The Costly Price of Christian Love
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SAINTS JOURNEYING WITH US AN ON-LINE PUBLICATION OF THE HAGIOGRAPHY CIRCLE vol. 1, no. 3 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 O 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 CARMEN MORENO BENÍTEZ and invigorate them with the sacraments. All AMPARO CARBONELL MUÑOZ had to be done expeditiously. Within the carnage that was the Spanish Civil War, stood out the Barcelona was one of the fiercest eloquent testimony of these two spiritual daughters of St. John Bosco. theaters of the religious persecution that In freely opting to remain in a city ravaged by fratricidal conflict to be accrued with the Spanish Civil War. Priests at the side of a terminally ill sister, though they could have chosen and clerics had set about their ministry otherwise, Carmen (left) and Amparo (right) became surreal signs for covertly. Nuns and sisters donned ordinary every age of the power of love and selflessness in the midst of violence clothes and concealed religious articles that and hate. might divulge their identity. In spite of these precautions, the Church of Barcelona was incarnadined within only two months. Cadavers of churchworkers, riddled with 1 SAINTS JOURNEYING WITH US 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 Built for the Lloyd Sabaudo Line in 1923, the Italian Gironella were still waiting for instructions steamship Principessa Giovanna ferried some 500 from their superiors, who already had found individuals – mostly religious sisters – from Cataluña to refuge in their general headquarters at Italy during the months of August and September 1936 Turin. Perhaps they entertained the with the approval of the Generalitat. prospect of joining the refugees leaving in a few days aboard the Principessa Giovanna. be executed at the city’s hippodrome. Fr. Notwithstanding this possibility, Fr. Arbona Arbona would share their fate a few months left the Salesians two pieces of consecrated later. 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 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 Situated at the back of the Colegio de Santa Dorotea, the waited their arrival. Jahr residence became a temporary refuge for some sixty The sisters spent their last night in Salesian sisters – and the last domicile of the two martyrs. Barcelona in the house of a certain Mr. Jahr, A series of apartments now stand at the site of the villa. a German Protestant who just fled Spain 2 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. * * * 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. the age of twenty-three. She took up a From her childhood, Carmen manifested teaching course at the Escuela Normal del personal traits that were superior to her age. Magisterio of Seville in anticipation of her To her family and friends she was very future ministry. On September 20, 1914, sweet and understanding. People noted her Carmen pronounced her final vows. prudence and piety even as a girl. Desirous For more than ten years, Sr. Carmen to consecrate herself to God, Carmen practically devoted most of her time to wanted to follow her sister in the religious teaching. Exercising her ministry in Seville life. She, however, had to delay her plans for and Écija with great diligence, she won the a while in order to attend to her sick affection of her students and her fellow mother. Overcoming later her mother’s religious. Young girls found in her an older opposition, she received the permission to sister who unhesitatingly attended to their pursue her vocation. needs and loved them genuinely. On August 28, 1906, Carmen joined the In 1924, she was transferred to the Salesian Sisters. Two years later, on August provincialate in Sarriá. Her superiors 22, 1908, she made her first profession at quickly noted her prudence and leadership 3 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.” * * * 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 4 CARMEN MORENO BENITEZ & AMPARO CARBONELL MUÑOZ 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 attended the first mass of the day before were well advised to leave their convent. Sr. going to the market, she had to forego of Amparo stayed with her family during this breakfast to comply with the strict period of chaos.