CV NEWS FEED // The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints recently announced that Pope Francis has approved the canonization of eight Franciscan martyrs killed in Syria in 1860—but what is the story of these eight little-known Franciscans?
The eight martyrs are known as Blessed Emmanuel Ruiz and Companions. Not much is known about their early lives, but Blessed Ruiz was born in Santander, Spain, and became a missionary and the superior of a Franciscan convent in Damascus.
According to Deeper Truth Catholics, his companions were Fr. Carmen Volta, Fr. Engelbert Kolland, Fr. Nicanor Miano, Fr. Nicholas Mary Alberca, Fr. Peter Soler, Francis Pinazzo, and John James Fernandez. Pinazzo and Fernandez were lay brothers.
At the time, Damascus was extremely anti-Christian, which erupted into a massacre in 1860. According to the New Arab, social and political tensions led Muslims, Bedouin, Kurds, Druze, and other groups to attack the Damascus Citadel, which was housing thousands of Christians. The resulting damage was 2,500 deaths, 1,500 homes burned, and 470 shops and homes destroyed.
According to Deeper Truth Catholics, the damage was greater,
“Within three weeks every Maronites village of the main and southern parts of Lebanon was pillaged or burned, six thousand Maronites were murdered, maimed, or outraged. The massacre broke out in Damascus on July ninth, and in three days the adult males alone numbered three thousand victims,” Deeper Truth Catholics wrote.
Blessed Ruiz and his companions were tortured and killed after refusing to become Muslim.
“Father Emmanuel Ruiz, realizing that death was inevitable, and fearing lest the Sacred Host in the tabernacle be subjected to profanation by the fanatics after their death, went to the church to consume the Sacred Species,” Deeper Truth Catholics wrote. “It was not long before he was interrupted, and so, recommending himself to God, he placed his head upon the altar to be cut off with a sword.”
Three Maronite laymen—Francis, Abdel Mohti, and Raphaël Massabki—were also killed at the same time. Along with Blessed Ruiz and his companions, they were declared Blessed by Pope Pius XI in 1926. According to a May 23 statement from the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, all 11 men will be canonized by Pope Francis.
