Saint Deogracias Palacios

Deogracias Palacios, O.A.R. (born May 22, 1901, in Baños de Valdearados; died July 25, 1936, in Motril), was a blessed of the Catholic Church and a priest of the Order of Augustinian Recollects. At the age of 15, he entered the Augustinian order. He was ordained a priest in 1925 and undertook missionary work in Brazil and Argentina. After eight years, he returned to Spain, where he helped establish communities in Monachil and Granada. In 1936, he became the superior of the monastery in Motril. During the Spanish Civil War, fully aware of the danger, he remained in Motril. On the day of his death, he was forcibly removed from the monastery by the militia and executed by firing squad along with four of his confreres. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II as part of a group of eight martyrs of Motril, victims killed "in hatred of the faith."