GALBIS GIRONÉS, VICENTE, BL.

Lay martyr, lawyer; b. Sept. 9, 1910, Ontinyent (or Onteniente), Valencia, Spain; d. Sept. 21, 1936, Benisoda. Vicente (Vincent) was baptized in St. Charles Church in his hometown shortly after his birth. He received his early education at the hands of the Franciscan fathers, a baccalaureate degree at the National Institute of Murcia, and his law degree from the University of Valencia, where he was a member of the Catholic Student Union.

In 1922, Vicente became a founding member of the first Youth of Catholic Action in the Archdiocese of Valencia at Santa María Church. From that moment he was joined with the other martyrs of Ontinyent: Bl. Carlos dÍaz gandÍa, president, José María García Marcos, secretary, and Bl. Rafael Alonso Gutiérrez de Medina, president of the Men of Catholic Action.

In 1933, he moved into his family home, and began exercising his profession gratis in defense of the poor—a dream he had since childhood. A man of profound faith, he daily recited the rosary with his family, participated in the Mass, and received Holy Communion. He was also a member of the Apostleship of Prayer, Nocturnal Adoration Society, and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

On Sept. 5, 1935, Vicente married María de los Desamparados (called Amparo) Bonastre Oltra with whom he had one son, Vicente, born July 6, 1936—just three months before the father's death. He continued his devotional practices with his wife and joined various lay religious groups.

Although Vicente appeared to be timid, when religious persecution began and martyrdom seemed probable, he knew no fear in responding to blasphemy and detractors of the faith that it was his "greatest honor to be Catholic." Upon seeing the danger to the Church in the days just prior to the Revolution, he volunteered to spend some nights in vigil at the parish, despite the warnings of friends and family.

The Revolution began in Ontinyent with the burning of the churches and imprisonment of Catholics. Because Vicente openly professed his faith, his home was subjected to several searches. The last time the militants proposed that he abandon his current work with poor Catholic workers and become a well paid lawyer for the revolutionaries. He responded, "It would be impossible for me to defend people who profane religious images and destroy churches."

He was arrested in his home at 12:30 am on Sept. 21, 1936. As his wife watched, he was taken to prison and held for two scant hours. From there he was taken with six youths, including Bl. Manuel torrÓ garcÍa, to Benisoda. En route they recited the rosary together. During his last moments before the firing squad, he shouted, "¡Viva Cristo Rey!" ("Long live Christ the King!").

At dawn Vicente's widow and her father obtained a safe conduct from the Committee to search the highways for the site of her husband's execution, where they were told to look for his body in Benisoda's cemetery. Overcoming the resistance of the militiamen, she searched among the bodies. When she found her husband's, she drenched a handkerchief in his blood and saved his scapular and rosary.

His wife, Amparo, and aunt, Ángeles Bonastre García, were present at the exhumation of his body and reburial in the new cemetery at Ontinyent (October 1959). He was beatified by Pope John Paul II with José aparicio sanz and 232 companions on March 11, 2001.

Feast: Sept. 22.

Bibliography: v. cÁrcel ortÍ, Martires españoles del siglo XX (Madrid 1995). w. h. carroll, The Last Crusade (Front Royal, Va. 1996). j. pÉrez de urbel, Catholic Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War, tr. m. f. ingrams (Kansas City, Mo. 1993). r. royal, The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century (New York 2000). Consejo Diocesano de los Hombres de Acción Católica de Valencia. Possumus, n. 108 (1960), 10; Ánimos, n. 12 (1945). L'Osservatore Romano, Eng. no. 11 (March 14, 2001) 1–4, 12.

[k. i. rabenstein]