Bartolome Blanco Marquez
Encyclopedia
Blessed Bartolomé Blanco Márquez Bartolomé Blanco Márquez was born in Pozoblanco
Pozoblanco
Pozoblanco is a town in the province of Córdoba, southern Spain, in the north-central part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located near the headwaters of the Guadamatillas and of other small sub-tributaries of the Guadiana, in the lowlands of Los Pedroches, which lie between the...

, Córdoba Province, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 in 1914. He was arrested as a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 leader—he was the secretary of Catholic Action
Catholic Action
Catholic Action was the name of many groups of lay Catholics who were attempting to encourage a Catholic influence on society.They were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic countries that fell under anti-clerical regimes such as Spain, Italy, Bavaria, France, and...

 and a delegate to the Catholic Syndicates—on Aug. 18, 1936. He was executed on Oct. 2, 1936, at age 21, while he cried out, “Long live Christ the King
Christ the King
Christ the King is a title of Jesus based on several passages of Scripture. It is used by most Christians. The Roman Catholic Church, together with many Protestant denominations, including the Anglican Churches, Presbyterians, Lutherans and Methodists, celebrate the Feast of Christ the King on the...

!"

Early life

Born on 25 November 1914, Bartolome was orphaned as a child, and raised by family with whom he worked. He was an excellent student, studying under the tutelage of the Salesians. He also served as a lay
Laity
In religious organizations, the laity comprises all people who are not in the clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained legitimate clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the...

 catechist, and at 18 was elected youth secretary of Catholic Action in Pozoblanco.

Arrest and Trial

On 18 August 1936, Bartolome was imprisoned while on military leave for refusing to be mobilised in the government's armed forces against Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...

's military rebellion of July; on September 24 he was moved to a prison in Jaen. There he was held with fifteen priests and other laymen; judged, condemned to death and shot on October 2, 1936, charged with refusing to serve in the army in time of war.


During his trial, Bartolome remained true to his faith and his religious convictions. He did not protest his death sentence and told the court that if he lived he would continue being an active Catholic.


The letters he wrote on the eve of his death to his family and to his girlfriend Maruja show his profound faith. ("A Martyr's Letter to His Girlfriend")


“May this be my last will: forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness; but indulgence, which I wish to be accompanied by doing them as much good as possible. Therefore, I ask you to avenge me with the vengeance of a Christian: returning much good to those that have tried to do me evil,” he wrote to his relatives.

According to documents supporting his cause for beatification
Beatification
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...

 Bartolome went to the site of his execution barefooted, "in order to be more conformed to Christ."

He kissed his handcuffs, surprising the guards that cuffed him. He refused to be shot from behind. “Whoever dies for Christ should do so facing forward and standing straight. Long live Christ the King!” he shouted as he fell to the ground under a shower of bullets.


Márquez was beatified 28 October 2007.

See also

  • God: Sole Satisfier
    God: Sole Satisfier
    Sole Satisfier is a term in Christian theology which refers to God as the only one who can satisfy human beings. The terminology is based on the teachings of St...

  • Christian martyrs
    Christian martyrs
    A Christian martyr is one who is killed for following Christianity, through stoning, crucifixion, burning at the stake or other forms of torture and capital punishment. The word "martyr" comes from the Greek word μάρτυς, mártys, which means "witness."...

  • Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War
    Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War
    Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War is the name given by the Catholic Church to the people who were killed by Republicans during the war because of their faith. As of July 2008, almost one thousand Spanish martyrs have been beatified or canonized...

  • Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati
    Pier Giorgio Frassati
    Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, T.O.S.D., was an Italian Catholic activist, who was a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic. He has been beatified by the Roman Catholic Church....

  • Blessed Alberto Marvelli
    Alberto Marvelli
    Alberto Marvelli was an Italian member of the Catholic Action.Born at Ferrara, he was given a Christian formation by his mother, who kept their home open to the poor...

  • Blessed Ivan Merz
    Ivan Merz
    Blessed Ivan Merz was a Bosnian-Croatian lay academic, beatified by Pope John Paul II on a visit at Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 23, 2003...

  • Blessed Chiara Badano
    Chiara Badano
    Chiara Badano, called Chiara “Luce” , was an Italian teenager who has been declared "Blessed" within the Catholic Church. She belonged to the Focolare Movement and died prematurely at eighteen after succumbing to osteosarcoma, an aggressive and painful form of bone cancer...

  • Dusty Miller (martyr)
    Dusty Miller (martyr)
    "Dusty" Miller was a British P.O.W. in Thailand on the Burma Railway during Second World War. His life and death is attested to in Ernest Gordon's autobiographical work Through the Valley of the Kwai .-Background:Miller was a gardener from Newcastle and a Methodist...

  • Forty Martyrs of Sebaste
    Forty Martyrs of Sebaste
    The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste or the Holy Forty were a group of Roman soldiers in the Legio XII Fulminata whose martyrdom in 320 for the Christian faith is recounted in traditional martyrologies.They were killed near Sebaste, in Lesser Armenia, victims of the persecutions of Licinius,...

  • Ivo Protulipac
    Ivo Protulipac
    Ivo Protulipac was a Croatian lawyer and important Catholic activist , who was assassinated by Yugoslav secret police in 1946....

  • Óscar Romero
    Óscar Romero
    Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez was a bishop of the Catholic Church in El Salvador. He became the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador, succeeding Luis Chávez. He was assassinated on 24 March 1980....

  • Drina Martyrs
    Drina Martyrs
    Drina Martyrs are the professed Sisters of the Congregation of the Daughters of Divine Charity, murdered because of their faith in Bosnia and Hercegovina between December 15 and 23, 1941.- Life :...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK