In Cordibus Jesu et Mariae: November 2021

Recognize this Carmelite Blessed? I bet not. I didn't recognize him either. I actually couldn't find any info about him on the internet that was even in English!

I only stumbled upon this intriguing Carmelite because I follow the Carmel of Lisieux on Facebook. Yep, that's the Carmel that St. Therese and three of her sisters entered. But their page only posts in French so I'm left to the mercy of Facebook Translate to read their posts. It's ok but leaves a bit to be desired. Still, the artwork caught my eye. Here was a Carmelite friar seated next to the Infant of Prague and if you know me, you know He's my absolute favorite!! Whenever I find someone or someplace devoted to my Little King, I must get to know them!

So I scanned the short translated post and decided to look up more of his story. Google was next to no help at all. I only found this one little spot with the most basic information not including any explanation of his life story whatsoever.

Meet Blessed Euphrasio of the Child Jesus.

So far, all we know is that his feast day is October 12th.

He was a discalced Carmelite priest martyred in the Spanish Civil War.

Born February 8th, 1897, and died on October 12th, 1934 at the age of 37.

He was Venerated and Beatified by Pope Benedict XVI.

I must know more!!

So I continued my google search but came up empty-handed. I returned to the link with very little information and decided to look a little closer. At the bottom was a link to some website in Italian. We're practically world travelers by this point, don't you think?! France, Spain, Italy?!

Thanks to Google Chrome's handy dandy translation plug-in, I could read the Italian webpage about our new heavenly friend. Eufrasio Barredo Fernández was born in the parish of Cancienes, in the province of Asturias, Spain in 1897 and was baptized the following day. He grew up under the tutelage of his grandfather, Vincenzo. He entered the Teresian College of Villafranca in 1912 and traveled to study at different colleges of the Carmelites, making his simple profession on July 26, 1916, and solemn profession on March 18, 1922. Eufrasio was ordained a priest on September 23, 1922, in Santander. He celebrated his first Mass on October 1st in Oviedo, Asturias, Spain. (Less than a year before St. Therese was Beatified, for context.)

Photo by Francisco Santiago

After his ordination, Fr. Euphrasio was appointed professor of philosophy and theology in various colleges, while at the same time devoting himself to a fruitful priestly ministry. In 1926, his superiors sent him to Krakow, Polland to strengthen and consolidate the Carmelite presence in the countries of Eastern Europe. He cared very much for this work as shown by his dedication to learning the difficult Slavic language in order to be able to carry out his mission. He stayed there until recalled to Burgos in the fall of 1928 where he worked as director of two magazine publications, "Il Monte Carmelo" and "Eco del Carmelo e Praga." In 1929, he became a professor of Theology in Oviedo and directed the catechetical meetings held in the convent. Fr. Euphrasio was elected prior of the community on May 8th, 1933 but the community was beginning to sense the coming revolution. On October 5, 1934, the Spanish leftist revolution erupted in Asturias and Father worked to ensure the safety of his brothers. He worked to help them escape and was about to himself. He made to flee over the high garden wall but fell dislocating his hip. The injury worsened and Fr. Euphrasio requested to be taken to the hospital. There, he was recognized as a religious, and even himself declared that he was prior of the Carmelites so he was taken from the hospital bed by the militia and carried off to the marketplace to be shot by the wall of the "Mercato Vecchio."

Photo credit: CarlosGlezPaniagua on Twitter

He addressed the men about to kill him as, "My children," forgiving them and then crying three times

"Viva Christo Rey!" "Long live Christ the King!"

Pope Benedict XVI recognized Euphrasio's martyrdom on December 16, 2006, and beatified him on October 28, 2007, with 497 other victims of the same persecution.

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Finally, I have made a list on Google Maps of the prominent places in Blessed Euphrasio's life so we can better visualize his story. Here's the link!

Map of Blessed Euphrasio's Life

I had so much fun combing the internet search results for images of our new Carmelite friend. I hope you enjoyed this post and maybe learned something new! Have you heard of Blessed Euphrasio or the martyrs of the Spanish revolution before? Please do let me know in the comments below! Here's a site with more info on some of the other Carmelite martyrs of the Spanish Civil War.