Madrid Bishops: Martyrs Are a Force for Today
The letter 'Love is stronger than death!' readies the faithful for Nov. 28's Almudena beatification of nine seminarians, a priest and a layman.
On Friday, November 6, 2026—the memorial of the twentieth-century martyrs of Spain—the bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Madrid presented the pastoral letter "Love is stronger than death!" The text prepares the faithful for the beatification of Ignacio Aláez Vaquero and ten companions, set for Saturday, November 28, at noon in Madrid’s Almudena Cathedral.
Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, will preside on behalf of Pope Leo XIV, who recognized their martyrdom on December 18, 2025. The group comprises nine young seminarians, one priest, and one layman, killed in the religious persecution of the Spanish Civil War era at sites including Fuencarral, the La China neighborhood, the Almudena cemetery, Pozo del Tío Raimundo, near Aravaca, Alcalá de Henares, Soto de Aldovea, Paracuellos, and Valdemoro.
Nine Seminarians, a Priest, and a Father
Among the seminarians are Ignacio Aláez Vaquero, 22, of Madrid; Ángel Trapero Sánchez-Real, 20; Cástor Zarco García, 24, a subdeacon; Jesús Sánchez Fernández, 21; Miguel Talavera Sevilla, 18; Pablo Chomón Pardo, 21; Antonio Moralejo Fernández-Shaw, 19; Mariano Arrizabalaga Español, 21, of Barbastro studying at Comillas; and Ramón Ruiz Pérez, 24, of Toledo. With them are Fr. Julio Pardo Pernía, 63, uncle of Pablo Chomón and chaplain to the Hospitaller Sisters in Ciempozuelos, and Liberato Moralejo Juan, 60, father of Antonio.
The bishops write that “the memory of these martyrs is not a merely historical recollection, but a true force for the present.” They call the martyrs “a powerful voice” that points to “the dignity of conscience, the freedom of every person, and hope in life beyond death.” They quote lines Ignacio Aláez addressed to Christ in the tabernacle: “What does it matter to me, Jesus in the Sacrament, if at last I have made you loved?” and affirm that “the fecundity of a life is not measured only by the years it lasts, nor by the projects it achieves, but by the love with which it is lived.”
A Call to Vocations and Reconciliation
The letter recalls words of Pope Leo XIV at the youth vigil in Madrid on June 6, 2026: “the disciples of Jesus are always contemporary, but never prisoners of the passing time.” The bishops invite seminaries and young people to vocational discernment and to reconciliation. The five seminaries of the three dioceses have prepared the event with retreats and readings of the martyrs’ surviving writings.
A prayer vigil for young people is scheduled for Friday, November 27, at 8 p.m. in the Almudena Cathedral. Thanksgiving Masses will follow on Sunday, November 29, at noon in the Almudena Cathedral; Friday, December 4, at 8:15 p.m. at the monastery of San Bernardo in Alcalá de Henares; and Friday, December 11, at 7:30 p.m. at the sanctuary of Cerro de los Ángeles in Getafe.