Prudens of the Cross

Who they were

Prudencio Gueréquiz y Guezuraga was born on 28 April 1883 at Rigoitia, in the Basque province of Vizcaya, and from a young age felt drawn to religious life, entering the Order of the Most Holy Trinity as Prudenzio della Croce. He and a younger confrere, Segundo García y Cabezas (in religion Secondo di Santa Teresa, born 1891), were both ordained priests and assigned together to the Sanctuary of the Virgen de la Cabeza at Andújar, in Andalusia, where they cared for the liturgy, preaching and the many pilgrims who came to the shrine.

When the Spanish Civil War broke out in July 1936, republican militia besieged the sanctuary; the religious were forced to leave, and Prudenzio and Secondo, with other confreres, were captured and taken to Andújar. Despite threats, witnesses from the beatification process recall their unshaken calm; they refused to renounce their faith or their religious state to save their lives. On 31 July 1936 the two priests were led out to execution, forgiving their killers and holding the rosary and breviary to the end. Pope Benedict XVI beatified them, with 498 martyrs of the Spanish Civil War, on 28 October 2007; their liturgical memorial is 31 July.

The miracles

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

Why that counted as sanctity

Trinitarian priest of the Sanctuary of the Virgen de la Cabeza (Andújar), shot with a confrere during the Spanish Civil War for refusing to renounce his faith; beatified by Benedict XVI on 28 October 2007 among 498 martyrs.

The cause