Antolin Pablos Villanueva
Who they were
Antolín Pablos Villanueva was born at Lerma, in the province of Burgos, on 2 September 1871. He entered the Benedictine abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos as an oblate at thirteen, made his monastic profession in 1890 and was ordained a priest in 1896, later studying history and diplomacy in Paris before being sent to Mexico and then, fleeing persecution there, to Cuba.
He returned to Spain in 1919 and lived from then on at the Benedictine community of Our Lady of Montserrat in Madrid. When the Spanish Civil War broke out the community was dispersed; he was arrested and held in the Modelo prison before being shot with hundreds of other prisoners at Soto de Aldovea on 8 November 1936, aged sixty-five. He was beatified in Madrid on 29 October 2016 together with three brother monks of his own community.
The miracles
As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
Benedictine monk of Montserrat shot with hundreds of prisoners in 1936; beatified in 2016.
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.
- Santi, beati e testimoni (santiebeati.it) - Beato Antolín Pablos Villanueva, by Emilia Flocchini
- Wikidata Q27672229 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
Checked against the sources listed on 22 September 2026. Corrections welcome.