Bls. Amparo Rosat Balasch and Maria del Calvario Romero Clariana

During the 1930s in Spain, the Sisters of Christian Doctrine continued their apostolate of catechesis in the face of anti-Catholic hostility from partisans of the Popular Front. As the danger to the nuns increased, the younger sisters were sent home to their families. When at the outset of the Spanish Civil War in July of 1936 the remaining nuns had to leave their congregation's motherhouse in Valencia, these older sisters stayed together as a religious community under the direction of their superior general, (Blessed) Mother Angeles Lloret Marti. The seventeen nuns were imprisoned by the Popular Front, during which time they knitted jerseys for their persecutors. Two of the nuns were imprisoned at Carlet. Teresa Rosat Balasch, of Mislata, Spain, had taken the name Amparo upon joining the Sisters of Christian Doctrine. Josefa Romero Clariana, of Carlet, had taken the name Maria del Calvario. Mother Amparo, sixty-three years old, and Sister Maria, sixty-five, were executed on September 26. The fifteen other nuns were executed eight weeks later.