On August 12 and 13, the Church celebrates the holiness of 51 martyrs, mostly seminarians, who were killed during the Spanish Civil War in the small town of Barbastro.

On July 20, 1936, shortly after the Spanish Civil War began, a group of anarchists stormed a Claretian community in Barbastro and imprisoned 51 missionaries; they would be persecuted, humiliated, and then martyred for their faith.

Barbastro had quickly become a center of the bloody war, despite being a rather small town. The rebels imprisoned the Benedictines from a nearby monastery, and the Piarists who ran a local school. In fact, the school itself was made the prison, given that the small town had no place to suddenly house so many "prisoners."

Barbastro was the diocese that suffered the greatest percentage of clergy martyrdoms in the War;  a total of 18 Benedictines, 9 Piarists, 51 Claretians, 13 canons of the Cathedral, 114 diocesan priests, 5 diocesan seminarians, and a bishop were martyred.

The anarchists arrested the group of Claretians on July 20 and held them captive until they were shot over the course of a few days; "arrested" though there was no charge of a crime. The majority of them were in their early 20's, having arrived in Barbastro just some weeks before for their last academic year of seminary.

During their long ordeal, the Claretians had one incredible consolation: During their round-up, one of the brothers had gone to rescue the Eucharist from the tabernacle, fearing the rebels would profane it. He hid the Hosts under his cassock; they were later hidden in the supply cabinet for the physics classes in the school. During the distribution of the daily meal, a brother was able to hide a Host in each sandwich to be given to his brothers. Thus, despite their almost month-long imprisonment, they were able to have Communion many times.

The three superiors were shot on August 2; the rest were executed on August 12, 13, 15, and 18, 1936. Part of their torture was mock executions: They would be lined up by the firing squad, and then not shot -- part of the attempts to make them give up their faith and vocation.

All of them were beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 25, 1992. Two Argentinian brothers were spared thanks to the work of their embassy, and another brother escaped death because the anarchists refused to believe he was a religious. It is thanks to these survivors that many of the details of the torture and death of the victims is well documented.

You can read many of their last letters, written on chocolate wrappers, handkerchiefs, and other scraps, here.