AUGUST 3D, FERIA

(In some places: Finding of St. Stephen the Protomartyr)

Month in honor of the Assumption of the BVM.

Recalled in the Roman Martyrology today is —

Blessed Alfonso (Federico) López y López, Martyr

He was born November 16, 1878, in Secorum, Huesca, Spain, the son of simple and pious parents, and baptized Federico. As a young man, he worked at a number of jobs and positions, all the while feeling a call to religious life. In 1906 he finally said yes, at the age of 28, and joined the Franciscan Friars Minor (Conventual) at their convent in Granollers, Spain.

He was sent for studies at the Franciscan seminary in Granollers, and then in Osimo, Italy, where he made his solemn profession in AD 1911, taking the name Alfonso, and being ordained a priest also in 1911. He was then made "Apostolic Penitentiary" and confessor at the Shrine of Loreto from 1912 to 1915. He next served as a teacher, spiritual director, and novice master at the Ganollers convent from 1915 to 1936. There he was known for his great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and as an outstanding example to of a good religious for the novices. One of his novices was Blessed Eugenio Remón Salvador, who with him was martyred in the Spanish Civil War on the evening of August 3d, 1936, in Samalús, Barcelona, Spain, his last words being, "Lord, forgive them." On March 11th, 2001, he was beatified by Pope John Paul II.