Ramón Ruiz Pérez, a 24-year-old subdeacon of the Diocese of Toledo, was arrested in Jaén and transferred to the Madrid area on the so-called “Death Train,” a convoy in which around 150 Jaén prisoners were executed near El Pozo train station. According to Vatican News, his case is one of those documented in the recent papal decree authorizing the beatification of 11 people murdered at the start of the Spanish Civil War, a process based on historical confirmation that their deaths resulted from persecution for reasons of religious belief.
According to the press office of the Vatican and the Archdiocese of Madrid, nine seminarians and two family members were selected for this beatification process, all linked to the former diocese of Madrid-Alcalá, now the territory of the dioceses of Madrid, Getafe and Alcalá de Henares. The investigation, detailed by Vatican News, identified the seminarians who studied at the Immaculate Conception and San Damasus Seminary in Las Vistillas and whose ages ranged from 18 to 23 at the time of their execution. Among the names are Ignacio Aláez Vaquero, a 22-year-old philosophy student; Ángel Trapero Sánchez-Real, a 20-year-old theologian; Antonio Moralejo Fernández-Shaw, 19-year-old philosophy student; Cástor Zarco García, 23-year-old subdeacon; Jesús Sánchez Fernández-Yáñez, 21-year-old philosophy student; Miguel Talavera Sevilla, 18-year-old philosophy student; and Pablo Chomón Pardo, a 21-year-old theology student.
The Vatican news media added that in addition to them, other emblematic cases are also recognized, among which stands out Mariano Arrizabalaga Español, a seminarian originally from Barbastro who studied at the Pontifical Seminary of Comillas in Cantabria. Arrizabalaga was assassinated in the summer of 1936 while living with his family in Madrid. In addition, the decree also included two lay people with direct ties to seminarians: Julio Pardo Pernía, priest and uncle of Pablo Chomón Pardo, who served as confessor of the Hospitalarias of Ciempozuelos and was 63 years old at the time of his murder, and Liberato Moralejo Juan, father of Antonio Moralejo Fernández-Shaw, who was 60 years old.
The Archdiocese of Madrid announced that the signing of the papal decree officially recognizes the religious persecution to which those affected are subjected. Vatican News explained that the martyrdom review requires proof that the killings were carried out due to rejection of the Catholic faith, in accordance with the protocols and canonical norms established by the Church for this type of procedure. The official statement also highlighted the suffering of the families and communities of origin of the victims, who were directly affected by the wave of repression at the beginning of the war in Spain.
The Vatican News report noted that this new beatification process is part of the Holy See-backed strategy to investigate, document and honor the testimonies of those who lost their lives because of religious beliefs in the context of the civil war. The Church has been dealing with similar processes for decades, emphasizing the collective and institutional character it gives to murders for religious reasons.
Vatican News also pointed to other candidates appearing in parallel trials, such as the case of Enrique Ernesto Shaw, an Argentine layman who was born in Paris in 1921 and died of cancer in 1961. Shaw, president of the Men of Catholic Action, promoted cooperation between businessmen and workers and actively participated in various Christian movements, guided by the principles of the Church’s social teaching. His recognition process is proceeding independently, under parameters that highlight his career in the Argentine Catholic community, the Vatican explained.
The official statement added that the deaths of the next blessed were due to selective killings motivated by identification or direct association with the Catholic Church. According to Vatican News, this recognition will add the names of the new blesseds to the Church’s collective memory and give them a leadership role within the international Catholic community for their witness to faith.
The move, announced by the Vatican Press Office and supported by the Archdiocese of Madrid, promoted the institutional process of ecclesiastical recognition of the events between 1936 and 1937. Vatican News emphasized that the memory and influence of these people continues in the communities in which they participated, to the extent that their stories and prehistory have been restored and documented within the official processes of the Church. These trials aim to highlight the historical and social significance of the victims within the framework of religious and civil memory in Spain.
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