Martyrs beatified in Spain, France
December 15, 2025
Three groups of martyrs were beatified in two separate Masses on December 13.
Blessed Manuel Izquierdo Izquierdo (and 58 companions) and Blessed Antonio Montañés Chiquero (and 64 companions)—all slain out of hatred for the faith between 1936 and 1938, during the Spanish Civil War—were beatified in the cathedral in Jaén, Spain (video). Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, was the principal celebrant of the beatification Mass.
Blesseds Raymond Cayré, Gérard-Martin Cendrier, Roger Vallée, Jean Mestre, and 46 companions—killed out of hatred for the faith in 1944 and 1945, during the Nazi occupation of France—were beatified in Notre-Dame de Paris (video). Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ, was the principal celebrant.
“Let us praise the Lord for these martyrs, courageous witnesses to the Gospel, persecuted and killed for remaining close to their people and faithful to the Church,” Pope Leo XIV said yesterday, the day after the beatifications.
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