Xavier Bordas i Piferrer
Feast: 22 September (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Saverio (Javier) Bordas Piferer was born at San Pol de Mar, on the Barcelona coast, on 24 September 1914, into a devoutly Catholic family, and from the age of six was educated at the Salesian college of Mataró. He entered the Salesian congregation and made religious profession in 1932, then was sent to Rome to study philosophy at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He returned to Spain in July 1936, just as the civil war was breaking out.
On 23 July 1936, at a family property in the Horta district of Barcelona, he was recognised as a Salesian religious, probably because of papers he was carrying, and was killed; he was only 21. Pope John Paul II beatified him on 11 March 2001 among 233 Spanish martyrs, and the Church keeps his memory on 24 July, near the date of his death; the Salesian Family also commemorates the Spanish Salesian martyrs together on 22 September.
The miracles
As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
Salesian seminarian killed at Barcelona at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, aged 21; beatified by John Paul II on 11 March 2001 among 233 Spanish martyrs.
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 Saverio (Javier) Bordas Piferer, by Giampietro Cattini
- Wikidata Q1590001 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
Checked against the sources listed on 22 September 2026. Corrections welcome.