Subj : =?UTF-8?Q?July_20th_=E2=80=93_Bl=2E_Rita_Dolores_Pujalte_Sanchez_=26_Co To : All From : rich Date : Fri Jul 19 2019 09:57:56 From: rich July 20th =E2=80=93 Bl. Rita Dolores Pujalte Sanchez & Companions Born in Aspe, Spain, February 19, 1853; died July 20, 1936; beatified recently. These eight nuns were martyrs of the Spanish Revolution. Rita's parents, Antonio Pujalte and Luisa Sanchez, raised their five children in a deeply Christian household. As a young girl she was a model of piety: she belonged to the Daughters of Mary, the Third Order of Saint Francis, the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, and was a catechist as well. In 1888, she entered the Sisters of Charity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and took her temporary vows two years later. Highly esteemed by her community, she was given positions of responsibility, and the foundress, before dying in 1899, recommended that she be elected Superior General, which she was in 1900. Mother Rita served as superior until 1928, when she retired to devote herself to prayer and recollection at Saint Susanna's College in Madrid. On July 20, 1936, the revolutionaries attacked Saint Susanna's College, battering the doors and firing shots. Aware of the danger, all the sisters had prayed the Rosary in the chapel and then were commending their souls. The superior asked the soldiers to allow the blind, 83-year-old Mother Rita and the sick Sister Francisca to leave. The two religious took refuge in a nearby apartment. Two hours later a group of armed revolutionaries dragged the two elderly sisters down the stairs and took them to a Madrid suburb, near the town of Canillejas. There the soldiers forced the two sisters out of the car and shot them. The next day the doctors performing the autopsy were astonished that the bodies were not stiff and were emitting an indescribable perfume. When the bodies were exhumed in 1940 to be taken to the Almudena cemetery in Madrid, the doctors and other witnesses said that the bodies were still flexible and retained the color of the living. Because of their reputations for holiness, in 1954 their uncorrupted bodies were taken to Villaverde, near Madrid, and installed in the chapel of their institute's college. Six Visitation nuns also joyfully faced martyrdom for the Catholic faith. They all came from devout Christian families and were all members of the Madrid house of the Order of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, founded in France in 1610 by St. Francis de Sales and Saint Jane Frances de Chantal. The religious persecution intensified in early 1936. Realizing the danger of remaining in Madrid, the Visitation community moved to Oronoz, leaving behind a group of six nuns in the charge of Sister Maria Gabriela do Hinojosa. By July they were confined to their apartment, where they enjoyed relative peace. However, an antireligious neighbor reported them to the authorities; their freedom was curtailed, their belongings confiscated, and arrests followed. Nevertheless, they refused to seek refuge in the consulates to save their lives. Their fervor was stronger than the threat of death. When their apartment was searched on November 17, they expressed a desire to die for the faith, exclaiming: "What a joy, martyrdom is not far off!" and spent the night in prayer. The following evening, a patrol of the Iberian Anarchist Federation broke into the apartment and ordered all the sisters to leave. The majestic serenity of the nuns contrasted strikingly with the noisy mob. They were taken by van to a vacant area. As they held hands, a barrage of gunfire shattered their bodies, except for the 26-year-old Maria Cecilia, who had unwittingly started to run when she felt the sister next to her fall. Moments afterwards she surrendered, declaring herself a nun. Five days later she was shot at the cemetery wall in Vallecas on the outskirts of Madrid. Bible Quote: I am coming again, and I will take you to Myself; that where I am, there you also may be. (John 14:3) Saint Quote: Zeal without knowledge is always less useful and effective than informed zeal, and is very often dangerous! --St. Bernard of Clairvaux <><><><> Morning Prayer of St Alphonsus Liguori My most sweet Lord, I offer and consecrate to You this morning all that I am and have =E2=80=93 my senses, my thoughts, my affections, my desires, my pleasures, my inclinations, my liberty. In a word, I place my whole body and soul in Your hands. Amen --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .