Anselmo Polanco
Spanish Roman Catholic bishop, martyr and blessed (1881–1939)
Feast: 7 February (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Anselmo Polanco Fontecha was born on 16 April 1881 at Buenavista de Valdavia, Palencia, and entered the Augustinian Order at fifteen. As Bishop of Teruel he said on the day he entered his diocese: 'I have come to give my life for my sheep.'
In the Spanish Civil War he chose, with the priest Felipe Ripoll, to stay with his flock in the midst of danger, and was parted from it only by force. Both were killed in 1939, rejecting both flattery and threats that would have made them betray the Church.
The miracles
As a martyr, beatified without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
A shepherd who stayed with his flock and gave his life for it, as he had promised.
The cause
The cause continues. No postulation address is published here yet. Favours received through this person’s intercession, and offers of help, are best sent to the religious order or congregation they belonged to, or to the diocese where the cause was opened; either will pass them to the postulation.
Connected on this site
- Felipe Ripoll Morata Blessed“At Pont de Molins near Girona in Spain, the blessed martyrs Anselmo Polanco, bishop of Teruel, and Felipe Ripoll, priest, who, scorning flattery and threats, did not fail in their fidelity to the Church.” — this site's research
- Mariano de la Mata Blessed“Like three of his brothers he joined the Augustinians in 1921, receiving the habit from Blessed Anselmo Polanco, and was ordained in 1930.” — this site's research
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Anselmo Polanco e Felipe Ripoll
- Wikidata Q3815366 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.