SAINTS JOURNEYING WITH US

AN ON-LINE PUBLICATION OF THE HAGIOGRAPHY CIRCLE

vol. 1, no. 3

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CARMEN MORENO BENÍTEZ & AMPARO CARBONELL MUÑOZ:

THE COSTLY PRICE OF CHRISTIAN LOVE 6 SEPTEMBER 1936

n the morning of 29 August, an elderly countryman knocked at the door of an ostensibly quiet house at Plaza Gironella. A middle-aged

woman opened the door from within and looked at him furtively. He carried with him a basket of tomatoes and offered it to her. That was the secret signal.

She let him inside the house where two other women had been anticipating his arrival. With the door firmly locked behind them, they commenced with the actual purpose of that clandestine meeting. The man was really a Jesuit priest named Bartomeu Arbona Estades. A pious alumna of the confiscated Colegio de Santa Dorotea, just a stone’s throw away from that house, had directed him to hearten the three Salesian Sisters in their hideout and invigorate them with the sacraments. All had to be done expeditiously.

Barcelona was one of the fiercest theaters of the religious persecution that accrued with the Spanish Civil War. Priests and clerics had set about their ministry covertly. Nuns and sisters donned ordinary clothes and concealed religious articles that might divulge their identity. In spite of these precautions, the Church of Barcelona was incarnadined within only two months. Cadavers of churchworkers, riddled with

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CARMEN MORENO BENÍTEZ and AMPARO CARBONELL MUÑOZ

Within the carnage that was the Spanish Civil War, stood out the eloquent testimony of these two spiritual daughters of St. John Bosco. In freely opting to remain in a city ravaged by fratricidal conflict to be at the side of a terminally ill sister, though they could have chosen otherwise, Carmen (left) and Amparo (right) became surreal signs for every age of the power of love and selflessness in the midst of violence and hate.

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bullets and grotesquely disfigured, were abandoned on the very spot of their execution.

A foreign vessel had managed to allay that bloodbath significantly. By August 1936, the Principessa Giovanna had evacuated to Italy some 500 individuals in two separate occasions. Most of these were religious sisters given safe-conduct passes by functionaries of the Generalitat, the parliament of Cataluña. The ship was scheduled to dock one last time at the city’s Maritime Station on 1 September.

The three Salesian sisters in Plaza Gironella were still waiting for instructions from their superiors, who already had found refuge in their general headquarters at Turin. Perhaps they entertained the prospect of joining the refugees leaving in a few days aboard the Principessa Giovanna. Notwithstanding this possibility, Fr. Arbona left the Salesians two pieces of consecrated bread for their consumption. Before departing, he promised to return to the sisters in fifteen days. But that was not to be. In a week’s time, two of the sisters would

be executed at the city’s hippodrome. Fr. Arbona would share their fate a few months later.

Built for the Lloyd Sabaudo Line in 1923, the Italian steamship Principessa Giovanna ferried some 500 individuals – mostly religious sisters – from Cataluña to Italy during the months of August and September 1936 with the approval of the Generalitat.

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A total of three mass evacuations took place. The first group left the port of Barcelona for Italy on July 27. The second group fled a week later, August 7. The third and final exodus took place a month later, September 1, with something like a thousand evacuees.

A contingent of 56 professed sisters and 10 novices of the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians (the Salesian Sisters) from the Provincial House and the Colegio de Santa Dorotea in Sarrià were among those scheduled to board the Principessa Giovanna on August 7. They were given safe-conduct passes by the Catalan government the day before, and those who preceded them in Genoa, Italy eagerly waited their arrival. Situated at the back of the Colegio de Santa Dorotea, the

Jahr residence became a temporary refuge for some sixty Salesian sisters – and the last domicile of the two martyrs. A series of apartments now stand at the site of the villa.

The sisters spent their last night in Barcelona in the house of a certain Mr. Jahr, a German Protestant who just fled Spain

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CARMEN MORENO BENITEZ & AMPARO CARBONELL MUÑOZ

and offered his house to the sisters. In those tense moments, Sr. Felisa Armendariz, the provincial, contemplated a dilemma.

The provincial treasurer, Sr. Carmen Xammar Soler, was in a clinic, recovering from an operation. To board the ship would be precarious to the health of the sister; thus, she had to remain in Barcelona while recuperating. However, she would need not be alone; another religious could stay behind and oversee the infirm. Sadly, that meant limiting another sister’s chance to escape possible death.

That night, Sr. Felisa opened the problem to her sisters. She asked for any volunteer. Two of the sisters approached: Sr. Carmen Moreno, the assistant superior of the Colegio, and Sr. Amparo Carbonell. They both volunteered to remain, their offer being spontaneous and immediate.

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María del Carmen Moreno Benítez was born on August 24, 1885 at Villamartin, Cadiz. Her widowed mother inculcated in her a strong desire to lead a life of holiness. She studied in the Colegio de las Salesianas in Seville. The family had been friends and acquaintances of the Salesians ever since the congregation was established in Spain. In fact, Paz, the older sister of Carmen, had joined already the Salesians.

From her childhood, Carmen manifested personal traits that were superior to her age. To her family and friends she was very sweet and understanding. People noted her prudence and piety even as a girl. Desirous to consecrate herself to God, Carmen wanted to follow her sister in the religious life. She, however, had to delay her plans for a while in order to attend to her sick mother. Overcoming later her mother’s opposition, she received the permission to pursue her vocation.

On August 28, 1906, Carmen joined the Salesian Sisters. Two years later, on August 22, 1908, she made her first profession at

the age of twenty-three. She took up a teaching course at the Escuela Normal del Magisterio of Seville in anticipation of her future ministry. On September 20, 1914, Carmen pronounced her final vows.

For more than ten years, Sr. Carmen practically devoted most of her time to teaching. Exercising her ministry in Seville and Écija with great diligence, she won the affection of her students and her fellow religious. Young girls found in her an older sister who unhesitatingly attended to their needs and loved them genuinely.

In 1924, she was transferred to the provincialate in Sarriá. Her superiors quickly noted her prudence and leadership

SAINTS JOURNEYING WITH US

qualities. Along with these, she was a docile religious who submitted herself without question to the will of her superiors and to the rules of her religious institute. Thus, within a few months, Sr. Carmen was appointed superior of the convent school of Valverde del Camino in Huelva.

Among the young religious who came under her guidance in Valverde was Eusebia Palomino, a modest religious graced with mystical gifts. She did not live a long life, dying a year before the civil war erupted. Before expiring, however, Sr. Eusebia confided a subtle revelation to her superior: “In the year 1936, you will suffer much.”

Shortly after Sr. Eusebia’s death, Sr. Carmen was appointed superior of the convent at Jerez de la Frontera. Not so long later, she received notice that she has been appointed provincial vicar and superior of the Provincial House. She promptly reported for duty in Sarrià. It was here where the civil war caught up with her.

When asked by the sisters if she would join them, Sr. Carmen made a straight reply. “No, I will stay here. Sister Carmen (Xammar) is still in the clinic of Dr. Corochan.” She then added, “Anyway, no matter where we are, we must suffer.”

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María de los Desamparados Carbonell Muñoz was born on November 9, 1893 in Alboraya, Valencia. She came from a large family of field workers and laborers. As a child, Amparo was noted for her generosity and constancy. Her pious inclinations were not, however, understood by her family. She also did not enjoy good health. Amparo patiently bore these misunderstandings and weaknesses.

In 1903, when Amparo was ten years old, the Salesian Sisters established a youth center in Valencia. The weekly catechetical classes she attended and the spiritual direction of Salesian Fr. Guillermo Viñas had a profound effect on her. By the age of thirteen, at the death of her older sister, Amparo started to work as market vendor of the produce of her family. Because she

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CARMEN MORENO BENITEZ & AMPARO CARBONELL MUÑOZ

attended the first mass of the day before going to the market, she had to forego of breakfast to comply with the strict eucharistic fast of her time.

Many obstacles prevented Amparo from joining the Salesian Sisters earlier in life. Her own family was very much opposed to the idea and they were unwilling to provide her with a dowry. She did not have a sufficient education. Lastly, although familiar with farm work, Amparo was not familiar with most skills that society expected women of her time to know. When she finally entered the postulancy in Sarrià on January 31, 1921, she was already twenty-seven – rather late by according to the standards of her time.

Sr. Amparo made her first profession on August 5, 1923. Her duty as a gardener properly fitted her. Members of the community remembered her for her humility, sincerity, practical intelligence, and candidness, as well as her spirit of sacrifice, Eucharistic devotion and love for her congregation. She easily identified herself with St. Maria Mazzarello, the co-foundress, who was a peasant like her.

Despite all her good qualities, she nearly did not make it to final profession. She volunteered to help in the construction of the provincialate chapel. Her effort weakened her already feeble constitution. Her health debilitated further after she contracted pleurisy from nursing a sister sick with tuberculosis. These were serious obstacles her superiors had to consider. But they also noted her outstanding qualities. By God’s grace, she was allowed to take her final vows. Her gratitude toward her superiors was very moving.

By 1931, anti-clericalism in Barcelona rose to an alarming level. The sisters in Sarría

were well advised to leave their convent. Sr. Amparo stayed with her family during this period of chaos. The apathy of her kin did not change and they tried every way to discourage her from returning to the convent. She also had to defend the teachings of the Church concerning marriage. Sr. Amparo, nonetheless, endured patiently those trying moments and remained faithful to her choice of life.

After a degree of peace was restored, she left her family. She was assigned for two semesters as portress in the Salesian school at Torrente. Later she returned to Sarrià when the persecution of religious began to intensify.

With characteristic fidelity to work, Sr. Amparo fulfilled her duties at the Colegio de Santa Dorotea. She spent much of her time working contentedly at the community garden. Her superior recalled: “We would never forget her heroic spirit of sacrifice during those tragic days of the Spanish revolution. We witnessed how she overpowered with iron-will her sickness in those days of anguish. Despite a raging fever, she tirelessly went back and forth to the Colegio, endangering her life repeatedly,

SAINTS JOURNEYING WITH US

in order to salvage the properties of the community and to provide us with food. She saw to it that her sisters, hiding in a house close to the Colegio, lacked nothing.”

Choosing to sacrifice her safety was not difficult for Sr. Amparo. She who naturally understood the loneliness of being sick easily empathized with Sr. Carmen Xammar’s crisis. Her presence would be of such great use to her two sisters. Loneliness and misunderstanding accompanied her as she grew; she was no stranger to suffering.

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At 3:00 p.m. of August 7, the Principessa Giovanna hauled her anchor and departed for Italy. The choice to leave each other for an uncertain destiny was difficult for those who left and those who remained. The religious nourished the hope that they would see each other again. As for now, they could only abide by what circumstances allowed. Sr. Felisa assured Srs. Carmen and Amparo that she would work expeditiously for their safe evacuation.

After tearfully bidding farewell to their sisters, Carmen and Amparo proceeded to

the clinic where their infirm sister was recuperating. The three remained there. Five days later, with Sr. Carmen Xammar well enough, the three decided to return to the house of Señor Jahr.

As much as possible, the three religious did all their best to keep their common observances. Meanwhile, they awaited the move of the generalate in Italy for their safe departure. Weeks passed and their evacuation tarried. During all this time, past pupils of the Colegio did whatever they can to alleviate the spiritual and material needs of their former teachers.

These were days of unceasing anxiety. They were all well aware of the situations in the streets, of the senseless yet unabated murder of other religious. Their Jesuit visitor opened to them the prospect of martyrdom. As the possibility that things could worsen loomed, the sisters opted, instead, to prepare themselves for death.

* * *

It was September 1. The Principessa Giovanna was once more docked at the port of Barcelona. A fresh master list of evacuees included hundreds of religious sisters who were still in Barcelona at the height of the general persecution. Around 600 religious of the city were not in that list. Among them were the three Salesian sisters.

Complications prevented the general government of the Salesian sisters in Rome and their contacts in Spain from ensuring the safe evacuation of the three at an earlier moment. Eventually, the passports were accomplished… but it was already too late.

Milicianos kept a vigilant eye on the activities taking place at the Jahr residence. The conduct of the three female occupants must have aroused suspicion. On the evening of September 1, they decided to see for themselves who these ladies were and what they were doing. The religious did not show any resistance. Two hours passed. Then, the three were escorted atop a lorry and transported to the Committee for

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Security in Bonanova Street. Later on, they were brought to Via Layetana.

Sr. Carmen Xammar was released after two days of detention. She was too feeble and it was an apparent act of mercy that she was released. On September 10, she was privileged to receive her passport and be part of another mass evacuation. She arrived in Italy with fatigue and sickness etched on her visage. There she recounted all that took place from the time Srs. Carmen and Amparo arrived at the clinic until the day she was separated from them. The horror inflicted upon her before and after captivity completely broke down her health. She died a few days later.

The sisters in the generalate were hoping to hear something more, but they realized that Sr. Carmen was ignorant of what befell the other two sisters who offered to remain in Barcelona for her sake. They waited for more news and hoped beyond hope.

On September 6, two corpses were brought from the Barcelona Hippodrome to the Hospital Clinico. The faces were photographed for police files and future identification. Alumnae of the Colegio identified who these were.

No. 4676 was badly bruised and the countenance was grotesque. A file described:

4676. A woman. Tall, about fifty years old, stout, dressed in black. Clothes marked: S Moreno C. Shows gunshot wound, entrance through left temple, exit at right temple. Diagnosis: Traumatic cerebral hemorrhage.

No. 4677 reflected a serene face with eyes partly opened. The accompanying file made this description:

4677. A woman. About forty years old. Regular height. Stout. Clothed with a light gray dress. Shows gunshot wound on left superciliar region, another on neck. Diagnosis:

Traumatic cerebral hemorrhage.

Nothing more was ever known. Speculations that the two sisters were beaten some time before execution surfaced upon examination of the cadavers and the photographs. The two, undoubtedly, suffered much on the hand of their assassins.

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THE DECREE ON THE MARTYRDOM OF CARMEN MORENO BENÍTEZ AND AMPARO CARBONELL MUÑOZ WAS PROMULGATED ON 20 DECEMBER 1999.

THEY WERE BEATIFIED ON 11 MARCH 2001.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Articulos que Se Proponen para la Causa de Beatificación y Canonización de los Siervos de Dios Muy Reverendo Don José Calasanz Marques y Otros 30 Compañeros de la Congregación Salesiana…y de las Hermanas Sor Carmen Moreno Benítez y Sor Amparo Carbonell del Instituto de las Hijas de Maria Auxiliadora… Barcelona: Libreria Salesiana, 1953.

Burdeus, Amadeo. Lauros y Palmas: Cronica de la Inspectoria Salesiana Tarraconense durante la Revolución Roja. Barcelona-Sarria: Salesianos de Don Bosco, 1950.

Collino, Maria. Il Colore Rosso dell’Amore. Turin: Editrice Elle di Ci, 2001.

Congregatio de Causis Sanctorum. Valentina. Beatificationis seu Declarationis Martyrii Servorum Dei Josephi Calasanz Marques et XXXI Sociorum, Societatis S. Francisci Salesii, in Odium Fidei, Uti Fertur, Interfectorum. Positio Super Martyrio. Rome: CCS, 1995.

Secco, Michelina. Cenni Biografici delle FMA Defunte nel 1936. Rome: Istituto Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice, n.d.

COPYRIGHT 2002 © THE HAGIOGRAPHY CIRCLE.

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