Pope Leo XIV Brings 15 Closer to Sainthood Including 11 Spanish Martyrs, a Nun, a Priest from India, and Recognizes a Miracle of Enrique Shaw

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday, 18 December, during an audience with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints,  authorised the promulgation of the decrees concerning 12 new Blesseds. He authorised the promulgation of decrees relating to the upcoming beatification of nine seminarians, a priest, and a layman, martyrs during the Spanish Civil War; as well as an Argentine family man, Enrique Ernesto Shaw, an businessman and father of 9, involved in various ecclesial works. As of today, Fr Berardo Atonna and Sister Domenica Caterina dello Spirito Santo, both Italian, and Joseph Panjikaran, an Indian priest, are recognized as venerable.
The Holy Father also advanced the causes of two Italian religious, Fra Berardo Atonna and Sister Domenica Caterina dello Spirito Santo; and an Indian priest, Fr Joseph Panjikaran, according them the title “venerable” with the recognition of their heroic virtue.
The Spanish martyrs
 The eleven Spanish martyrs were killed between 1936 and 1937 during the violent anti-Christian persecution of that period in Spain, in the territory of the current dioceses of Madrid, Getafe and Alcalá de Henares.

The seminarian Ignatius Aláez Vaquero, arrested for not enlisting and preferring to study to become a priest, was killed together with his father on 9 November 1936. Recognised as martyrs alongside him were Pablo Chomón Pardo, a seminarian; and his uncle, Julio Pardo Pernía, a priest and chaplain to the Sisters Hospitallers of the Sacred Heart in Ciempozuelos, who were killed on 8 August 1936; Antonio Moralejo Fernández-Shaw, a seminarian, and his father Liberato Moralejo Juan, who allowed himself to be arrested in order to defend his son and was killed with him; and also the seminarians Jesús Sánchez Fernández-Yáñez, Miguel Talavera Sevilla, and Ángel Trapero Sánchez-Real.
Another seminarian, Cástor Zarco García, had to enlist as a reservist and was denounced by some of his fellow soldiers for his behaviour, which was considered too mild. He was murdered after suffering various humiliations and being forced to dig his own grave.
Mariano Arrizabalaga Español and Ramón Ruiz Pérez were tortured along with about twenty lay people and imprisoned and killed with them.

All of them were murdered out of hatred for the faith: their martyrdom took place in the anti-Catholic climate of those years in Spain. Extensive documentation demonstrates the seminarians’ clear willingness to give their lives for God, aware of the anti-Christian hatred unleashed against members of the Church. Remaining close to their families and friends without hiding, despite the danger, their reputation for martyrdom spread immediately and continues to this day.
Enrique Ernesto Shaw
Enrique Ernesto Shaw, born in Paris on 26 February 1921 and later moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, the land of his family's origin, will also be beatified.
A young man of strong Catholic faith, he joined the Navy and during long periods at sea held catechesis meetings for sailors.
Called to work in the family business, he committed himself to implementing the principles of the Church's social doctrine in the world of business, establishing a fraternal relationship of collaboration with all his workers.
Enrique married Cecilia Bunge, with whom he had nine children; he joined Catholic Action and the Christian Family Movement, promoting various other associations related to the world of work and publishing conferences, articles and essays. In 1961, he was appointed president of Hombres de Acción Católica. He died of cancer on 27 August 1961.
His intercession led to the miraculous healing of a five-year-old boy who was kicked in the back of the head by a horse on a farm near Buenos Aires on 21 June 2015. The child suffered severe skull and brain damage and underwent several surgical procedures. On 15 July, to the surprise of the doctors, it was found that the ventricular system had returned to normal size. In 2019, the child was examined by two experts who found him to be in good health, with no significant neurological consequences. Today, he leads a normal life.
Fr Berardo Atonna

From today, Fr. Berardo Atonna, born Giuseppe on 1 July 1843 in Episcopio di Sarno, in the province of Salerno, the eldest of five children, is considered venerable.
Atonna joined the Friars Minor “Alcantarini” in the convent of Santa Lucia al Monte in Naples. Ordained a priest on 18 February 1866, he devoted himself to popular missions in the Italian provinces of Campania, Lazio, Umbria and Puglia and held various positions in the Order, demonstrating great zeal in his religious life.

He met various figures with whom he established a fruitful spiritual understanding, including St Bartolo Longo, St Maria Cristina Brando and Blessed Serafina Micheli.

Fr. Berardo was the spiritual father of Antonietta Fiorillo, founder in Naples of a charitable work, “Villa Fiorillo”, for elderly women and later open to the reception of young orphans. He took care of the spiritual direction of the work but suffered false accusations and complaints from which he was later cleared. He died on 4 March 1917.
Fr. Berardo had an intense spiritual life, with a strongly Christocentric and Marian dimension, nourished by prayer. He was particularly devoted to St Joseph and his life was inspired by Christian hope, which made him confident in divine mercy and serene in times of difficulty. He was always eager to alleviate the suffering of the poor, the sick and the weak, in whom he saw the face of Christ. He lived in poverty, practising charity with the little he had, inviting wealthy people to be generous towards those most in need.
Sister Domenica Caterina dello Spirito Santo
Originally from the small Ligurian town of Ne, not far from Genoa, Domenica Caterina dello Spirito Santo, born Teresa Solari, was born in December 1822. Orphaned at an early age, she spent the first part of her life in very difficult conditions, which exposed her to various illnesses and led to numerous and prolonged hospital stays.
In 1855, she befriended another young sick girl, Antonietta Cervetto, with whom she started a charitable work in 1863 aimed at providing moral and material assistance to destitute girls. Under the spiritual guidance of the Dominican priest Vincenzo Vera, this organisation became, after a few years, the “Piccola Casa della Divina Provvidenza” (Little House of Divine Providence) and on 4 June 1870, Teresa took the habit of the new community, assuming the name of Sister Domenica Caterina dello Spirito Santo.
In consequence, in order to ensure Dominican leadership of the Institute, the nuns requested official affiliation with the Order of Preachers, which took place after the death of Sister Domenica Caterina on 7 May 1908 in Genoa. She was distinguished by a simple and intense faith, nourished by prayer and oriented towards a profound Marian devotion. It was the poverty she experienced in the first part of her life that led her to assist and help young women in difficulty.
Father Joseph Panjikaran
Joseph Panjikaran, born on 10 September 1888 in Uzhuva, in the state of Kerala in India, into a large aristocratic family belonging to the Syro-Malabar Christian community, is also now recognized as Venerable. He lived his priestly mission among the poor and marginalised in a society rigidly marked by caste divisions.
Panjikaran entered the seminary and was ordained a priest on 21 December 1918. After holding several positions, he was sent to Rome in 1924 to direct the Syro-Malabar section of the Universal Missionary Exhibition organised for the Holy Year of 1925.
Returning to India, he undertook the construction of the Dharmagiri (Mount of Charity) Hospital in Kothamangalam, for the free care of the poor, for the management of which he founded the Congregation of the Medical Sisters of Saint Joseph. He died on 4 November 1949. He faced the many difficulties encountered in his mission with great faith and generosity.

Edited from Vatican News