VALLS ESPÍ, CRESCENCIA, BL.

Lay martyr; b. June 9, 1863, Onteniente (or Ontinyent), Valencia, Spain; d. there, Sept. 20, 1936. Crescencia, daughter of Joaquin Valls and Francisca Espí, was baptized the day after her birth. She received her elementary education from the Vincentian Sisters.

Crescenis's profound piety was formed through daily Mass, Communion, and recitation of the Rosary with her family, and regular meetings with her spiritual director. She was a member of the Daughters of Mary, Apostleship of Prayer, St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Third Order of Carmelites, Catholic Action, and other religious groups. She exercised her lay apostolate by visiting the sick, seeking charitable contributions on behalf of the poor, and helping those in need.

After the Feb. 16, 1936 elections and the declaration of the Republic, Crescencia intensified her apostolic work and defended the Church. On Sept. 26, she and her sisters Concepción, Carmen, and Patrocinio were arrested by four militiamen just before noon. Twelve hours later they were taken to the stone quarry in Puerto de Ollería. All four sisters were shot. Crescencia pardoned her executioners and died shouting, "Long live Christ the King."

Her body was initially interred in Canals Cemetery in a common grave. After the revolution, the mummified cadaver was exhumed and identified by its personal effects and the wounds that caused her death. It was reburied in her hometown, then translated to Santa María Church. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II with José Aparicio Sanz and 232 companions on Mar. 11, 2001.

Feast: Sept. 22.

See Also: abad casasempere, amalia and companions, bb.

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). L'Osservatore Romano, Eng. no. 11 (Mar. 14, 2001), 1–4, 12.

[k. i. rabenstein]