Fray José López Piteira: The first Cuban blessed was a victim of communism

The priestFray Jose Lopez Piteira, is the first Cuban beatified and wasvictim of communism during the Civil War in Spain.

The young Cuban belonged to the Order of Saint Augustine and wasshot by Spanish communists on November 30, 1936, along with 50 other monks, in Paracuellos del Jarama, on the outskirts of Madrid.

The friarJose Lopez Piteira era born in Jatibonico, Sancti Spíritus. He was born on February 2, 1912 and was the fifth child of Don Emilio López Vilelo and Doña Lucinda Piteira Romero, Spanish emigrants living in Cuba.

In 1916 the family returned to Galicia, Spain, and decided to settle in Partovia. José grew up in this region until completing General Education at the Benedictine Monastery of Santa María de San Clodio. At the age of 16, she began the novitiate at the Augustinian convent of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Leganés, in Madrid.

In 1929 he received his religious profession and studied philosophy for three years and then completed his studies at theRoyal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, where he professed his solemn vows on July 16, 1934. He was a good student, a fan of music and an exemplary religious man.

In the summer of 1936, the year in whichJose Lopez PiteiraHe had to finish his studies and realize his dream of being ordained a priest, a coup d'état occurred in Spain that unleashed anti-religious persecution.

The Augustinian community ofRoyal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial She was imprisoned in the cloister and a short time later some of the religious were transferred to a prison at the Colegio de San Antón.

Among those arrested wasFriar Joseph. His family made representations to Cuban and Cuban consular officials.Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic to get his freedom. However, the friar refused to abandon his companions in prison.

The fatherNatalio Herrero, prior who had known him since the year of his novitiate, detailed these events:

"The deacon's response is worth notingJose Lopez Piteira, born in Cuba, who, when told that he could use that circumstance to achieve freedom, replied: 'All of you who have been my educators, my teachers and my superiors are here. What am I going to do in the city? I prefer to follow everyone's fate, and let it be what God wants.'"

After being summarily tried, Fray José and the other 50 Augustinian monks were condemned for being religious. The communists stripped them of everything, tied their hands behind their backs and took them to Paracuellos de Jarama, where they were murdered.

Beatification of López Piteira and silence of the church in Cuba

On October 28, 2007,Jose Lopez Piteira became thefirst Cuban blessed. The ceremony took place in the Vatican. That day, 496 people considered "martyrs of religious persecution" of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) were beatified.

The Cuban CardinalJaime Ortega (1936-2019) told the Cuban official press that the beatification of Friar José López Piteira was "something very special", but added that he was a "Cuban by birth."He did not recognize him as the first blessed of Cuba.

"We await the beatification of the first Cuban, Cuban" who is "Father José Olallo Valdés, a brother of Saint John of God," and who will be "the first true Cuban blessed for us," the cardinal said in 2007.

Ortega was a very important figure in the Cuban Catholic Church and was also linked to manycontroversies over their alleged support for the regime of the Castros.

HeFather Olallo was the second Cuban blessed, but his beatification ceremony was the first to be held in Cuba. It took place on November 29, 2008, in the Plaza de la Iglesia de la Virgen de la Caridad, in Camagüey.