'We're Going To Heaven' Said Victims Of Spanish Communism

Fr. Cayetano Clausellas-Ballvé, a diocesan priest of Spain, and layman Antonio Tort-Reixachs, were beatified at a November 23 Mass at the famed Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona.

The two men were murdered by communist rebels during the first year of the disastrous civil war in Spain. At the time, the leftist Spanish Republic was fending off the nationalist forces led by General Francisco Franco. The republic was aided by the Soviet Union and international leftists, such as the Lincoln Brigade from the United States. The nationalists, led by Franco, were aided by fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. In Barcelona and the surrounding province of Catalonia and elsewhere in Spain, Catholic clergy, nuns and lay people were subject to persecution and death at the hands of leftists and anarchists.

Father Clausellas-Ballvé, who was known as the "Father of the Poor", refused to divest himself of his cassock or hide when the persecution began. Ultimately, he was abducted by leftists and shot to death along the roadside on August 15, 1936.

Antonio Tort-Reixachs, a jeweler, was the father of f eleven children. It had been his custom, after every Sunday Mass, to provide care to tuberculosis patients. He also served as a catechist.

Once the communists began their uprising, he walked more than 30 miles to give aid to the needy, even though he was aware of leftist persecution. On July 21, 1936, he met with the Bishop Manuel Irurita of Barcelona and Fr. Marcos Goñi, who left the bishop’s residence dressed as laymen.

Tort-Reixachs took them to his home in Barcelona, where his brother Francisco de Paula Tort-Reixachs also lived. Several Carmelite nuns and two other women were already sheltering there. For more than four months, Tort-Reixachs and his family and those he took in remained in the house, leading an almost monastic life.

A small altar was installed at the residence, where Bishop Irurita and his nephew Fr.Goñi officiated Mass every morning at 6:00 so that everyone could receive Holy Communion every day.

But one day the communist militiamen broke into the house. Moving quickly through the home, the communists all religious objects they could find

Antonio Tort-Reixachs had time to bid his wife farewell with these words: "Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you. Goodbye. Goodbye. Do not be afraid, God will not abandon you." He and others in the household were arrested and taken to the headquarters of the "Committee of Anti-Fascist Militias" on Pedro IV Street in Barcelona. Tort Reixachs's daughter, Mercedes, who was also detained, told him: "Daddy, they are going to kill us." He replied: "They are sending us to heaven."

All of them, except Mercedes, were later transferred to the squalid San Elias prison, where Bishop Irurita identified himself only as a priest because he did not want himself used in a prisoner exchange. From the prison, they were taken to Montcada i Reixach cemetery in the early morning of November 3 or 4.

At he last moment, Bishop Irurita identified himself as bishop of Barcelona. The communists then murdered Bishop Iruita, Father Goñi, as well as the brothers, Francisco de Paula and Antonio Tort-Reixachs. Once Generalissimo Franco took power in 1939, 1,592 bodies of murdered victims of leftist outrages were exhumed from the Montcada cemetery. Only 472 were identified. Among those identified were Bishop Iruita, Father Goñi, and Francisco de Paul and Antonio Tort-Reixachs.