Blessed Anselmo Polanco

Anselmo Polanco Fontecha (Buenavista de Valdavia, April 16, 1881 – Pont de Molins, February 7, 1939) was a Spanish Catholic bishop. Attacked by rebels after the outbreak of the Civil War, he was taken prisoner by the Republican army in January 1938 following the capture of Teruel. He remained in detention for nearly a year and was transferred several times. In the final weeks of the war, amidst Francisco Franco's conquest of Catalonia, Polanco was executed by a Republican military squad along with other prisoners. He is one of thirteen bishops killed in the Republican zone during the Spanish Civil War, a victim of religious persecution. The Catholic Church considers him a martyr and venerates him with the title of Blessed.