Cardona Meseguer, Matias, Bl.
CARDONA MESEGUER, MATIAS, BL.
Martyr, priest of the Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools (Piarists); b. Dec. 23, 1902, in Vallibona, Castile, Spain; d. Aug. 20, 1936. Matias had just been ordained on Apr. 11, 1936. A member of the San Anton community in Barcelona, he went to his home town of Vallibona at the beginning of the religious persecution. On Aug. 17, he left his sister's house where he was staying to seek asylum at his uncle's farm in the mountains. He was arrested shortly thereafter by soldiers sent by the Revolution Committee. He turned himself in, and they imprisoned him. In the early morning of Aug. 20, soldiers took him from the prison in a truck along with a diocesan priest; the two were shot along the side of the road near his hometown. He was beatified on Oct. 1, 1995 by Pope John Paul II together with 12 other Piarists (see pamplona, dionisio and companions, bb.).
Feast: Sept. 22.
Bibliography: "Decreto Super Martyrio," Acta Apostolicae Sedis (1995): 651–656. La Documentation Catholique 2125 (Nov. 5, 1995): 924.
[l. gendernalik/eds.]