Nine young seminarians, alongside a priest and a layman, are due to be beatified at Madrid’s Almudena Cathedral at 12:00 on Saturday 28 November. Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, will preside on behalf of Pope Leo XIV. The eleven candidates are Ignacio Aláez Vaquero, Ángel Trapero Sánchez-Real, Antonio Moralejo Fernández-Shaw, Cástor Zarco García, Jesús Sánchez Fernández-Yáñez, Miguel Talavera Sevilla, Pablo Chomón Pardo, Mariano Arrizabalaga Español, Ramón Ruiz Pérez, Julio Pardo Pernía and Liberato Moralejo Juan. The seminarians were aged 18 to 24.
The beatification follows the Pope’s authorisation of the recognition of their martyrdom on 18 December 2025. The decision means the candidates can be beatified without a miracle attributed to them. The cause opened in 2010, with diocesan and Holy See investigations lasting about 15 years. Their testimony is linked to the ecclesiastical province’s three dioceses: Madrid, Getafe and Alcalá de Henares.
The bishops of the province are presenting their pastoral letter, «¡Qué más fuerte que muerte es el amor!», on Friday 6 November, the liturgical memorial of the saints and blessed martyrs of the 20th century in Spain. The letter frames the forthcoming ceremony as a call to hope, rooted in forgiveness; it also stresses reconciliation. The bishops say that a martyrdom cause must establish that death resulted from confession of the faith, rather than political or military motives, or ideological or personal ones. They also reject the use of the martyrs as instruments of contemporary political identity and describe their witness as forgiveness without resentment or revenge.
The bishops write, «La memoria de estos mártires no es un recuerdo meramente histórico, sino una verdadera fuerza para el presente» (“The memory of these martyrs is not merely a historical recollection, but a real force for the present”, translated from Spanish). They also present the martyrs as an example for young people and an encouragement to priestly vocations.
Four of the eleven have specific ties to the Diocese of Getafe. Miguel Talavera Sevilla was born in Boadilla del Monte, while Ángel Trapero Sánchez-Real was born in Navalcarnero. Julio Pardo Pernía served as chaplain in Ciempozuelos. Pablo Chomón Pardo was killed in Valdemoro.
A prayer vigil for young people from the three dioceses is scheduled at the Almudena on Friday 27 November at 20:00. The beatification ceremony will take place at noon the following day, Saturday 28 November. Madrid will celebrate a thanksgiving Eucharist at noon on Sunday 29 November, with further thanksgiving celebrations planned in the other dioceses. The schedule also includes a separate service at Toledo Cathedral, covered in earlier cathedral coverage.
Further thanksgiving Masses are planned at the Monastery of San Bernardo in Alcalá de Henares on Friday 4 December at 20:15. Another is scheduled at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Cerro de los Ángeles in Getafe on Friday 11 December at 19:30.
On 6 November, María Victoria Hernández Rodríguez presented her book El beato Ignacio Aláez Vaquero y compañeros de Madrid, entre los 110 seminaristas mártires del siglo XX en España, placing the Madrid candidates within a wider group of 110 seminarian martyrs. The presentation accompanied the Church’s memorial for the saints and blessed martyrs of 20th-century Spain.
