90th Anniversary of the Deaths of Eight de La Salle Brothers

“Your zeal must be so great that you are ready to give your very life, 
so dear to you are the children entrusted to you.”
(St John Baptist de La Salle, Sixth Meditation for the Time of Retreat)

To the SJI International Community:

Next Wednesday, 9th October, is the 90th anniversary of the deaths of eight De La Salle Brothers we remember as the Brother Martyrs of Turon. These Brothers were teaching in the mining town of Turon, in the region of Asturias, Spain. On that October night in 1934, they were assassinated, along with their chaplain, just across from their school, which was attended by even some of their assassins’ children. This was during a time of tremendous upheaval in Spain, in the years just prior to the Spanish Civil War.

These Brothers are especially important to us at SJI International because relics of these eight men are encased in the altar in our school Chapel. Next Wednesday morning we will remember them at Mass on this 90th anniversary of their martyrdom. All are welcome to join us for Mass.

Who were they? Brother Cirilo Bertrán was the Director of the community of eight Brothers. He was 46 years old. Brother Marciano José was 39, and Brother Julián Alfredo was 32. The other five Brothers, Aniceto Adolfo, Augusto Andrés, Benito de Jesús, Benjamin Julián, and Victoriano Pío were all in their 20’s. They were canonised as saints by Pope John Paul II in 1999.
At the time Turon was a centre of anti-government and anti-clerical hostility. The Brothers’ school was an irritant to the radicals in charge of the town because of its religious influence on the young, and because the Brothers were known to defy the ban on the teaching of religion. On the first Friday of October the authorities broke into the Brothers’ house on the pretext that arms had been hidden there. The Brothers and their chaplain were arrested, detained over the weekend without trial, and in the middle of the night of October 9th they were marched out to the cemetery where they were shot to death, victims of hatred and violence against the Church, witnesses by their death to the faith they so courageously professed and shared with their students.

So why do we have their relics in our Chapel?

A relic usually consists of the physical or personal remains of a saint or a venerated person, for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial of their life. The word relic comes from the Latin, reliquiae, meaning remains, or “something left behind.” Although the practice of keeping and venerating relics may seem strange to some, such veneration is found in the traditions of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and many other religions.

In the Catholic Church, relics play a major role in the consecration of a Church or Chapel. Relics are usually placed in the altar as part of the consecration service, which is what happened here when our Sanctuary of Divine Love Chapel was dedicated on 7th April 2008. It has been said that the relics of saints help people overcome the abstract and make a connection with the holy. As we remember these Brothers, and venerate their relics, we are reminded that saints do not perform miracles. Only God performs miracles, but saints are intercessors. May the Brother Martyrs of Turon intercede for the SJI International community!
I believe it is a special grace that relics of these eight Lasallian Saints should have found a place in Singapore and in our Chapel here at St Joseph’s Institution International. It is an interesting coincidence that St Brother Jaime Hilario, the patron of our Red House at SJI International, was canonised at the same ceremony in 1999 as the eight Brothers whose relics we venerate in our Chapel. St Br Jaime was shot by a firing squad on 18 January 1937. A total of 165 De La Salle Brothers were martyred in Spain in the years prior to and during the Spanish Civil War, among nearly 7000 bishops, priests, religious men and women, and seminarians.

I used to wonder how, not all that long ago, such hatred could have been stirred up and directed towards a group of our Brothers and that it could even lead to their deaths. But one only has to look at so many places in our world today to see how the power of evil can take hold of individuals, leading to an unleashing of hatred so great that the lives of the innocent are meaningless. This month, as we are observing the International Lasallian Days of Peace, let us pray through the intercession of our Brother Martyrs of Turon, for victims of terror and for peace in our world.

MASS FOR THE FEAST OF
SAINTS BR. CIRILO BERTRÁN & COMPANIONS, 
THE BROTHER MARTYRS OF TURON

Wednesday morning, 9th October 2024
7:40 am
School Chapel

Saints Br Cirilo Bertrán and Companions, pray for us!