which he has given me and lets me savour’.

To succeed him, on 21 September 1929, Br Martin S. Gillet (1875-1951) was elected and he governed the Order for seventeen years until 1946. At that elective Chapter, held at the Angelicum, there was present Bonaventure Paredes who was the first to offer his obedience to the newly elected. Also capitulars were Br Tito M. Horten, today Venerable, the already mentioned Blessed Luis Urbano and the Servant of God José Garrido Francés, martyr from the community of the General Study House at Almagro of the Province of Andalusia. The ex-Master also took part in the chapters at Le Saulchoir (1932) and Rome (1935).

He also engaged in apostolic activities such as, for example, when in July 1930 gave spiritual exercises in Oviedo to the Dominican Sisters of the Annunziata, among whose members was Dominga Benito Rivas, today a Servant of God, who described the event in the community chronicle.

Persecution and martyrdom

Having returned to the priory of St Dominic in Ocaña, as has been said, in mid-July 1936 he was in the priory of the Most Holy Rosary in Madrid. This house, attaining the status of a priory in 1935, was attacked on Sunday 19 July 1936. The community comprised 15 religious, some assigned there others visiting, of whom 11 will be beatified on 28 October
2007. Blessed Bonaventure had left the priory on the eve of the attack, invited by Don Pedro Errazquin, who offered shelter to other friars also. A month earlier, he had written to the Errazquin-Garmendía family, whom he had started to be in contact with in 1915 in the Philippines: ‘Already I cannot oppose the sad reality which we suffer. Only by hoping in the mercy of God can we glimpse some hope’. [7] This family volunteered to obtain for him a passport and a travel ticket to the Philippines, but he, elderly and unwell, had great difficulty in undertaking the journey and confided that he would travel only if his superiors in Rome allowed him. In fact he wrote to Rome and obtained permission for the journey. His friend Pedro Errazquin requested the passport, which was denied him because he was a religious.

While he sheltered in the house of Don Pedro Errazquin, he went to celebrate the Eucharist in a chapel, but he was under police surveillance, and so towards the end of July they found him a place at the Hotel of the Carmel in Saint Barbara’s square. In the end even this truly noble lay catholic, Don Pedro, would be put to death in the Pradera de San Isidro in Madrid because in searching his house they found the chalice belonging to Blessed Bonaventure. As the latter became convinced that the police kept him under strict observation, he took refuge in a boarding house called the Infante Don Juan, (street Recoletos). Here he administered the sacrament of confession to some of the residents. Where he lived he led a life of recollection and prayer, recited the breviary and also celebrated the Eucharist. A witness has testified: ‘Br Bonaventure stood in front of a small table with a small piece of bread and a glass and I believe he was celebrating Holy Mass’. [8]

He was arrested on 11 August by armed persons. He had identified himself as a religious and a priest, and said bravely: ‘I have committed no crime except that of being a priest and a religious; Divine Providence so wants’. Witnesses assure that this is what he declared. They led him away to a place of torture called checa, situated in a Madrid street named García de Paredes. The following day, 12 August 1936, they took him to the small town of Fuencarral where at about 10 o’clock they shot him in the area known as Valdesenderín del Encinar, between Fuencarral and Alcobendas. He kept to the end the rosary and the breviary. They buried him in the cemetery of Fuencarral, a place where for centuries the Order had a priory and whose church was dedicated to ‘Nuestra Señora de Valverde’.

His remains were exhumed on 24 October 1940 and transferred to the crypt of the church of the Most Holy Rosary in Madrid. In 1967 they were again transferred to the pantheon-chapel of the priory of St Thomas Aquinas in Avila, where they still are.

Remembered as a martyr by his successor

The Master of the Order, Br Martin S. Gillet, wrote a letter about the martyrs of the religious persecution in Spain, and in it he dealt at length with, and praised, his predecessor. He reckoned that his life could be summed up as a perpetual supernatural union with God through exquisite humility and the practice of mildness with simplicity and magnanimity, virtues which in him were connatural and in this way he prepared for martyrdom. His wish was that in the future the Church would declare him martyr. He concluded by listing the names of other friars of the Provinces of Spain, Aragon, Andalusia and the Holy Rosary who gave, in the same way, witness to their faith by the shedding of their blood. They were 136 in total. [9]

Reputation of sanctity

All the witnesses in the process who knew the new Blessed, Bonaventura García Paredes emphasise unanimously his virtues. He was a man with a rooted and deep faith who manifested his recollection and union with God. He had humane and good feelings towards everyone, always willing to forgive. His closeness to the world of workers and those who were lowly, simple and poor was noticed. Very prudent and wise, patient, just with everyone. He was constant in carrying out his duty, compassionate and firm in his decisions. He ate, drank and behaved with moderation, and was edifying in his deep humility.

The famous historian Br Vicente Beltrán de Heredia said: ‘I feel devotion, above all for Br Paredes whom I remember gratefully because when he was elected General with my vote also, I saw just how far his humility reached when he did not accept the office. I do not forget those ten minutes of resistance, when having been elected General they had to convince him and he gave such examples of humility that one of the assisting Fathers, Br Getino, rose to utter some words of encouragement and help him, so that an Austro-Hungarian Father, Br Cornelius Boller, [10] said: «Never in my life have I everbeen present at such a beautiful scene’. [11]

In the diocese of St Hyacinth in Quebec there was printed in 1944 a small card with the photograph of our martyr, containing a prayer approved by ecclesiastical authority in which the Lord was asked for the outstanding gift of the miracles necessary for his beatification on earth, so that we can soon together with the Church venerate him and invoke him as a saint’.

After relinquishing office he did not appear saddened and he also tried to justify the action of the Holy See with respect and mildness. To see him celebrate Mass was moving. In his visit to Vietnam as Prior Provincial he prostrated himself on the ground in front of the memorial stone to our martyrs and remained stretched out for a long time. When he got up, those present noticed that his face was wet with tears. They reflected the virtues of a saint, exclaimed his successor Br Aniceto Fernández.

From 28 October 2007, the Order of Preachers venerates joyfully this its son with the title of blessed and protomartyr among its Masters, raised to the honours of the altar. The Holy Rosary Province venerates this its son given to the Order as Master.

On the day of his beatification he will head the group of 74 martyrs, representing all the family of St Dominic: 40 priests, 18 cooperator brothers, 3 clerical students, a clerical novice, a contemplative nun, 7 Sisters of the Annunziata founded by Blessed Francis Coll, 2 Sisters of ‘The Teaching of the Immaculate’ Congregation and 2 lay Dominicans.

Br Vito T. Gómez OP
Postulator General

Br Francesco Ricci OP
Secretary of the Postulation

___________________

1 AOP 18 (1927-1928) 583-585.
2 AOP 18 (1927-1928) 537-539.
3 AOP 19 (1929-1930) 136-137.
4 AOP 19 (1929-1930)189.
5 Pius XI manifested his thinking on this question starting from the allocution he gave during the secret consistory of 20 December 1926. He had expressed the desire to see excluded those catholics who adhered to this movement: AAS 18 (1926) 517-520. This politico-social movement arose in France at the end of the 19th century. It put forward a radical nationalism, it aspired to the restoration of the monarchy and, among some of its ideologues, these aspirations mingled with agnostic, atheist and anti-christian positions.
6 Rosas y Espinas, year XII, November 1926, n.175.
7 Positio, p. 159.
8 Positio, p. 161.
9 AOP 24 (1937-1938) 541-558.
10 Cornelius M. Böle, socius of the deffinitor of the Austro-Hungarian Province: AOP 17 (1925-1926) 591.
11 Positio, p. 405.

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800 YEARS!

To conclude the series of articles devoted to the Prouilhe jubilee year, a number of people who have lived and worked around the monastery during this time, welcoming pilgrims, celebrating the sacraments etc, have been invited to record their impressions and experiences. The almost constant succession of groups from every continent : Canada, Philippines, Nigeria, Poland to mention but a few has meant much hard work for a good number of people, but by many the effort has been perceived as worth while and fulfilling.

Sr Barbara (monastery of Herne)

Fr. Brian Bricker o.p, chaplain to the monastery of Prouilhe, of the Central Province USA.

For me the greatest thing about this Jubilee Year has been the vast number of people who have come through Prouilhe, and it has been areal privilege for me to meet them and tell them something of the story of the Dominican holy places: groups from the USA, and most of the countries of Europe. These groups brought with them a freshness of approach and a real interest in what is happening here. I think also of the many groups of elderly sisters who came through – often just for a day. For many this coming to Prouilhe was the realisation of a lifelong dream. So as I said, it really has been a privilege to be in a sense a representative of what is going on here, and to be able to take them on visits to Fanjeaux etc. But when possible I like to add something a little less well known to the tour – like for example taking people to Sorèze to where Fr Lacordaire lived and where he is buried. If it was not for him, the monastery as we know it today would most likely not have been built.

There has been a good spirit of collaboration amongst all those involved with the Dominican holy places, as a relative newcomer, I have learnt a lot from a Dominican lay woman who has become an expert at «telling the story» at the house of St Dominic.

It has also been gratifying to see the community of nuns become more «internationalised» during the year, with the arrival of sisters from Peru, Mexico and the Philippines.

One high spot of the year was the national monuments open day in September in which the nuns participated, enabling visitors to have a glimpse inside the cloister, to have a talk on the nuns’ way of life, and see a slide show on the history of the basilica. On the occasion of the tea party for local inhabitants, for many this was the first time they set foot in the monastery before, despite having lived nearby for 60 or 70 years!

The sisters made a real effort for their liturgy to be welcoming and accessible to visitors. This year also has seen an increase in the number of masses celebrated regularly in English and Spanish. And I have been glad that I have been able to celebrate in these other languages.

Meetings and exchanges between pilgrims and the nuns have been a high spot, all appreciating the simplicity of the welcome and the sharing.….

Mrs Brigitte Marlier, inhabitant of Fanjeaux, volunteer helper.

800 years! It’s 800 years since a canon from Castille called Dominic took up residence in our village f Fanjeaux. The narrow streets remember the men and women also. In early summer; several dozen villagers, in response to an invitation from the sisters set off on the path leading down from the Seignadou to the monastery. That mythical and magical path where, if one listens attentively the hurried footsteps of the ne who went before us can still be heard.

Later on, at midsummer, by torchlight the village relived beneath a starlit sky the tragic story of those who were called «friends of good» or good men» but which history has labelled Cathars. The words of Dominic and Diego challenge those of Guilhabert, and Esclarmonde, speaking of faith, life, today and tomorrow. All of them are remembered here. Celebrating the birthday of the «Holy Preaching of Prouilhe» in this place is of necessity the commemoration of a dual reality. Day by day and for eternity we confront the demands of truth with those of loving communion.

Fr. André Vergne, diocesan priest, parish priest of Fanjeaux, member of a Dominican priestly fraternity.

Greetings to all who read these lines! I actually visited Prouilhe for the first time while still in my mother’s womb – attending the Rosary pilgrimage in 1946!

1. Before the jubilee: In November 2006, to celebrate my 60th birthday I drove 968 km to spend a week at the Dominican monastery at Valdeflores [1] in Galicia, Spain – a wonderfully fraternal experience. The conviction I draw from this is that wherever we find ourselves, and whatever the language of the mass, the Dominican family feeling is there, and all are brothers and sisters.

2. During the jubilee: from 2005-2007 our diocese of Carcassonne has been celebrating a synod, and on the 4th of May this year our bishop Mgr Alan Planet suggested, that along with certain other responsibilities, I become parish priest of the St Dominique sector, which includes Fanjeaux, Montréal and Villasavary. This sector has a population of 10,000 scattered over 18 administrative areas. And hence the conviction that my mission is itinerant, often on the move, but seeking to be close to people and putting down roots as a missionary in this parish of St Dominique with its historic links to the former dioceses of Mirepoix and St Papoul.

3. As the jubilee draws to a close: it is patently evident that this year crowds have come in great number and at all seasons to visit the Dominican holy places in what passes for «Cathar country». For some villages St Dominic is as important to the local economy as the sunflower harvest! The experience of this year has given me the conviction that the «Cumans» are right at our door, that is to say, people searching for God, and everyone is doing their bit, but what sustained plans does the Dominican family have to respond to this need in an ongoing way?

Sr Charlotte Unrein o.p., Great Bend Dominicans, Kansas USA, volunteer helper to the guest-mistress at Prouilhe. (After a busy life as a missionary in Nigeria, then as a hospice nurse, Sr Charlotte, despite being in her 70’s, did not hesitate to give a year to help the sisters of Prouilhe during the Jubilee.)

When I stop and think, it’s really a privilege to be here; even though some things are difficult, it is just such a special place, and I’ve met so many special people here. I’ve enjoyed the groups just as they came: sisters, laypeople, couples. In most groups there would be someone who could speak a little English, and if not, I got by with sign language. Sometimes it was quite hilarious.

Of course we don’t wear the habit nowadays, and some people ask me about this, but I explain that it is the inner reality that counts, and that for the kind of work we do, it would not be so practical.

I enjoyed the groups of American sisters; that made it easier for me, being so far from home. In fact I write home every month, and so I keep a kind of journal, noting down things to tell the sisters back home; that way they are sharing in the Jubilee Year too at a distance.

It has been good to see the Prouilhe community expanding with new members who seem to be greatly valued, and it’s good too because it makes the work that bit lighter for the sisters.

I’ve appreciated the time I’ve had for prayer and reflection here. It’s good to be praying with the nuns; and I know that they pray for me and that’s great. They are interested in news from our congregation, and the fact that we are moving towards a union with other congregations. I tell the sisters at Prouilhe that we never know what God has in store for us and what decisions we light have to face in the future.

They are all keen to learn English. I don’t understand much French, but as a Swiss Dominican who came here on pilgrimage said to me: «Never mind about the language. Just thank God that you are here.» And I do.

The last word should go to a pilgrim, Sr Ruth Caspar o.p., congregation of St Mary of the Springs, Coumbus, Ohio, USA.

Like the back-packers who pass through Fanjeaux on their way to Santiago de Compostela, I came to Prouilhe during this 800th year anniversary celebration as a pilgrim. It was the year of my golden jubilee of profession as a Dominican Sister, and I came from my home in Columbus, Ohio (USA) to make my retreat in the region of the foundation of the Order and the first monastery of Dominican nuns. I had read in IDI of the newly established centre in Fanjeaux for Sister Historians of the Order of Preachers, in Fanjeaux, and learned that there were rooms there for study, research and prayer. Having recently edited our own history—that of the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary of the Springs— I was eager to support this project and could think of no better place to come for this retreat. SHOP welcomed me and provided me with the sacred space I needed for this time of prayer. We joined the Prouilhe community daily for Eucharist and Liturgy of the Hours. I was privileged to spend time alone in prayer on several occasions at the Maison St Dominique, to climb the hill to the Seignadou, and to reflect on the continuing mission in the Church of this ever-vibrant Order of Preachers. Praying daily with the international community of nuns and pilgrims from several continents, I recorded in my retreat journal my memories of these «times and spaces, the unexpected graces, the unforgettable faces.»

1 This is the home monastery of Sr Catalina, the prioress of Prouilhe.

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LETTER OF THE MASTER OF THE ORDER BRO BUENAVENTURA GARCÍA DE PAREDES O.P. TO THE SISTERS

1. FAMILY SPIRIT

Although everything we said in Our Letters sent to the whole Order together with the Acts of the General Chapter of Ocaña refer directly and mainly to the brothers, whose care we are in charge of, all of it has also much to do with our Nuns and Sisters. For this reason we believe that it is our duty to send them these Letters, adding furthermore some words about the family spirit through which all of us, descendants of the same Father Saint Dominic, need to be united.

All of us who received divine affiliation, through incorporation to Jesus Christ by Holy Baptism, have also received the spirit of Jesus Christ. Through this spirit we constitute a family, with Him as its Head. And the Apostle teaches that this spirit is infused in each one of us according to the measure of our donation to Christ, towards the perfection of His mystical body, which is the Church.

The holy Founders of the religious Orders received this divine gift more abundantly and in a way that gave them a certain specific character in the Church. Because they were chosen to be fathers of many nations, like Abraham in another era, they were made participants in the spiritual and divine paternity which, through an equally spiritual generation, had to transmit it to many others, giving birth to religious families that unceasingly continued in the Church the work begun by the Founders.

This is what the spiritual affiliation of every religious Order means. All those who, through religious profession, joined a Founder as disciples, while they externally put on his habit, internally they form their religious life by observing the fundamental norms they received from their common Father, and so constitute, inside the vast Christian family, a special and more intimate family. Every religious family possesses the spirit of their Founder as an inheritance. It lives by this spirit and thanks to it, throughout the ages, the character of a domestic community is kept alive, together with its own specific and indelible character that distinguishes it from the other religious families.

2. ITS UNITY IN DIVERSITY

Although due to the circumstances of the times, or because of the special conditions of the many different ministries they carry out for the good of their neighbour, according to the spirit of the Founder, not all the Dominican sisters fall under the immediate jurisdiction of the Order nor does their own government depend from the Master General. However, because our Order is only one, the substantial unity of all the branches of the Dominican tree should subsist and be kept whole. As a matter of fact, we are sons and daughters of a common Father. We are happy with this spiritual affiliation and we want to transmit it, as a sacred paternal inheritance, to all those who after us will receive the apostolic spirit and, in their turn, they shall spread it out by bearing abundant fruits.

The great variety of Congregations and Institutes that exist in the Order does not break in any way this unity of origin. It does not alter the nature or the quality of its blood and does not destroy what belongs to the family as a whole. It does not prevent us from keeping together the ties of filial devotion to the supreme Head of the big Dominican family. This same blood that flows through the veins of the whole body of the Order, carrying with it to all the body waves of spiritual and religious life, is in truth that inexhaustible and always life-giving spirit of our Father Saint Dominic. All those who consider themselves sons of Saint Dominic need to come to the full awareness of their Dominican affiliation, in such a way that all the members and all the branches of the Order should keep their unity, at least, by a sincere fraternity and a moral submission of them all to the supreme authority of the Master General of the Order, as the legitimate successor of Our Father Saint Dominic.

3. ITS EFFECTS

The Decree of incorporation and affiliation to the Order, which was asked from and was given by the Master General to several Dominican Congregations which were set up under the glorious banner of our Father according to his apostolic spirit in order to help people in the varied needs of the times, produces as its main result that the sisters embrace and acknowledge the unity of life with our contemplative Nuns and with the Friars of the first Order. It also brings about a secondary result, which in reality proceeds from the first, namely: common family ties, coordination of the different branches among themselves and subordination of all the members of the Order to its supreme Head. From this follows the sharing of the paternal wealth which were accumulated during the past seven centuries and constitute a very rich treasure of graces and merits, of whose fruits we have the right to participate and which we are duty bound to preserve and augment, in order to hand down enriched to future generations.

More than 5,500 religious brothers, spread all over the world in various convents or houses and in the Missions among the infidels, work in the sacred ministry for the salvation of souls. Forgetting past tribulations and struggling under the weight of the present time, they give themselves each day with more fervour to regular observance. With a more ardent commitment they strive to make study flourish more and more and, cooperating towards the triumph of the Catholic cause, they show their apostolic zeal in every type of activity against errors and vices.

More than 4,600 religious sisters consecrated to contemplative life live behind the walls of the monastery made voluntary victims of expiation and intercession, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, indomitably suffering restrictions on the use of things that are necessary for life and patiently bearing the neglect and contempt of men of our time who do not understand this kind of living.

Religious Sisters of our Third Order Regular are more than 24,000, spread in various Congregations and Institutes, and carry out their manifold works in all nations, both among Catholics and among Protestants and the infidels and, inflamed by the zeal of their love, help their neighbour in all sorts of corporal and spiritual needs ever more strongly.

If by divine favour all the sectors of the Dominican forces were to unite more closely among themselves, certainly the effective vigour of the Order would increase. Nobody would suffer any loss in doing this, but rather everyone will prosper greatly. The more intimately united to the immolation of the sisters of contemplative life the activities of the religious brothers and sisters are, the more they will bear fruit; and the more efficacious contemplative life will be, the more intensely religious sisters of active life will cooperate with it.

Since the beginning of our government it is our desire to obtain this more intimate unity in action. Totally trusting in our Lord, in the Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, our Mother, and in our Father Saint Dominic, we strongly hope that, notwithstanding the normal difficulties, this wish shall be fulfilled. From the moment in which we join the Order, one and the same family spirit gives us life; the same love for the common good of the Order beats in every Dominican heart; the same enthusiasm for the sacred apostolate, we received from the Holy Founder, burns as a flame in our hearts that unanimously desire the same things. The tools for action themselves, although they are different according to the diversity of their immediate goals, take on the same specific character regarding its external manifestation; and as to its internal constitution, they are made homogeneous by that higher unity which flows from the one spirit that imbues the whole Order.

4. HOW TO INTENSIFY IT

Regarding the means that have to be applied both to increase mutual relationships between the branches and the members of the Order and to continue in a practical way this more intimate, more perfect and more fruitful unity, conforming ourselves with what has been set down by the Elective General Chapter, celebrated last year in Ocaña, we determine:

1° That the Constitutions of our Nuns, written according to our Constitutions in everything that can be applied to the Nuns, be published as soon as possible after being approved by the Holy See. The General Chapter ordered that the Constitutions of the Nuns be preceded by the title Constitutions of the Nuns of the Holy Order of Preachers (according to the new rights of the Nuns), with no other addition such as, for example, the Second Order, as for some time they started to be called without any true reason based on the laws or the traditions of the Order.

2. Ask the Holy See that the Master General of the Order could, personally or through his delegates, make canonical visitations to the convents of the Nuns who are not subject to the immediate jurisdiction of the Order, and that they ask for this visitation. This would be done without undermining the jurisdiction of the local Ordinary, and with the aim solely to preserve and foment regular observance in line with the Constitutions and the praiseworthy customs according to the spirit of the Order as was received from our holy Founder and confirmed by tradition, in order that, in this manner the true and genuine spirit does not degenerate and neither be deviated by the influence of rules or customs or uses that are alien to the Order. The Master of the Order shall report to the Sacred Congregation of the Religious about this canonical visitation.

3. To negotiate with the Holy See so that the Master General, personally or through his delegates that shall be chosen from the Order, could make a canonical visitation every five years to all the Institutes of the Third Order Regular, both of pontifical or diocesan rights who have obtained or will obtain in the future the Decree of Affiliation to the Order. The only goal of this canonical visitation would be to strengthen and preserve the above mentioned Institutes in the true spirit of the Order.

4. All the Institutes of the Third Order Regular, be they of pontifical or diocesan rights, who have obtained or shall obtain the Decree of Affiliation to the Order, from now on, can use in their documents the sign that shows this affiliation adding the emblems of each Institute. At the same time, the Sisters who belong to these Institutes can add to their proper name and surname the words that designate the Order, namely, of the Order of Preachers, or in short the initials O.P., signing in this way: Sr. N.N., O.P.

5. In order that these means be more easily put into practice and so that we could provide with due diligence whatever pertains to the preservation of family ties, and to foment the intimate union between the many branches of the Order, so as to search for and keep all that is convenient to everybody, we establish in our General Curia a permanent commission made up of three of our Socii as Vocals and a Secretary who will be the same Secretary of Our General Council. The Convents of our Nuns and of the Institutes of the Third Order Regular spread all over the world can make recourse to this Commission. At present the following form part of this Commission:
V.R.Fr. Master Fr Luis Nolan, Provincial of Lithuania,
V.R.Fr. Master Fr. Antonino Ricagno, Provincial of Dacia,
V.R.Fr. Master Fr. Juan Casas, Provincial of Greece,
V.R.Fr. Lector Fr. Manuel Montoto;

the first three as Vocals, and the last one as Secretary.

And now, at the end of these Letters, we kindly ask you, beloved Sisters and Daughters, to receive these Letters in a spirit that corresponds to that of the fraternal affection and paternal love with which we have written and sent them.

As a sign and pledge of our affection in love, we bless you with all our heart, and insistently ask the help of your prayers for Us, for Our Socii and for the whole Order.

Fr Buenaventura García de Paredes,
Master General

L.+S.

Fr. Manuel Montoto,
Secretary

ORIGINAL: LATIN

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