Fights as Spanish Civil War clergy are beatified

Angry protests have erupted as the Vatican staged its largest beatification ceremony ever, setting 498 Catholic clergy killed in the Spanish Civil War on the path to possible sainthood.

While 60,000 pilgrims attended the ceremony in St Peter's Square, fighting broke out between Left-wing anti-Church demonstrators and Catholic worshippers at a nearby church...

The Vatican estimates that up to 7,000 clergy died in attacks that began in 1931 and intensified during the 1936-1939 civil war.

Leftists....Figures...

Recently, other daily meditations were posted here from "The Priest at Prayer" by Fr. Eugenio Escribano, a Spanish Vincentian priest who died in 1951.

Those meditations were taken from his work, Meditaciones Sacerdotales which was published in 1928 and translated and published in English in 1954. The first volume of his Meditaciones Sacerdotales was held in such regard that several Spanish Bishops of the time recommended it to their clergy. The Preface of that book relates that Fr. Escribano's writings strengthened the spiritual life of the clergy who were to be called to martyrdom in during the Spanish Civil War.

Certainly, it requires tremendous courage to accept martyrdom and this courage comes from the grace of God and one's willingness to accept that grace and do the will of our Father. May all of these newly named Blesseds pray for us so that we might also have the courage to be strong in the face of adversity and trials.