The Church will have eleven new blesses. During the audience granted this Friday, October 24, to Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Pope Leo XIV  authorized the promulgation of the decrees concerning the martyrdom of nine Polish Salesians murdered between 1941 and 1942 in hatred of the faith in the Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps, as well as two diocesan priests from the former Czechoslovakia executed between 1951 and 1952 during the religious persecution undertaken by the communist regime established in the country after World War II.

Decrees were also issued recognizing the heroic virtues of four Servants of God, who became Venerable: María Evangelista Quintero Malfaz, a Cistercian nun; Angelo Angioni, a diocesan priest and founder of the Missionary Institute of the Immaculate Heart of Mary; José Merino Andrés, a Dominican priest; and Gioacchino de la Reina de la Paz, a friar of the Order of Discalced Carmelites.

Martyrs in Nazi concentration camps

The Salesians Jan Świerc, Ignacy Antonowicz, Ignacy Dobiasz, Karol Golda, Franciszek Harazim, Ludwik Mroczek, Włodzimierz Szembek, Kazimierz Wojciechowski and Franciszek Miśka, dedicated to pastoral and educational work, were victims of Nazi persecution following the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, which was particularly harsh against the Catholic Church.

Unaware of the political tensions of the time, they were arrested solely for being Catholic priests. The same hatred that plagued the entire Polish clergy, who were persecuted and abused, was unleashed upon them. In the concentration camps, they offered spiritual solace to their fellow prisoners and, despite the humiliation and torture they suffered, continued to manifest their faith.

Insulted by their ministry, they were tortured and murdered or died due to the inhumane conditions of their detention. Aware that their pastoral work was considered by the Nazis to be a form of opposition to the regime, they continued to carry out their apostolic mission, faithful to their vocation and serenely accepting the risk of arrest, deportation, and ultimately execution.

Martyrs under the Czechoslovak communist regime

Diocesan priests Jan Bula and Václav Drbola of the Brno diocese were murdered in Jihlava out of hatred for the faith. Due to their pastoral zeal, both were considered dangerous by the communist regime that had been established in what was then Czechoslovakia in 1948, which launched an open persecution of the Church.

Father Bula was arrested on April 30, 1951, the victim of a conspiracy by the state secret police. While in prison, he was falsely accused of inspiring the July 2, 1951, attack in Babice, which killed several communist officials. He was subjected to a sham trial, sentenced to death, and hanged on May 20, 1952, in Jihlava prison.

Father Drbola was arrested under false pretenses on June 17, 1951, also accused of the Babice bombing, and imprisoned in the same prison. Sentenced to death, he was executed on August 3, 1951. Both priests were tricked and imprisoned by a frame-up orchestrated by false witnesses; they suffered torture and violence that led to the manipulation of facts and the forced signing of false confessions.

Aware of the danger they faced in a context of open hostility toward the Church, they accepted their fate with faith and trusting abandonment to God’s will, as evidenced by the letters written before their execution and the words of the priest who confessed Jan Bula before his death.

The four new Venerables

With the decrees promulgated today, the Church recognizes four new Servants of God as Venerable.

María Evangelista Quintero Malfaz, born on January 6, 1591, in Cigales (Spain), came from a deeply Christian family. Orphaned by both parents, she followed her religious vocation and entered the Cistercian monastery of Santa Ana in Valladolid. Exemplary in the offices she held, she had mystical experiences that she recorded, guided by her confessors Gaspar de la Figuera and Francisco de Vivar.

In 1632, she was sent to the new Cistercian monastery of Casarrubios del Monte (Toledo), where she was appointed abbess on November 27, 1634. She fostered a life of prayer and contemplation, continuing her mystical experiences, some with visible signs. In 1648, her health deteriorated severely, and she died on November 27 of that year. Five years later, her remains were found incorrupt, while her reputation for holiness grew. Her life was marked by constant dialogue with God and by her desire to offer herself as a victim alongside Christ for the conversion of sinners.

Angelo Angioni, a diocesan priest, was born on January 14, 1915, in Bortigali (Sardinia), into a large family of strong faith. Ordained on July 31, 1938, he served as vicar and parish priest for ten years. In 1948, he was appointed rector of the diocesan seminary of Ozieri, where he promoted the creation of a community of missionary priests dedicated to popular and foreign missions, inspired by Blessed Paolo Manna.

He was sent as a  fidei donum priest to Rio Preto, Brazil, where he carried out intense pastoral, social, and educational work. He founded the Missionary Institute of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, made up of priests, deacons, contemplative nuns, and lay people. Thanks to his initiative, churches, chapels, retirement homes, and spaces for the elderly and parish activities were built. He also founded a printing press to publish educational materials and an Institute of Religious Sciences.

He suffered two strokes, in 2000 and 2004, which limited his activity. Likewise, he died on September 15, 2008. His life reflected love for the Lord, evangelical poverty, and ardent apostolic zeal.

José Merino Andrés was born in Madrid on April 23, 1905. His vocation matured in the parish and in Catholic Action. He entered the Dominican convent of San Esteban in Salamanca on July 22, 1933, and was ordained a priest six years later. He served in the convents of La Felguera (Asturias) and Nuestra Señora de Atocha (Madrid), devoting himself fervently to preaching and the sacraments.

In 1949 he was sent to Mexico for popular missions and, upon his return, he became a novice master in Palencia, where he trained more than 700 young people between 1950 and 1966. Despite his fragile health, he continued his missionary work until his death on December 6, 1968. He was an exemplary religious, deeply devoted to the Virgin Mary, humble, poor, and obedient, always animated by a firm faith and a confident hope in divine mercy.

Gioacchino della Regina della Pace, born Leone Ramognino on February 12, 1890, in Sassello (Liguria), was named after Pope Leo XIII. He grew up in a very religious family and worked as a carpenter. He served in the First World War as a corporal, excelling in the construction of bridges and canals on the Isonzo and Piave rivers, for which he was awarded the Knight of Vittorio Veneto.

After the war, he collaborated with his parish priest in founding the San Luigi Circle for youth education and helped create a group of Catholic scouts. He promoted the construction of the Shrine of the Queen of Peace on Mount Beigua, of which he served as custodian from 1927, living there as a hermit for a decade.

In 1951, he entered the Varazze Desert Convent of the Discalced Carmelites, where he continued his service to the shrine until his death on August 25, 1985, at the age of 95. He devoted long hours to prayer before the Tabernacle and displayed a tender devotion to the Virgin. Charitable and welcoming, he was an example of spiritual life for the novices, so much so that people affectionately called him “Ninu u santu.”