Octavia Iglesias Blanco

Who they were

Octavia Iglesias Blanco was born at Astorga, in the Spanish province of León, on 30 November 1894, daughter of Indalecio Iglesias Barrios and Julia Blanco Téllez, from a well-off and deeply religious family; her mother had helped bring the Redemptorist nuns to Astorga, giving her fortune to build the monastery of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Octavia never married and spent much of her life caring first for her elderly, ailing father and then for her mother. She was a catechist and belonged to Catholic Action, the Daughters of Mary and the Association of the Sacred Heart, and often visited the poor districts of the city with a friend.

When the Spanish Civil War began, she trained as a Red Cross volunteer nurse with her cousin María Pilar Gullón Yturriaga and their friend Olga Pérez-Monteserín Núñez, and on 8 October 1936 the three reached the hospital at Somiedo in Asturias, a strategically placed town on the front line, where they cared for wounded soldiers of both sides. When militia forces attacked and occupied the hospital in late October, Octavia and her companions chose to stay with their patients rather than flee; they were arrested, tortured and abused through the night, but refused to renounce their faith or their country, saying 'For God and for Spain, one dies only once.' On 28 October 1936 the three nurses were shot in a field outside Pola de Somiedo. They were beatified on 29 May 2021 under Pope Francis; their remains are venerated in the chapel of Saint John the Baptist in Astorga cathedral.

The miracles

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

Why that counted as sanctity

Red Cross volunteer nurse who stayed with wounded soldiers of both sides in the Spanish Civil War and was tortured and shot for refusing to renounce her faith; beatified in 2021.

The cause

Connected on this site

• John the Baptist Saint
  “They were beatified on 29 May 2021 under Pope Francis; their remains are venerated in the chapel of Saint John the Baptist in Astorga cathedral.” — this site's research
• María Pilar Gullón Yturriaga Blessed
  “When the Spanish Civil War began, she trained as a Red Cross volunteer nurse with her cousin María Pilar Gullón Yturriaga and their friend Olga Pérez-Monteserín Núñez, and on 8 October 1936 the three reached the hospital at Somiedo in Asturias, a strategically placed town on the front line, where they cared for…” — this site's research
• Olga Pérez- Monteserín Núñez Blessed
  “When the Spanish Civil War broke out, she trained as a Red Cross volunteer nurse together with her friends María Pilar Gullón Yturriaga and Octavia Iglesias Blanco, and in October 1936 the three were sent to the small hospital at Somiedo in Asturias.” — this site's research