Missionaries of Barbastro …. Companions of ideals

In these days, as Claretian family, we are invited to enter the spiritual sanctuary of the martyrs of Barbastro, a path of surrender, where the main mission was to be faithful to their own vocation.

Our brothers, with great courage, knew how to put music to their faith, a group of priests and seminarians who, in times of the Spanish civil war, in the midst of the persecution of Christians, bet on the resurrection.

Their executioners sought to make them desist from their faith, and paradoxically they succeeded in making their choice and dedication complete.

As we remember their lives during these days, may it help us to grow in hope, may their strength be the support of our own, and in the firmness of their love, may we recognise the creative power of God’s love.

“Missionaries of Barbastro,

blood united in holocaust

of the house of Claret,

companions of ideals,

radical followers

of Jesus of Nazareth, (…)

Martyrial Eucharist,

the three vows, day by day,

made you an oblation

in Mary’s forge;

and today you know how to die on your feet

between song and pardon,

Claretians in mission

of witnesses to the faith. (…)

 (Casaldáliga)