Cardinal Angelo Amato, head of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, beatified 23 martyrs from the Spanish Civil War who forgave their executioners before going to their deaths.

The martyrs "died making a profession of faith," Joaquin Martinez Vega, postulator of their cause, told Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano.

The group beatified on Dec. 17 in Madrid included one layman and 22 members of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The beatification coincided with the 150th anniversary of the death of the order's founder, St. Eugene of Mazenot, and the 200th anniversary of his priestly ordination.

In 1929, the Oblates opened a seminary in the city of Pozuelo de Alarcon in 1929 and soon became targets of anti-clerical forces during the country's political unrest.

In early 1936 the attacks become more frequent, Vega recalled. "Every weekend Marxists young people would gather near the monastery and shout, 'Death to the priests!'" he said.

On July 22 of that year, a group of men armed with rifles and pistols stormed the monastery and arrested the Oblates who were living there at the time. They kept them all in one room and searched the monastery for weapons.

"They only found religious paintings, statues, crucifixes, rosaries and sacred ornaments. On July 24 at three or four in the morning, the first executions began."

Along with the first seven who were executed, 42 year-old Candido Castan San Jose, a father of two, was also also killed.

Although the other Oblates were freed in July, they were arrested again in October and imprisoned. "There they suffered a slow martyrdom of hunger, cold, terror and threats, until 15 of them suffered a cruel end," Vega said.

On Nov. 7 two of the Oblates were shot in the town of Paracuellos de Jarama. On Nov. 27 thirteen others were killed.

"The procedure was the same for all," Vega noted. "There were no accusations, no trials, no defense or explanations. Their names were merely announced on a loud PA system."