Given the turn that events took at the outbreak of the Civil War, the Salesians of the First Monastery of the Visitation in Madrid rented a semi-basement at number 4 of the nearby Calle de Manuel González Longoria, in case things got worse, as indeed they did. The seven remaining Salesians of the Community had to move to this flat-refuge on July 18, 1936, while the rest of the nuns went to Oronoz (Navarre). After a few weeks of relative tranquility, they were denounced for being religious. In these four months they suffered several registrations.
Today, November 17, the third record is due. In the morning, the anarchist militias show up at the “refuge” of the Salesians. The search was extremely violent. The threats and insults show that the end is near. The fundamental purpose of the search was to urge what the anarchists had prepared for the next day.
José Luis Gutiérrez García states in his work “Unidas hasta la muerte” (Madrid, 1998): “The Sisters understood it that way. Women tend to have in this, as in so many things, a realistic intuition that is more accurate than that of men.” Tomorrow will be all in a row: the last search, the arrest and martyrdom.
As the militiamen of the FAI (International Anarchist Federation) were leaving, they said, addressing the nuns: “See you tomorrow!” They understood that the hour of the power of darkness had come.
Sr. Mª Engracia Lecuona, once the militiamen had left, said to everyone: “A pity to waste such a good opportunity to go to heaven with Our Lord!” And he added: “The Lord announces to us that from one moment to the next he will give us the palm of martyrdom.”
The doorman and his wife, who were impressed, went in immediately. Manuel, as he was called, broke the silence and also, for the third time, once for each search, invited them to leave immediately “one by one to put them in consulates.” Mother Superior Maria Gabriela, before responding to the doorman’s courageous offer, gathered her companions in the room and told them that they had full freedom to leave the apartment and seek safer refuge. And she added that the hour of the last test had come and it was necessary to accept it willingly. The answer was once again unanimous and the same as on the two previous occasions: they would all remain there together until death.
THESE ARE THEIR NAMES
BLESSED MARÍA GABRIELA HINOJOSA NAVEROS
SHe was born in the picturesque and important town of Alhama (Granada), on July 24, 1872. For her parents, Juan de Hinojosa and Manuela Naveros, it comes as a gift from heaven, as all her siblings are now grown. Soon she was baptized giving her the name of Amparo, which she would later change to Maria Gabriela in religious life. When she was seven years old, she lost her parents, and her older brother Eduardo, who lives in Madrid, received her with great affection as a tutor. As Amparo is of a jovial, cheerful and affectionate character, she delights her family. He has a great love for the Virgin and consecrates himself to her.
It is precisely at the foot of the grotto of Lourdes that she feels the call of Jesus to religious life. He is only fifteen years old and responds with a generous yes; but her older brother finds her very young and decides to wait a bit. At the age of nineteen he entered the First Monastery of the Visitation in Madrid, and this separation was very painful for him as well as for his entire family.
Upon entering the Monastery, she fervently undertook her religious formation. A great lover of the Order and its vocation, she allowed herself to be deeply filled with its spirit, becoming “a living rule” for all her Sisters.SHe had a great devotion to the Eucharist and that she communicated to others. In 1936, when the revolution broke out, the Community left for Oronoz (Navarre), and Sister Maria Gabriela remained in Madrid, as superior of the group, to take care of the Monastery along with other nuns. The last words of hers that are preserved are: “We are praying, thanking God that our time has come.” Her whole life was one of praise to God for all that He had bestowed upon her.
BLESSED JOSEFA MARÍA BARRERA IZAGUIRRE
She was born in El Ferrol (La Coruña), on May 23, 1881, and was the eldest of five siblings. Graceful, kind, calm, she is always smiling. Since she was a child she has wanted to be a Carmelite and her greatest fun is dressing as a nun with the first thing she finds. Thus dressed, she goes to the mirror and contemplates herself satisfied, puts her arms on a cross, looks at the sky and believes herself to be another Saint Therese. Her father Emilio Barrera, commander of the Navy, satisfies all her whims. But her mother, María Izaguirre, knows how to combine affection with firmness, acting as a counterweight and correcting her defects: she is a bit sleepy and does not like the chores of the house. Already in the Monastery she regretted having been vain and abusing her father’s predilection.
On October 15, 1918, he entered the First Monastery of the Visitation in Madrid, making her dedication to the Lord a reality in religious life. In 1936 she was chosen by the superior to remain in Madrid, among the group of the seven Sisters. Her family wanted to take her home, but she refuses because she has said with her companions: “We have promised Jesus the seven united not to separate. If Spain is to be saved by shedding our blood, we ask the Lord to do so as soon as possible.” At the beginning of her life she had said: “I don’t have the makings of a martyr.” Now, in the hands of the divine Maker, it has been carved and transformed into a faithful image of Christ. Her face is totally disfigured by the impact of the bullets, but God recognizes her because He sees in her His painful Image.
BLESSED TERESA MARÍA CAVESTANY ANDUAGA
SHe was born on July 30, 1888 in Puerto Real (Cádiz), although she lived in the capital of Spain for almost her entire life. Her father, Juan Antonio Cavestany, is a great writer and distinguished poet. Her mother, Margarita Anduaga, a finished model of a strong woman who finds in God help to fulfill her duties as a wife and mother. The Lord blesses them with sixteen children. Teresa has a great personality, and although the world presents her with its compliments, she desires to give herself to God. Nothing stopped her and she entered the Monastery of the Visitation on December 18, 1914. When she took the habit she received the name of Teresa Maria, and happily wrote: “I have only one desire, insatiable, immense: the desire, the thirst for God! Only God!”
In 1936, the superior chose her to remain in Madrid.
BLESSED MARIA INÉS ZUDAIRE GALDEANO She was born in Echávarri (Navarra) on January 28, 1900. She was baptized the next day and given the name Inés. Her parents, Valentín Zudaire and Francisca Galdeano, offered her a Christian home imbued with the presence of God. The Lord blessed the Zudaire home with six children and set his sights on two of them: Florencio, who entered the Marists, and Inés, who, with the enthusiasm of her 19 years, presented herself at the first Monastery of the Visitation in Madrid. The novice mistress soon realized that she was very good, candid, and that, like soft wax, she could be molded very well because she had a great desire to give herself to God. When she put on the habit, her name was not changed, only that of Mary was added, and so it was more to her liking, since she loved the Virgin so much. When in 1931, due to religious persecution, she had to take refuge in Oronoz, Sister Maria Inés, despite the suffering that this entailed, felt great joy at being able to see her land and family. A sister who visited her complained that after three years of marriage she had no children and Sister Maria Inés asked her if she wanted them and when she answered yes, she said: “-Next year you will have a child.” And so it happened. Sister Maria Inés believed and trusted in the Lord. The situation became complicated in 1936 and the Community returned to Oronoz. Despite her cowardice, because she was afraid, she agreed to stay with the group and told her Sisters who were leaving: “-Pray a lot for us, they could kill us.” And God accepted her sacrifice and united it to His own.
BLESSED MARIA ANGELA OLAIZOLA GARAGARZA She was born in Azpeitia, like Saint Ignatius, on November 12, 1893. She was the eighth and, like the one from Loyola, the last of her siblings. Her parents, José Ignacio Olaizola and Justa Garagarza, baptized her on the same day of her birth. When she heard the call of Jesus inviting her to follow him, she did not wait and arrived at the First Monastery of the Visitation in Madrid in 1918 as an external Sister. As she was intelligent and humble, her superiors designated her to remain in Madrid during the exile of the Community. During this time she had the consolation of seeing her nephew Justo, who, surprised to see his aunt at peace, insisted on taking her home, far from danger, but she told him: “My place is here, then, may God’s will be fulfilled.” Devoted entirely to God’s plans, she courageously awaits the hour of shedding her blood for Him. The Lord has granted her wish to remain hidden. Very few things of hers have been preserved and not even her body could be recovered. But her simple and faithful life is an eloquent message for all.
BEATA MARÍA ENGRACIA LECUONA ARAMBURU
Peter and Matilda form a Christian family blessed by God with fourteen children. They live in a Gipuzkoan farmhouse in Oyarzun. Josefa Joaquina, who is the eldest, was born on July 2, 1897. She has been distinguished since she was very young for her intelligence and sense of responsibility. She learns from her parents the love of work and, above all, of serving God, of loving him with all her heart and making those around her happy. SHe sets up a school in his house so that the children of the vicinity can learn Christian doctrine and he has great patience with them. SHe has always desired religious life and, as his desires increase day by day,s he communicates the decision to his parents. They grant her permission with great sorrow but happy to have a daughter consecrated to the Lord.
From a young age she had attracted attention for her love for the Virgin, to whom she had given herself as a slave and it was on the eve of the Immaculate Conception of 1924 when she entered the First Monastery of the Visitation of Santa María in Madrid. When the Community took refuge in Oronoz in 1931, she, who was an external Sister, multiplied to get everything that was needed. Her affable face, her kindness and sympathy won all hearts and she soon became popular in that small town and its surroundings.
In 1936, the Lord asked her to stay in Madrid and this sacrifice was even more costly when she saw her sister Maria, who had also entered the Monastery two years earlier, leave with the Community. In the shelter she spread joy to the Sisters in the midst of an atmosphere of prayer, sacrifice and warm fraternity. They knew the danger they were in, but they wanted to stay together and prepared for the imminent martyrdom by keeping vigil all night, in deep intimacy with the Lord. She looked impatient, “she flew with fervor,” the witnesses say: “We are still here, Carmen, the Lord does not want us yet, but he will come…” And “his time” arrives. Her life ends immolated for the sake of the purest and most perfect Love. Holy joy and joy crown his martyrial strength.
BLESSED MARÍA CECILIA CENDOYA ARAQUISTAIN
Antonio and Isabel gave birth to little Mª Felicitas on January 10, 1910, in Azpeitia (Guipúzcoa). She grows up happily next to her siblings. Their parents impress upon the hearts of their children the holy fear of God and a solid piety.
Her mother said that she had something different from the others, however when she expressed the desire to be a nun, she said: “-You nun, with that genius…? You have to correct that genius if you want to be a nun” and recalled that it changed from that moment on.
Determined and cheerful, at the age of twenty she entered the First Monastery of the Visitation in Madrid, on October 9, 1930. In her taking of habit she receives the name of Mª. Cecilia. Her lively temperament contrasted with her kind, simple, humble, self-sacrificing and very helpful character. “SHe was the angel of small practices,” the sisters used to say.
From the beginning she suffered all the consequences of religious persecution: riots, voting, burning of churches and convents, dispersion of his Community, etc. During these years she had many opportunities to go with her family, but for love of Jesus and her vocation she never accepted the proposals and always said with tenacity that she did not want to leave for anything in the world. She was the Sister who suffered the most, she was the youngest and had not been in the convent for long, she did not know anyone and also did not know how to express herself well in Spanish, all this made her last loneliness more painful, although God watched over her and filled her with strength.
GETHSEMANE NIGHT
We left the seven Sisters, on the evening of this November 17, in their shelter, aware of the immediate reality of mortal risk in which they live. Tonight, they won’t sleep. They will spend a vigil of prayer, personal and community.
There are two events missing: the first will take place the day after tomorrow in the middle of the street, on the corner of López de Hoyos and Velázquez. The second will take us until November 23. Seven Salesians are going to give their lives for Christ. They don’t take it away, they offer it.
Source: Sunset on November 17, on González Longoria Street in Madrid – ReL