Martyred Marist brother beatified in Barcelona

July 14, 2025

Brother Lycarión May (1870-1909), a member of the Marists of Champagnat (Marist Brothers of the Schools), was beatified at St. Francis de Sales Parish in Barcelona, Spain, on July 12.

Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, presided at the Mass and preached the homily.

The prelate recalled that Blessed May was born in Switzerland, entered the Marist Brothers, and was assigned to Spain, where he “distinguished himself for his competence as an educator as well as for the exemplary nature of his life.” At his school in Barcelona, he educated “the children of workers in evangelical values ... exactly the opposite of the school of which the anarchists were proponents, that is, a school that was openly anti-religious and in particular anti-Christian.”

Blessed May was martyred in 1909, during Tragic Week.

“Yesterday, in Barcelona, Lycarion May (whose secular name was François Benjamin), a friar of the Institute of the Marist Brothers of the Schools, who was killed in 1909 out of hatred for the faith, was beatified,” Pope Leo XIV said at the conclusion of his Angelus address on July 13. “In hostile circumstances, he lived his educational and pastoral mission with dedication and courage. May the heroic witness of this martyr be an inspiration to all of us, especially those who work for the education of young people.”

 

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Further information:

• Br. Lycarion is now Blessed! (Marists of Champagnat)
• Educare e donare la vita (Dicastero delle Cause dei Santi)