SA国际传媒

By Seàn-Patrick Lovett

The first person to call them 鈥渕artyrs鈥� was the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Bergoglio, when he celebrated a memorial Mass for them in the Cathedral of La Rioja. Bishop Angelelli 鈥渟hed his blood鈥� for preaching the Gospel, said the future Pope Francis in his homily, and 鈥渢he blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church鈥�.

The meaning of martyrdom

On Saturday morning, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, returned to the meaning of martyrdom when he celebrated their Beatification Mass in La Rioja City Park. 鈥淭heir witness frustrates the claim to live selfishly or to build a model of society that is closed and without reference to moral and spiritual values鈥�, he said. 鈥淭he Martyrs exhort us鈥�to be heralds of peace, agents of justice, and witnesses of solidarity鈥�.

Who are these modern martyrs?

Bishop Enrique Angelelli was the son of Italian immigrants. His pastoral work, first in Córdoba and later in La Rioja, always focused on the poor and the oppressed.

This was Argentina in the mid-1970鈥檚, the start of what came to be known as the 鈥渄irty war鈥�, when right-wing death squads kidnapped, tortured and assassinated anyone suspected of being a political or ideological threat. 30,000 people disappeared, mostly students, trade unionists, journalists, artists, and sometimes priests.

Conventual Franciscan, Fr Carlos de Dios Murias, and French missionary, Fr Gabriel Longueville, worked together in the same rural parish, championing issues of social justice. In July 1976, they were tortured to death and their bodies left mutilated. A week later, a lay catechist, Wenceslao Pedernera, was shot to death in front of his wife and three daughters.

鈥淚t鈥檚 my turn next鈥�

Bishop Angelelli understood he was on a death squad list and would often say: 鈥淚t鈥檚 my turn next鈥�. On 4 August 1976, he was driving back home after celebrating Mass for the two murdered priests, when his truck was overturned and he was murdered at the side of the road. In 2014 an Argentine Court confirmed that his assassination was a 鈥減remeditated act鈥� and the result of 鈥淪tate-sponsored terrorism鈥�.  

In his homily at the Beatification Mass, Cardinal Becciu added that all four men were killed 鈥渂ecause of their active efforts to promote Christian justice鈥�. At the time of their murder, he continued, civil authorities did all they could to obstruct 鈥渃ommitment to social justice and to promoting the dignity of the human person鈥�.

Models of Christian life

The Cardinal called these four Blesseds 鈥渕odels of Christian life鈥�. The example of Bishop Angelelli, he said, 鈥渢eaches today's pastors to exercise their ministry with burning charity, remaining strong in faith鈥�. The example of the two priests, he added, 鈥渆xhorts today's priests not to compromise, to remain faithful at all costs鈥�. The father of the family, he concluded, 鈥渢eaches the laity to distinguish themselves by the transparency of their faith, letting themselves be guided by it鈥�.