News & Events | September 22, 2025
Remembering a martyr
Today, September 22, we commemorate the feast of Blessed Juan María de la Cruz, SCJ. On March 11, 2001, Pope John Paul II declared him blessed along with other 233 martyrs of the Spanish Civil War.
In the midst of the turbulent years of civil strife in Spain from 1931-36, the Catholic Church in the country suffered one of the most difficult persecutions in its history. Churches, seminaries, rectories, monasteries and convents were sacked and destroyed. Thirteen bishops, 4,184 priests, 2,365 religious brothers, 283 nuns and thousands of lay Catholics were killed.
On July 23, 1936, Fr. Juan traveled to Valencia seeking refuge with one of the congregation’s benefactors. To hide his identity as a priest he dressed in a large, secondhand jacket. The oversized garment eventually earned him the nickname “Fr. Chaquet” (Fr. Big-Jacket).
Walking from the train station he passed the church of “los Santos Juanes” in the center of the city. There he witnessed men desecrating and burning the church. Fr. Juan shouted in protest. When the men heard his shouting, they said to each other: “He is a reactionary.”
“No, I am a priest!” said Fr. Juan.
That was all that was needed to arrest him. “We know he did absolutely nothing to hide his identity as a priest,” wrote Fr. Evarito Martinez de Alegria, SCJ, in his biography of Blessed Juan Maria. “He was clearly aware that he wasn’t imprisoned for his political ideas, but for being a priest and he knew that if he was going to be shot it was for this reason. So, in the short time of his captivity he started to manifest, simply, plainly and courageously, among his fellow prisoners that he was a Religious and a Priest… He practiced his ministry with whomever asked, encouraged everybody.”
On the night of August 23, 1936, after a month in a Valencia jail, where he cared for the pastoral needs of many prisoners, Blessed Juan Maria and nine others were shot to death and buried in a common grave. In 1940, his body was exhumed and could be identified by his profession cross; his Sacred Heart scapular, which had two bullet holes in it; and a small, bloodstained diary. Today, his body is buried at the SCJ seminary in Puente la Reina, Spain.
“God’s Blessings! Let all things be done according to the divine will,” wrote Fr. Juan Maria in a letter just days before his death. “I am very happy to be able to suffer with Him, because He suffered so much for me, a poor sinner.”
Click here to access a PDF of A Saint by Chance, the biography written by Fr. Alegria.
Click here to access a brief biography of Blessed Juan Maria on the province website.
Update
As we noted last week, Corrie Christiaansen of the Province Vocation Office got married earlier this month. Please note her new name and email address:
Corrie Wurster
cwurster@dehoniansusa.org
Corrie is Marketing and Office Manager for the Province Vocation Office.
Powwow WOW!
As we noted last week, St. Joseph’s Indian School held its 49th Annual Powwow over the weekend. Click here to go to the school’s Facebook page to see photos and videos from the event.
