On May 22, Pope Leo XIV approved the promulgation of six decrees from the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, following an audience granted to its prefect, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro.
With the pontiffʼs authorization, 80 martyrs of the Spanish Civil War and the Lebanese Patriarch Elias Hoyek will be beatified. In addition, Salesian missionary Constantino Vendrame; discalced Carmelite from Cameroon Brother Jean Thierry; Spanish religious María Ana Alberdi Echezarreta; and Brother Nazareno da Pula, a Capuchin lay brother, will be declared venerable.
The 80 ‘Martyrs of Santander’ to be beatified
Just days before the start of his apostolic journey to Spain, Pope Leo XIV authorized the decree recognizing the martyrdom of Francisco González de Córdova and 79 companions — consisting of 67 priests, three Carmelites, three seminarians, and seven laypeople — who were killed during the Spanish Civil War in Santander in northern Spain.
According to the Diocese of Santander, the martyrs, soon to be beatified, died without renouncing their faith and while forgiving their attackers, even praying for them. Some of them were thrown into the Cantabrian Sea with their hands and feet bound; others were executed and burned, or disappeared aboard the ship “Alfonso Pérez,” which had been converted into a prison by the Popular Front of the Second Spanish Republic.
The priest Francisco González de Córdova refused to cease celebrating Mass and administering the sacraments, which he continued to impart clandestinely until his arrest. During his captivity, he continued to hear the confessions of his companions and blessed them before their execution. He was murdered in the hold of the prison ship.
Elias Hoyek, ‘Father of Greater Lebanon’
The patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, Venerable Elias Hoyek, will be declared blessed as the pontiff has approved a miracle attributed to his intercession.
Born on Dec. 4, 1843, in Helta, he founded the Congregation of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family in Ebrine, northern Lebanon, the first female religious institute of apostolic life in the Maronite Church.
He was elected patriarch of Antioch and of All the East for the Maronites in 1899, a position he held for more than 30 years “with great dedication and pastoral sensitivity, constantly attending to the formation of the clergy and the catechesis of the faithful,” the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints notes.
The future blessed aided the Lebanese people during the First World War, placing convents and monasteries at their disposal, a gesture for which he was sentenced to deportation, though he was ultimately able to remain in Lebanon thanks to the intervention of Pope Benedict XV.
At the Congress of Versailles, he advocated for the independence of his homeland, which had been part of the Ottoman Empire during the war, achieving the proclamation of the new State of Greater Lebanon on Sept. 1, 1920; for this reason, he is known as the “Father of Greater Lebanon.”
He used his influence to humbly assist those in need, regardless of their social standing.
4 new venerables
The Holy Father also approved the heroic virtues of Servant of God Constantine Vendrame (1893–1957). Also known as the “Apostle of Shillong,” he was a Salesian missionary from Italy who evangelized in India.
The Servant of God Nazareno da Pula (1911–1992), a Capuchin lay brother, will also be declared venerable.
Leo XIV likewise authorized the recognition of the heroic virtues of the Servant of God María Ana Alberdi Echezarreta (1912–1998), baptized as María de la Concepción Cruz, abbess of the monastery of the Franciscan Conceptionist Sisters.
Finally, the pope authorized the recognition of the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Jean-Thierry of Jesus the Child and of the Passion (1982–2006), a professed religious of the Order of Discalced Carmelites.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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