towards the Trinitarians for their educational work, was unanimous among the students and their families. In addition, a detail that has drawn attention to the lives of our brothers of Alcázar, was that between Stephan, a lay brother, who daily distributed food to the poor at the entrance to the monastery, providing a meal to the poorest in the country; "different" food was not cooked for the friars and the poor, but rather they shared the same food for their meals.
The religious persecution, active in Spain since 1931, became extreme in the second half of the month of July 1936, coinciding with the beginning of the Civil War. It was an open persecution, with a cruelty that admitted few comparisons. It was directed at physically eliminating the most distinguished clergy and Catholics and at suppressing any sign of the public and private religious life of the friars.
On the morning of July 21, 1936, the monastery of the Holy Trinity was surrounded by armed militias. The religious were gathered in the square of the convent, while Father Placido, who had gone to celebrate Mass in the Hospice for the elderly, was arrested as he returned to the monastery, the militias led him in chains, pointing their guns at him, as he walked with his arms crossed. Once all six friars were regrouped, they were led into the municipal building, where they were joined with seven friars of the Franciscan community of Alcázar and a young novnovice of the Dominican monastery of Almagro, who was arrested at the train station. All the brothers were brought to the municipal shelter for vagrants which was located near the parish of Santa Maria. Brother Stephan fell gravely ill and, on the 23rd, was moved to the Hospice of Alcázar.
The five Trinitarian priests, the seven Franciscan friars and the Dominican novice, remained imprisoned in that shelter until the night of July 26-27. Shortly after midnight, they were awakened and made to get up, being assured that that they were being moved to another prison. Taken into two groups, they were taken to a place called "Los Sitios", outside the village, and there they were shot. We know very well the details of their martyrdom, especially because one of the Franciscan religious, Brother Isidoro, survived and was able to recount everything that happened that night. The bodies of the religious were buried in the municipal cemetery of Alcázar de San Juan, and, in 1962 they were exhumed and transferred to the conventual churches of the Trinitarian and Franciscan monasteries which since then have been their resting place.
Brother Stephan of Saint Joseph remained in the hospice until September 1st, upon which date he was conducted to the prison. There he was subjected to severe ill-treatment, his moral suffering was so great that his dark beard changed to gray in a few days, a phenomenon that was observed during the captivity of St. Thomas More, and which merited the attention of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. He suffered martyrdom on September 12 and, while there are two different versions on the site of his death, it is agreed that he died of gunshots. The more credible account indicates that his body was thrown into the entrance of an abandoned mine, in the district of Camuñas (Toledo).
We want to call attention briefly upon three aspects that should be considered about these six Blessed Trinitarians: their love for Christ, the witness of fraternal love and the suffering for the faith.
Our Blessed martyrs were consecrated entirely to the Holy Trinity by their solemn profession. Yes, all of us religious recite the formula of profession, the words "until death", thereby indicating the perpetuity of our vows. However, in the case of the Martyrs, these words take on, with their martyrdom, a new meaning: even to give one’s life. There is no doubt that our brothers were killed simply because they were religious. They gave their lives as a response to the love for Christ, confessing as well, like St. Paul, that the Lord Jesus "loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal 2: 20). The time of persecution and imprisonment, was an impressive testimony of union with the Lord: those days spent praying, sometimes in silence, sometimes singing their prayers, in chorus or a low voice, confessing to each other. At the supreme hour, some of them (especially Blessed Francis of Saint Lawrence), cried out with vigor and enthusiasm the martyrs praise: "Long live Christ the King!" This testified to and gave the fullest sense of the act of martyrdom, confessing their love, unconditional and complete, to the Lord.
The second aspect is that of the heroic fraternal love of our Martyred brothers. At least three of them could ave escaped death: Fr. Placido, who was offered his life by those in the highest offices who attributed to him their academic preparation; the young Fr. Anthony, who received the visit of his relative who wanted to take him to Bilbao, and Brother Stephan, who was offered the job as cook for the militants. But all three refused these possibilities, stating that they wanted to run the same fate as their brothers. We Trinitarian religious cannot stop confessing that the fraternal life in community is an essential and indispensable part of our institute. The communal witness of our Blessed Martyrs, certainly heroic and exciting, should encourage us to a firm commitment to continual conversion and to a more authentic and higher quality of the fraternal life, knowing that this is our vocation in the Church Furthermore, the binding in the martyrdom of our brothers of the habit with the sons of Saint Francis and Saint Dominic, should make us reflect on the call to an "inter-congregational culture”, which we reflected upon at the last General Chapter, realizing that this communion between various institutes witnesses to the "Trinitarian communion" is a mission especially precious and worthy of our time.