Gregorio Escobar García

Who they were

Gregorio Escobar García was born in Estella, Navarre, on 12 September 1912, the son of a sacristan; his mother died in 1928. At twelve he entered the Oblate junior seminary at Urnieta, made his first profession in 1930 and his perpetual profession in 1935, interrupting his studies for a year of military service. He was ordained priest in Madrid on 6 June 1936, amid open hostility toward religious in the capital.

When the civil war broke out, the Oblate convent was stormed on 22 July 1936 and Gregorio was held prisoner; briefly released, he lived in hiding until his arrest on 15 October, and was martyred with his companions on 28 November 1936 at Paracuellos de Jarama. He was beatified on 17 December 2011. A letter he wrote before his ordination said he had always been moved by the martyrs and secretly longed to share their fate.

The miracles

As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.

Why that counted as sanctity

Oblate priest martyred with companions at Paracuellos de Jarama during the Spanish Civil War, weeks after his ordination; beatified 17 December 2011.

The cause