Juan María de la Cruz, S.C.I. (born Mariano García Méndez, San Esteban de los Patos,

Province of Ávila A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

, 25 September 1891 –

Silla, Valencia Silla () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Horta Sud in the Valencian Community, Spain. According to the 2014 census, Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) The municipality has a population of 18,644 inhabitants. The town has six '' ca ...

, 23 August 1936) was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest. The

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

considers him a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

. He was beatified by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

in 2001, together with his fellow martyrs killed in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

References

External links

Celebration at St Peter's Square
1891 births 1936 deaths People from the Province of Ávila 20th-century Spanish Roman Catholic priests Spanish beatified people Martyred Roman Catholic priests Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War People executed by Spain by firing squad Beatifications by Pope John Paul II {{RC-clergy-stub