Blessed Fra Marçal de Vilafranca

Friar Marçal de Vilafranca, born Carles Canyes Santacana, was a Catalan Capuchin friar and student. Born in Vilafranca del Penedès in 1917 into a deeply religious family, he was one of nine children, all of whom entered religious life. As a child, he studied with the Carmelite Sisters of Charity and the Sons of the Holy Family. He later entered the Seraphic Seminary and began his novitiate in Manresa, before moving to Olot and subsequently to Sarrià. When the Capuchin fraternity in Sarrià was dispersed in July 1936 following the burning and looting of their convent, he and his two brothers, Marc and Marcel·lià, sought refuge at their parents' home near the convent. During the initial days, the three brothers celebrated the Eucharist in a private oratory at a neighboring priest's house. However, as danger increased on July 24, the two older brothers sought other hiding places, while Friar Marçal remained with his parents and his sister, Teresa. The family endured several searches, interrogations, and threats. After militiamen discovered notes on Sacred Scripture belonging to Friar Marc, the family became targets. They decided to move to a less conspicuous apartment on Carrer de París. In August 1936, a patrol came for them at night. The body of nineteen-year-old Friar Marçal de Vilafranca was discovered on Avinguda Pearson in Pedralbes on the night of August 20. His relatives later identified him from a photograph at the judicial morgue of the Hospital Clínic. In 2015, the beatification of Friar Marçal de Vilafranca and twenty-five other Capuchin friars martyred between 1936 and 1937 during the Spanish Civil War was held at the Cathedral of Barcelona.