For a long time we have lived keeping somewhat “muted” the memory of the long and painful persecutions which marked the century that has just passed (Mexico in the 20s, Spain in the 30s, Germany in the 40s, and Russia - for almost the entire century), and we have neglected to make it the subject of a much deeper ecclesiological or theological refection.
But since Pope John Paul II began to call these witnesses to the faith “martyrs for the great cause of God”, and launched the idea of bringing their “memory” to the fore, we too have begun to more attentively reflect on these events and on the meaning they can have for us and for the entire Church in the new millennium which has just begun.
The Pope’s call was already explicit in the encyclical “Tertio millennio adveniente”, which was written in 1996. He states, in fact, in that document
“In our century the martyrs have returned, many of them nameless, ‘unknown soldiers’ as it were of God’s great cause… As far as possible, their witness should not be lost to the Church” (TM 37).
This reality, recalled several more times by John Paul II during the course of the Great Jubilee, became a dominant theme in the Dehonian Family from the moment that the news was spread that, not only were there some Dehonians among the martyrs of the 20th century, but, indeed, that Fr. Mariano Garcia Méndez (1891-1936), in religion as Fr. Juan Maria de la Cruz, killed for the faith in Spain in 1936, was to be the first Dehonian priest proclaimed blessed.
As soon as the exact date of his beatification was known, the Superior General, Fr. Virginio Bressanelli, in his letter of December 18, 2000, immediately informed all the Dehonian Family, and also invited us to “draw up... a biographical memorial of those more outstanding figures amongst our brother and sisters who can serve as models and encouragement for us living out more sincerely the vocation and mission which is ours in the Church and world of our day”.
In addition to this invitation, addressed to everyone, to recover “a biographical memory” of our brethren who can be a stimulus for us, he himself added, as a post-scriptum to his letter, a list of approximately 50 brethren, which he qualified with the title “These are our martyrs” (Cf. also “Dehoniana” 2001/1 p. 43).
For us, the members of the Dehonian Family, this new millennium, therefore, started under the banner of Fr. Juan Maria de la Cruz, the first “blessed” of the Congregation. That is why the current issue of “Dehoniana” is almost entirely dedicated to the theme In Memory of Our Martyrs.
The first article is an extremely brief summary of the first chapters of the volume by Andrea Riccardi, entitled The Century of Martyrdom. It is a broad panorama of the numerous persecutions registered all through the 20th century, and of the marvelous and often heroic witness borne by so many martyrs.
The article that follows recalls the solemn celebration of the “beatification” of 233 Christians of the Diocese of Valencia (Spain) who were killed during the Spanish persecution of 1936. It presents the text on their spiritual profile, formulated by the Pope in the context of those celebrations (March 11 and 12, 2001). “They were men and women of all ages and states... They were killed for being Christians, for their faith in Christ, for being active members of the Church”.
The Central Dossier is dedicated above all to “our martyr”, Fr. Mariano Garcia Méndez (in religion Fr. Juan Maria de la Cruz), who is also the first Dehonian to be beatified. A first article briefly calls to mind the Spanish Revolution, in which Fr. Mariano was involved. Then the spiritual figure of our “blessed” is presented and the circumstances of his martyrdom are recalled. After, there follows the text of the Decree “on his martyrdom”, some extracts from his spiritual “diary” and, lastly, an invitation to see him as a model to be followed (“There is Room For You Too!”).
In the wake of Blessed Juan Maria de la Cruz, “commemoration” is made of some of our other brethren who also, in very different situations, have borne witness to their faith in Christ to the point of giving their life for the Gospel.
Three brief articles follow on the “Life of the Congregation” or on the ministerial experience of some of our brethren. And we finish with “something new”: this issue closes with the “review” of some S.C.J. books which have recently come out. The “review” does not offer critical evaluations on the works mentioned, but simply provides information on their “contents”.
Andrea Tessarolo