Bl. Lucio Martinez Mancebo and Companions

Late in the afternoon of July 27, 1936, soldiers of the anti-Catholic Popular Front raided the Dominican friary of Calanda, Spain. The Dominican novice master, Father Lucio Martinez Mancebo, and six other Dominican priests under his charge were led away to prison. In the course of the next two days, the seven religious filled the time between interrogations with repeated acts of contrition and the devotion of Spiritual Communion (a petition to receive Christ into one's soul spiritually when Holy Communion is not possible). On the night of July 29, the seven Dominicans and a sixty-eight-year-old parish priest, Father Manuel Albert Gines, were taken by truck to an execution site outside the city. Along the way, the eight recited the rosary aloud. One of the Dominicans, Father Felicisimo Diez Gonzalez, gave a fountain pen as a present to their persecutors. Upon disembarking from the truck, each of the eight priests forgave their executioners in advance for what they were about to do. The priests exclaimed together, "Long live Christ the King," as they were gunned down.