A good way to start the Marian month of October is by enjoying this particularly glorious Book of Hours, since the principal text in any such book is always the Little Office of the Virgin Mary. This particular example was made around 1430 for Marguerite, a daughter of Louis I, duke of Orleans, born in 1406, who was countess of Vertus and Etampes from 1420 until her death in 1466. The repertoire of sacred images is not especially large, but the ones it does have are very richly detailed, and the floral borders which are found on every page of very intricate and beautiful. (Bibliothèque nationale de France. Département des Manuscrits. Latin 1156B)
It begins, as most Books of Hours do, with a calendar. Every day has an entry, but many of the Saints were not kept liturgically, and in any case, none of them were mentioned in the Little Office itself. The most important feasts are written in gold letter, and here we see the name of St Denys on October 9th, but no other indication of liturgical rank is given.
The second part of the calendar for October.
Many books of Hours included a group of four Gospels, one from each of the Evangelists: John 1, 1-14, the Gospel of Christmas day; Luke 1, 26-38, the Annunciation; Matthew 2, 1-12, the Epiphany; and Mark 16, 14-20, the Ascension. Here we see St John on the island of Patmos, where he wrote the Apocalypse, with his eagle next to him.
In this particular case, the folios which contained the latter part of this Gospel, the image of St Luke, and the beginning of the Gospel of the Annunciation are now missing. (A few other illustrated pages elsewhere are also missing.) Here we see St Matthew with the angel...
and St Mark with his lion.
Most books of Hours also include two fairly long prayers to the Virgin, known from their incipits as Intemerata and Obsecro te.
At the beginning of the second prayer, Marguerite of Orléans is depicted kneeling in prayer before the Virgin and Child.
The most common arrangement in Books of Hours of this period is for each Hour of the Little Office to be introduced with an image of an episode of the Virgin’s life. The repertoire of these is not absolutely fixed, but the set we see here is the common standard. Before Matins, the Annunciation; the Office is said according to the Use of Rome, in which the invitatory is the words of the angel Gabriel to Mary, “Ave, Maria, gratia plena; Dominus tecum.”
In February, we shared news of the publication of a handbook for the Byzantine Rite, entitled “The Divine Services of the Orthodox Church with Commentary”, from St Symeon of Thessalonica Press, a catechetical resource designed to guide both clergy and laity more deeply into the Orthodox liturgical cycle. St Symeon Press has recently released another very useful catechetical resource, a video which gives a tour through the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, written by the authors of the books, Frs Lucas Christensen, Joshua Genig and Patrick O’Grady, and Dr Emmanuel Melonakos. The authors write, “Our aim is to increase the catechesis of our people, helping the faithful to understand, love, and more deeply enter into the worship of the Church. We also hope for the growth of the liturgical movement in the West, particularly the recovery and flourishing of the ancient rites of the Latin Church.”
There are very few episodes of what we might call a legendary character attached to the figure of St Jerome, at least in part because we have so much authentic information about his life from his own incredibly prolific pen. The Golden Legend gives only one such story in its account of him, which explains why a lion became his most distinctive attribute in art.
“One evening, when Jerome was sitting with the brethren to listen a sacred reading, a lion came limping into the monastery; at the sight of it, as the other brothers fled, Jerome went to meet it as a guest. When the lion showed him its wounded foot, he commanded that its feet be washed and its wound carefully examined. This revealed that the sole of its paw was wounded by thorns; therefore, they took good care of it, and the lion recovered, and laying aside all its ferocity, lived among them like a domestic animal. Then Jerome, seeing that the Lord had sent the lion not so much for the healing of its foot as for their use, at the suggestion of the brothers imposed this duty upon it, that it should bring to pasture and watch over a donkey which they had, which carried wood from the forest.”
St Jerome Bringing the Lion into the Monastery, by Lazzaro Bastiani, second half of the 15th century. (Public domain image from Wikipedia.)
The story goes on to say that one day, the lion fell asleep while on duty, and the donkey was stolen by merchants passing by in a camel train. St Jerome therefore imposed the donkey’s job on the lion, which it faithfully did, until one day, it spied at a distance the same merchants, with their camels and the stolen donkey. By roaring and lashing its tail, the lion drove the whole camel train, including the thieves, back to the monastery; St Jerome received them as guests, while exhorting them not steal any more. As a token of their repentance, the merchants gave a certain quantity of oil as a gift to the monastery, and promised they would henceforth bring it every year in perpetuity, laying the same obligation on their heirs.
Right after the episode of the lion, the Golden Legend says that the behest of the Emperor Theodosius and Pope St Damasus I, he arranged the traditional division of the Psalter over the days of the week, prescribing the singing of the doxology at the end of the psalms, and that he also created the Roman Mass lectionary, “which he sent from Bethlehem to the Supreme Pontiff, and it was heartily approved by him and his cardinals, and deemed forever authentic.”
The Funeral of St Jerome, also by Bastiani. The lion attends in the lower left hand corner.
As mentioned last week, my visit to Milwaukee gave me the opportunity to view several rare books in a friend's collection. Today I will share some photos of a Missale Romanum printed in Antwerp in 1616; brief commentary will be offered in the captions. Although not in order, let's begin with the Canon page:
The Archangel Michael is mentioned three times in the book of Daniel, once in the Apocalypse, and once in the Epistle of St Jude, and these are all of his Biblical appearances. Both New Testament authors introduce him quite abruptly, taking it for granted that their readers already know who he is. “And there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon…” (Apoc. 12, 7) This would certainly be due to his prominence in pre-Christian Jewish literature, works of the sort which we now call (rather inexactly) apocrypha. And indeed, the mention of him in the Epistle of St Jude is taken from such a work.
St Michael Defeating the Devil, by Guido Reni, 1635
“When Michael the Archangel, disputing with the devil, contended about the body of Moses, he durst not bring against him the judgment of railing speech, but said: The Lord command thee.” (verse 9) These words refer to an episode in a Jewish apocryphal work called The Assumption of Moses, which is only partially preserved; it is not in the part that survives, but ancient scholars such as Origen, who had the complete text to hand, say that it is in the work cited by St Jude. One explanation of the story is that the devil sought to claim possession of Moses’ body as that of a murderer, since he had killed the Egyptian, (Exod. 2, 11-12), and it was for this that St Michael said, “May God rebuke thee.” (In this context, it should be remembered that the Greek word “diabolos” means “slanderer.”) Another explanation is based on a tradition which goes all the way back to Tertullian, that idolatry was taught to mankind by the devil; therefore, in the story cited by St Jude, the devil’s purpose in trying to get the body of Moses would be to have the Jews worship it as an idol.
The story has attracted almost no attention from artists, with one very prominent exception, a fresco of it in the Sistine Chapel. When the chapel was originally constructed, Pope Sixtus IV (1471-84) commissioned a group of some of the most prominent painters of the era (Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Perugino among them) to paint eight episodes each from the lives of Moses and Christ; they are paired to show how the Church understands the life of Moses, the lawgiver of the Old Testament, as a prophecy of the life of Christ, the lawgiver of the New Testament. The final two, however, The Dispute over the Body of Moses and The Resurrection of Christ, break the parallelism; Moses, the giver of the old Law, dies and stays dead, but Christ, the giver of the new Law, rises from the dead.
These last two are on the chapel’s back wall, which has a large door in the middle, under part of each of the paintings. On Christmas Day of 1522, the architrave over the door suddenly cracked and fell, just after Pope Hadrian VI had passed under it while processing into the chapel to say Mass. (Two of his guards were killed.) This break would eventually lead to the complete deterioration of the paintings; around 1575, Matteo da Lecce replaced the original Dispute over the Body of Moses with the same subject, but in a very different style, as Hendrick van den Broeck had done about 20 years earlier with the Resurrection.
St Michael also figures very prominently in another apocryphal work, The Testament of Abraham, which exists in two recensions; the longer of these mentions him 24 times, the shorter 44 times. The basic idea of both is that he is sent to Abraham, whose life is extended from the Biblical 175 years (Genesis 25, 7) to 995 in the long recension, to persuade him to accept that his time has come to die. When Abraham’s son Isaac comes to meet the Archangel, the latter says to him, “the Lord God will grant you his promise that he made to your father Abraham and to his seed.” (chapter 3) Later on, Abraham meets Death himself, who appears to him with the heads of various animals, including a “terrible lion.” (chapter 17) Finally, when Abraham dies, “the archangel Michael came with a multitude of angels and took up his precious soul in his hands … and they tended the body of the just Abraham …. but the angels received his precious soul.” (chapter 20) These passage were clearly the inspiration for the first part of the Offertory chant of the Requiem Mass.
“O Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, deliver the souls of all the faithful departed from the pains of hell and from the bottomless pit; deliver them out of the lion’s mouth, lest hell should swallow them up, lest they fall into darkness; but let Thy standard-bearer, Saint Michael, bring them into Thy holy light, which Thou didst promise of old to Abraham and to his seed.”
A two-volume songbook for Catholic families, with a pointed psalter, sacred songs and chants, and folk songs following the liturgical year, published by Word on Fire Publications
Two years ago I gave a talk to a gathering of parents and faculty of a classical academy in South Bend, Indiana. I spoke of my vision of families praying the psalms and singing songs together, with their neighbors, before the icon corner in the home. This would be part of how the Domestic Church, as envisaged by Pope Benedict XVI, could be the engine driving an authentic New Evangelization. Afterward, one of the parents, Andrew Goldstein, approached me and, as it turned out, shared the same idea. He asked me if I had a version of chants and psalms for English that used Gregorian chant. He had Volume I prepared but was looking for material for Volume II, psalms and canticles. I immediately sent him a pointed version of the Coverdale Psalter with tones that married text and music in a system I had developed and fine-tuned over 20 years. When he described his full vision to me, I knew immediately that Musica Domestica would be a gold mine for families and homes wanting to pray and sing together. Now, as a result, my hope is that we can all contribute constructively to the evangelization of the culture through song, prayer, and worship in the domestic church.
We created a website, musicadomestica.com, with accompanying resources, including musical scores, instructional videos, and recordings of the music. The arrangements are simple and easy to learn, featuring traditional chants, songs, and hymns that run through the cycle of the liturgical year. This isn’t for musical experts, but for any family that just wants to sing together. If you can sing in the shower or in the car happily when you think no one is listening, then you can sing what these volumes contain too. This is better than good clean fun - it is fun that cleanses us; it helps purify the soul! Word on Fire Publications will publish the book in February 2027 (it is available for pre-order now through the musicadomestica.com website), and I will share more information closer to the release date.
However, if you want a preview, Andrew Goldstein is presenting at the annual conference of the De Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture on the morning of Friday, October 2nd. The session, entitled Forming the Soul: Music, Liturgy and Contemplation, is chaired by Fr. Innocent Smith, O.P., and the title of Andrew’s presentation is “Musica Domestica: Forming Families to Sing With Angels.”
Later that weekend, on Saturday, October 3rd, I will be speaking at the 2026 Conference of the Diocese of Portland, Maine, entitled The Aesthetic of Ascent. Appearing alongside me will be my old friends and fellow artists Dony McManus and Henry Wingate. I will talk about why the 7th Ecumenical Council mandates that Catholics pray with images, and give directions on how to pray with them in the icon corner of the Domestic Church. I will also give several introductory sessions on how to pray the psalms at home using the method outlined in Musica Domestica.
More to come as we get closer to the release date...but in the meantime:
Here is Andrew’s version of how it happened: One night, I sat with my eldest daughter to read Little House on the Prairie. As we read these words, “Laura lay awake a little while, listening to Pa’s fiddle softly playing and to the lonely sound of the wind in the Big Woods”, my daughter turned to me and asked, “Can you play music while I go to sleep?” Truthfully, I had no answer. As a professional musician myself, I should have had every tool needed to bring music into my family’s day-to-day life. Yet I came up short on any resource that empowered me to do that, not only as a musician but as a Catholic father. So, David Clayton and I set to work to create what we ourselves needed.
And here are two endorsements:
“In Musica Domestica, the reader will encounter not merely a handbook of song but an opportunity for restoring memory, culture, and a rightly ordered domestic life. Against the fragmentation and passivity of modern entertainment (and church music that slavishly imitates it), this work restores to practitioners the ancient Christian understanding that music belongs first to the household and the common Christian life. Rooted in the Catholic vision of truth, goodness, and beauty, Musica Domestica unites liturgical tradition, folk inheritance, and practical instruction with unusual clarity and charity. It is both learned and humane: an invitation for families to recover song as a source of joy, formation, fellowship, and ultimately, communion with God.” - Dr. William Fahey, Chancellor, Thomas More College of Liberal Arts
“Music is at the heart of culture. Musica Domestica puts forth a bold program to renew Christian culture through communal singing. Authors Goldstein and Clayton skillfully weave theology, history, and practical instructions for bringing spiritual song into your home and daily rhythm of life. The texts of inspired psalms, hymns, and canticles echo from three thousand years of authentic Western culture right into your living room! These songs resounded in the temple of King Solomon and all the temples of Christian worship. With Musica Domestica, these songs are brought to life again in the temple of our bodies.” - Paul Rose, creator of Sing the Hours
When Pope Urban VIII had the hymns of the Roman Breviary revised in a more classicizing style, few were altered as completely as the hymn for Vespers of St Michael. The original version, traditionally attributed to Blessed Rabanus Maurus (ca. 780-856) was written in four stanzas of six lines, in a trochaic meter (alternating long and short syllables, with one syllable missing at the end of each even-numbered line); Pope Urban’s version is in the iambic dimeter (eight syllables per line, alternative short and long) popularized by St Ambrose. This rearrangement, the version still used in the Roman Breviary, necessitated a complete recasting of the music as well. (English translation by Fr Edward Caswell C.O., 1814-78.)
Te, splendor et virtus Patris,
Te vita, Jesu, cordium,
Ab ore qui pendent tuo,
Laudámus inter Angelos.
O Jesus, life-spring of the soul!
The Father's Power and Glory bright!
Thee with Angels we extol;
from Thee they draw their life and light.
Tibi mille densa millium
Ducum coróna mílitat;
Sed éxplicat victor Crucem
Míchaël salútis sígnifer.
Thy thousand, thousand hosts are spread,
embattled o’er the azure sky;
but Michael bears Thy standard dread,
and lifts the mighty Cross on high.
Dracónis hic dirum caput
In ima pellit tártara,
Ducemque cum rebéllibus
Caelesti ab arce fúlminat.
He in that sign the rebel powers
did with their dragon prince expel:
and hurled them from heaven’s high towers,
down like a thunderbolt to hell.
Contra ducem superbiae
Sequámur hunc nos príncipem,
Ut detur ex Agni throno
Nobis coróna gloriae.
Grant us, with Michael, still, O Lord,
Against the prince of pride to fight;
So may a crown be our reward,
Before the Lamb’s pure throne of light.
Deo Patri sit gloria,
Qui, quos redémit Filius,
Et Sanctus unxit Spíritus,
Per Angelos custodiat. Amen.
To God the Father, with the Son
And Holy Paraclete, with thee,
As evermore hath been before,
Be glory through eternity. Amen.
Many churches, including St Peter’s basilica, as well as the various orders of monks, and the religious orders that retained their own liturgical use (Dominicans, Premonstratensians and Old Observance Carmelites) did not accept the revised hymns of Pope Urban, and continued to use the original version. It has also been restored to the post-Conciliar Liturgy of the Hours, with only two small alterations, which are included in this recording; the words “omnes caeli milites” are changed to “inclytos archangelos”, to reflect the recasting of the feast as that of the three Archangels named in the Bible, and the word “zabulum”, an early medieval version of “diabolum”, is replaced, purely in function of Dom Anselmo Lentini’s literary taste. (English translation by John Mason Neale, 1818-66).
Thee, O Christ, the Father’s splendor,
Life and virtue of the heart,
In the presence of the angels
Sing we now with tuneful art,
Meetly in alternate chorus,
Bearing our responsive part.
Collaudámus venerantes
Omnes caeli mílites,
Sed praecípue Primátem
Caelestis exércitus:
Michaélem, in virtúte
Conterentem zábulum.
Thus we praise with veneration
All the armies of the sky;
Chiefly him, the warrior primate,
Of celestial chivalry,
Michael, who in princely virtue
Cast Abaddon from on high.
Quo custóde procul pelle,
Rex Christe piíssime,
Omne nefas inimíci:
Mundo corde et córpore,
Paradíso redde tuo
Nos sola clementia.
By whose watchful care repelling,
King of everlasting grace,
Every ghostly adversary,
All things evil, all things base,
Grant us of Thine only goodness,
In Thy paradise a place.
Gloriam Patri melódis
Personémus vócibus,
Gloriam Christo canámus,
Gloriam Paráclito,
Qui trinus et unus Deus
Exstat ante sáecula. Amen.
Laud and honor to the Father,
Laud and honor to the Son,
Laud and honor to the Spirit,
Ever Three, and ever One,
Consubstantial, co-eternal,
While unending ages run. Amen.
The earlier version was, of course, the one known to the great composers of the Counter-Reformation; here is a particularly beautiful setting in alternating chant and polyphony by Tomás Luís de Victória (1548-1611.)
The antiphon for the Magnificat at First Vespers: Aña Dum sacrum mysterium cérneret Joannes, Archángelus Míchaël tuba cécinit: Ignosce, Dómine, Deus noster, qui áperis librum, et solvis signácula ejus, allelúja. (While John beheld the sacred mystery, the Archangel Michael sounded his trumpet: Forgive, o Lord our God, Who openest the book, and loosest the seals thereof, alleluia.)
And for Second Vespers: Aña Princeps gloriosíssime, Míchaël Archángele, esto memor nostri: hic et ubíque semper precáre pro nobis Fílium Dei, allelúja, allelúja. (O Prince most glorious, Michael the Archangel, do thou remember us; here, and everywhere, always entreat the Son of God for us, alleluja, alleluja.)
The latter was set as a motet by Palestrina’s contemporary Luca Marenzio (1553-99), who was famous as a composer of madrigals, of which he wrote over 500, but also wrote a large number of sacred works.
Give peace, o Lord, to those who wait for Thee, that Thy prophets may be found true: hear the prayers of Thy servant, and of Thy people Israel. Ps. 121 I rejoiced in what was said to me, ‘We will go unto the house of the Lord.’ Glory be... Give peace, o Lord... (The introit of the 18th Sunday after Pentecost.)
Introitus Da pacem, Dómine, sustinéntibus te, ut prophétae tui fidéles inveniantur: exaudi preces servi tui et plebis tuae Israël. Ps 121 Laetátus sum in his, quae dicta sunt mihi: in domum Dómini íbimus. Gloria Patri... Da pacem, Dómine...
This Introit is the first among those of the Sundays after Pentecost whose text is not taken from the Psalms. In the modern editions of the missal, it is noted as “Ecclesiasticus 36, 18”, but this is somewhat inexact. In the Vulgate, the first part of this verse says “da mercedem – give a reward”, rather than “da pacem – give peace.” The second part continues as follows: “et exaudi orationes servorum tuorum – and hear the prayers of Thy servants”, but the text of the introit changes “servants” to the singular, uses a different word for prayers, and then adds the words “and of Thy people Israel.”
The words “exaudi preces servi tui” are actually taken from an Old Latin text of the book of Daniel, 9, 17, preserved in a letter of St Augustine (111, to the priest Victorian.) The liturgical commentator Sicard of Cremona (1155-1215), an important source for our friend William Durandus, therefore comments on this Sunday as follows (Mitrale VIII, 18):
“Daniel, placed in servitude (i.e. during the Babylonian exile) prayed for the deliverance of the people (9, 4-19), and an angel appeared to Him, and foretold both that the people would be set free, and that Christ would be born. (20-27). ... The introit is therefore the voice of Daniel, praying for peace for the people that returns (from exile), which rejoices in the gradual ‘I rejoiced in what was said to me,’ (the same text as the verse of the introit), since it is foretold that the people will enter into the house of the Lord. In the offertory and in the communion, he invites and advises the returning people to raise up altars and offer sacrifices, following the example of Moses.”
Offertorium, Exod. 24 Sanctificávit Móyses altáre Dómino, ófferens super illud holocausta et ímmolans víctimas: fecit sacrificium vespertínum in odórem suavitátis Dómino Deo, in conspectu filiórum Israël. (Moses sanctified an altar to the Lord, offering upon it holocausts, and sacrificing victims: he made an evening sacrifice to the Lord God for an odor of sweetness, in the sight of the Israelites.)
A polyphonic setting by Palestrina
Communio Ps. 95 Tóllite hostias, et introíte in atria ejus: adoráte Dóminum in aula sancta ejus. (Bring sacrifices and enter into His courts; worship ye the Lord in His holy court.)
Since today we celebrate the Saturday Office of Our Lady, here is a polyptych representing Her coronation as the Queen of Heaven, painted in the 1390s by the Florentine artist Cenni di Francesco di Ser Cenni (active ca. 1369-1415), a splendid example of the richly decorative style known as the International Gothic. (Click the image to enlarge it.)
This was originally made for a chapel dedicated to St Benedict within the church of the Holy Trinity in Florence, the city’s second church of the Vallumbrosian Order, founded by native son St John Gualbert. It is now at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
To the left of the central panel of the Coronation are depicted Saints Michael the Archangel, Benedict and John the Baptist; behind them, Ss Ambrose and his contemporary Zenobius, the first bishop of Florence; Ss Margaret, Stephen and Apollonia (above St Michael), and the Apostles James the Greater, Peter and Andrew (above John the Baptist). On the right side are Saints John the Evangelist, Lawrence and Julian; behind them, Bernard, a bishop of Parma and member of the Vallumbrosian Order (died ca. 1266), and Nicholas; above Nicholas, Ss Catherine, John Gualbert and Agnes; above John the Evangelist, Ss Anthony the Abbot, Mary Magdalene and Lucy.
Above the three large sections are depicted various prophets, but the writing on their banderoles is not real, and they cannot be specifically identified. The cuspids, which were added later, show the Annunciation in two parts, left and right (a very common arrangement in Florentine altarpieces) and the Madonna and Child in the middle.
The predella is unusual in that the episodes depicted in it are not a continual narration; each one depicts a story from the life of a different sacred person. On the far left, St Benedict chases away a devil that was sitting on a stone, preventing it from being used in the building of a church; he and his fellow monks are wearing the Vallumbrosian habit. Next to it is the baptism of Christ, most likely chosen because St John is one of the principal patrons of Florence.
In the center, the Dormition of the Virgin...
followed by the torments of St Anthony, and in the last panel, a man is converted by the prayers of St Stephen, symbolized by showing the martyr rescuing him from hell. This is one of the many miracles attributed to his intercession by St Augustine in The City of God XXII, 8.
The hymn for Lauds in the Office of Our Lady, O gloriosa Domina (following the old text.)
A polyphonic setting of the antiphon of the Benedictus, by a little-known English composer of the later 15th century, Richard Mower. “Beáta Dei Génitrix María, Virgo perpetua, templum Dómini, sacrarium Spíritus Sancti, sola sine exemplo placuisti Dómino nostro Jesu Christo: ora pro pópulo, intérveni pro clero, intercéde pro devóto femíneo sexu. – O blessed Mary, Mother of God, Virgin for ever, temple of the Lord, sanctuary of the Holy Ghost, thou along, with no example before thee, didst please our Lord Jesus Christ; pray for the people, plead for the clergy, make intercession for all women vowed to God.”
Following up on a post from two days ago, here are pictures of some more relics of St Padre Pio, this time from the town where he was born, Pietrelcina. After his priestly ordination in 1910, due to his poor health, he lived here with his family until 1916, when he was transferred to San Giovanni Rotondo. His family lived in a collection of rooms which were not all directly attached to each other as part of the same house; his own room was in this building, across the very narrow street from those of his parents.
The room where he prayed and slept in this earliest phase of his life as a priest.
The baptismal font of the little church dedicated to St Anne, in which he was baptized, and later often served Mass.
From the museum at the nearby church of the Holy Family: like all good sons of St Francis, Padre Pio understood very well that the poverty of religious is not practiced by impoverishing the house of God or the worship of God, and so of course, he did not hesitate to wear the proper liturgical vestments.
A cloth which he used to wipe the blood from the Stigmata on his feet.
Because the Church has such a glorious history of early martyrs (think of St. Stephen being stoned or St. Lawrence being roasted alive on a gridiron), it is easy to forget that the twentieth century produced the most martyrs – in fact, more than all other centuries combined. During that bloody period, approximately one million Catholics were killed for their faith on every continent except Antarctica and Australia.
That includes Europe, once the cradle of Western Christianity, and Spain, once a stronghold of Catholicism. From 1936 to 1939 the Spanish Civil War split the country apart, pitting “Republicans” (communists and anarchists backed by the Soviet Union) against “Nationalists” (fascists backed by Nazi Germany and Italy). Every region controlled by the Republicans became home to the Red Terror, a communist persecution of the Church. In addition to acts of arson and desecration against Catholic property, the Red Terror took tens of thousands of lives, including 6,832 Catholic priests.
Caught up in this nightmare was Blessed Joaquín de Albocácer (1879-1936), whose feast day we celebrate tomorrow on September 26, along with other Capuchin martyrs of his community. Born José Ferrer Adell at Albocácer in the province of Castellón de la Plana, the young man received the Capuchin habit in 1896 and was ordained a priest in 1903. The Capuchins, or Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, are a branch of Franciscans that were founded in 1525 in order to return to a stricter observance of St. Francis’ Rule. (Their most famous member is Padre Pio.)
José took as his religious name Joaquín or Joachim, the grandfather of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Ten years after his ordination, Father Joaquín was sent to Columbia as a missionary, and in 1925 he was appointed Superior Regular of the Custody of Bogotá. After completing his service and returning to Spain, he was appointed director of the Seraphic Seminary at Massamagrell in Valencia.
Father Joaquín made an excellent rector. “He was tireless in his work and in his teaching the students, and he treated them as a good father,” recalls Brother Antonio Sales. “He was a mystical person. He was kind in his dealings with everyone.” One biographer describes Father Joaquín having a Eucharistic soul, so deep was his devotion to the Holy Eucharist. The magazine that he founded, Vita eucaristica, certainly reflected that fact, as the title would suggest.
When persecution broke out, Joaquín made sure that his seminarians found a safe place to hide. He himself took refuge in the family home of a fellow Capuchin in Valencia. The holy rector kept in touch his seminarians and devoted himself to prayer.
On August 30, 1936, the Republican militia captured Father Joaquín. Witnesses report that he showed great humility and docility. He was taken back to Albocácer where he was reunited with other members of his family. “If we do not see one another on earth,” he told them, “I will see you in glory.” Joaquín was brought before the president of the Committee of Rafelbuñol at ten in the morning. During his few hours in prison, he encouraged and helped his cellmates. At four o’clock in the afternoon the holy man was taken by car to the nearby town of Villafamés where he was killed. He was buried in the local cemetery, but his remains have never been recovered.
In 2001, Pope St. John Paul II beatified the “233 Spanish Martyrs,” the largest number of persons beatified at once up to that time. (That number would be surpassed when Pope Benedict XVI beatified the “498 Spanish Martyrs” in 2007 and again when Pope Francis beatified the “522 Spanish martyrs” in 2013.) Most of the 233 Spanish martyrs served and died in the diocese of Valencia, and among them was Father Joaquín de Albocácer.
