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Monday, 04 September 2023 14:07

Eufrasio di Gesù Bambino

Eufrasio was born in Cancienes (Spain) on February 8, 1897 and was baptized the following day. He spent his infancy and childhood under the tutelage of his grandfather Vincenzo in La Cuesta.

After a brief stay with the Brothers of the Christian Schools (1911), on 5th of December 1912 he was at the Teresian College of Villafranca (Navarre). After completing his formation in Larrea (Vizcaya), on 26th of July 1916 he made his religious profession; followed by the years of theological and philosophical studies, in different Carmelite colleges (Marquina, Burgos, Vitoria and Bilbao), towards the goal of priesthood.

Eufrasio was ordained in Santander on September 23, 1922; on October 1st he celebrated his first Mass in Oviedo. Appointed professor of philosophy and theology in various colleges, at the same time he dedicated himself to a fruitful priestly ministry.

On September 5, 1926, his superiors sent him to Krakow (Poland) to strengthen the presence of Carmel in the countries of Eastern Europe; a land that he loved deeply, learning above all the difficult Slavic language in order to exercise his apostolate.

Recalled to Burgos in the autumn of 1928, he contributed to the magazines «Il Monte Carmelo» and «Eco del Carmelo e Praga»; in July 1929 he was a professor in Oviedo. This was the last stage of his earthly life in which he would bear witness to Christ by martyrdom. From 1929 to 1934 he supervised and directed the catechetical meetings held in the monastery, much appreciated by the many participants. Elected prior in May 1933, days followed in which the community sensed the painful times that the atheist revolution was preparing in Asturias (October 1933).

In those tragic times, Fr. Eufrasio did not abandon his confreres until all were rescued. He himself was about to leave, when he had to seek treatment at the hospital in Oviedo for a hip dislocation that prevented him from walking. Recognized as a religious, indeed as «the prior of the Carmelites», as he himself declared, on October 12, 1934 he was shot near the wall of the «Old Market». Addressing those who were about to kill him as «my children,» he forgave them.

The decree on martyrdom was promulgated on December 16, 2006. The beatification ceremony took place on October 28, 2007.

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