Slovenia: Lojze, the martyr of violence”A martyr for the faith and a role model for the young”, said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State, in his description of Blessed Lojze Grozde (1923-1943). In his homily for the closing of the first national Eucharistic Congress in Slovenia (June 13) and on the occasion of the Grozde’s beatification, His Eminence observed that the beatification of the young lay man from Catholic Action killed by the Partisans of Tito when he was only twenty is “the work of the Divine Providence”. Blessed Lojze Grozde is the first Slovenian martyr. In highlighting the value of the Eucharist, the Secretary of State recalled: “In the past century, in a similar episode marked by equally strong faith, the young Slovenian martyr bore witness to the Eucharist, which he defined ‘the sun of my life'”. Immediately after his murder, Grozde’s tomb in the cemetery of the town of entrupert na Dolenjskem became a pilgrimage destination for individuals and groups of faithful. His martyrdom was immediately acknowledged by the local population and Lojze is viewed as a symbol of all the Catholic Slovenians undergoing martyrdom because of their Christian faith. In the stadium of the city of Celje, in the South-Western region of the Lower Styria, Cardinal Bertone pointed out that “a close understanding of the history of the Church in Styria, notably the violent persecutions of the past century – such as the years marked by the occupation by foreign powers, the civil war and the atheist regime – shows that for the People of God the Eucharist has been the main point of reference, a source of force, support and consolation”. Cardinal Bertone thus called upon the attendants “to step up your commitment in the witness of charity, following the example of the many brothers who in the past centuries witnessed their faith in the Resurrected Lord by devoting their life to serving the Church and providing support to those who needed their help in the land of Slovenia”. The Slovenian Bishops’ Conference (CES) represents six dioceses (Koper, Ljubljana, Novo mesto, Celje, Maribor e Murska Sabota) and eleven bishops. According to CES statistics some 86% of the two million Slovenians are Catholic. There are 784 parishes, with over 1,100 diocesan and religious priests.Spain: Manuel, the martyrdom of immobilityManuel Lozano Garrido (1920-1971), better known as “Lolo”, is the first journalist that was raised to the honour of the altar. The Beatification ceremony, presided over by Msgr. Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, in his capacities as representative of the Holy Father, took place Saturday 12 June in Linares, in the district of Jaén (Spain). For Msgr. Amato “it is an honor for the Spanish and universal Church to acknowledge the sanctity of a man who converted the calvary of suffering into a cry of happiness and hope”. Lolo became a member of Catholic Action when he was very young. Msgr. Amato recalled that during the religious persecution in Spain, which took the life of Lolo’s brother Agustín, he prepared himself “to give his life for Jesus and forgive the persecutors. As he did when he forgave the one who reported him for being Catholic and for the clandestine distribution of the Eucharist, for which he was sentenced to three months in prison”. At the age of 22 the onset of a progressive paralysis gradually undermined his body and Manuel, who was a dynamic young man, experienced the “martyrdom of immobility”, and of blindness, in the last nine years of his life. “Lolo saw the celestial light with the eyes of the faith, he travelled across the skies of beauty and truth”. “Blindness completed his sacrifice”, said Msgr. Amato. “From this school of suffering and faith he found the strength to write nine books and over three-hundred articles, that were published in national and local newspapers and magazines”. Indeed, his spirit and his apostolic zeal, his evangelizing and missionary thrust, along with his vocation as journalist to the service of the Gospel persisted even after the onset of the disease. He founded the charity work “Sinaí”, an association of prayer for the press, where groups of 12 sick people with the support of a cloister monastery undertook the spiritual guidance of a communication channel. “In a hedonistic society such as ours, that is unable to see or value suffering, Blessed Lolo invites us to open our eyes and see the many sufferings of others” and “to bestow love, since God has just one name, which is Love”, underlined Msgr. Amato. Despite the heavy rainfall, the beatification ceremony was attended by some twenty bishops, amongst whom figured the president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela and the bishop of Jaén Msgr. Ramón del Hoyo López, along with two-hundred priests and approximately fifteen thousand people including journalists from all areas of Spain and Argentina.
