During an audience on Monday with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Pope Leo approved the promulgation of several decrees concerning martyrdom, the offering of life, and the recognition of heroic virtues of several men and women.
Among the decrees is the recognition of the martyrdom of the Servants of God Stanislao Ortega García (born Lorenzo) and 48 companions, members of the Institute of the Brothers of Christian Instruction of Saint Gabriel, together with diocesan priest Emanuel Berenguer Clusella. They were killed between July and November 1936 in various locations in Catalonia, Spain, during the same period of religious persecution, in hatred of the faith.
The Pope also recognised the offering of life of the Servant of God Pietro Emanuele Salado Alba, a lay member of the association “Hogar de Nazaret.” Born in 1968 in Chiclana de la Frontera, Spain, he died in 2012 in Playa de Tonsupa, Ecuador.
The announcement of these decrees is a significant step towards their eventual canonisation.
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