I almost missed this-(Hat tip to The Bride and the Dragon): the Pope beatified 498 priests and nuns killed in the Spanish Civil War yesterday. Interestingly, Pope Benedict said in his homily:
Indeed martyrdom is a “realistic possibility” for every believer who lives his or her faith coherently. But in addition to the giving one’s life as a result of an act of violence there is also the “silent” gift in “everyday life” made by those who dedicate themselves to the poor, i.e. those who give an “important witness in the secularised societies of our times.”
The best book I know of on the Spanish Civil War is The Last Crusade by Warren Carroll.
I remember the first time I had heard anything good about Franco from anyone but my Dad was when I read Pat Buchanan's autobiography Right From the Beginning many years ago.
That is not to say that beatifying 498 Spanish Martyrs is equivalent to absolving Franco of all wrong-doing. But few realize that there was war against the Catholic Church in Spain in the 30's waged by the Communists.
Our Lady of Joyful Hope-pray for us! ... Oremus pro invicem!
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