The story of Jose Lopez Piteira, is another reason to be proud to be Cuban, not for what he did for his countrymen, but for what he did for his fellow man, and his God.
Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday will beatify 498 people martyred for their faith by communist forces during the Spanish Civil War. Among them, Augustinian Friar José López Piteira, whose beatification will make him one step closer to becoming the first native Cuban to be named a saint.
The impending ceremony, which was first announced this past summer, has stirred up emotions in Spain, which still struggles with the legacy of the war, and the resulting right-wing Franco dictatorship, which was strongly supported by the church.
But what must be remembered today is how these men — many of whom, like Piteira, were men of God — sacrificed their lives for their faith.
Catholic News Agency this past June described Piteira's credentials for beatification, which is the next-to-last step to sainthood:
Brother Jose will be come Cuba’s first blessed. He was born in Arroy Blanco, Cuba, on February 2, 1912 to Spanish immigrants. According to the family records, his family returned to Spain when Jose was four or five years old.They settled in Partorvia in northwestern Spain. As a young man Jose entered the Augustinian order and began studies for the priesthood. He made his solemn profession in 1934 and was ordained deacon on September 8, 1935, the feast of Our Lady of Charity, the patroness of Cuba.
One of his biographers, Father Gonzalez Velasco, wrote: “It should be noted that the young Jose Lopez Piteira always felt proud that he was born in Cuba and was a Cuban citizen."
The magazine Palabra Cubana related the story of his martyrdom: While studying at the Monastery of El Escorial, he was detained on August 6, 1936 with his Augustinian community at that monastery and imprisoned in Madrid.
When he was told he could appeal to his Cuban citizenship to gain freedom, he answered: “All of you who have been my teachers and superiors are here. What I am going to do in the city? I prefer to have the same fate as everyone else, whatever God wishes that might be.”
“On November 30, 1936, Brother Jose Lopez Piteira was martyred in Paracuellos de Jarama together with 50 other Augustinian religious. At the time of his martyrdom he was 23 (sic),” the magazine reported.
After the ceremony, Piteira will be known as Blessed Fray Jose Lopez Piteira, which means exactly what?
The declaration by the pope as head of the Church that one of its communicants has lived a saintly life as a believer or died a heroic death as a martyr and is dwelling in the happiness of heaven. (Yes, there is now a Cuban in heaven!). Those who have been declared Blessed are entitled to veneration by the faithful. Prayers may be raised to them; their images may be placed in churches and their feast days celebrated, especially in localities and orders associated with their lives. The difference between saints and the blessed is that saints are not merely entitled to local veneration, but must be venerated by the Universal Church. For one who is Blessed to be canonized (declared a saint) two miracles must be attributed to his intercession. God willing, perhaps the first miracle that Blessed Fray José will perform will be the liberation of Cuba from Communism.
By tradition, Blessed Fray Jose Lopez Piteira's feast day, will be Nov. 30.
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