Blessed Jose Rada

Józef Rada, O.A.R. (born November 17, 1861, in Zaragoza; 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 16, he entered the Augustinian novitiate in Monteagudo. On June 1, 1884, he was transferred to Manila in the Philippines with Father Leon Inchausti, and was ordained a priest in November 1884 in Cebu City. He served as a parish priest on the island of Bohol for 14 years. During the anti-Spanish revolution, he was imprisoned for three months. In 1912, his superiors sent him to Brazil, where he worked in missions in the state of Minas Gerais. He returned to Spain in 1925, residing in a community in Andalusia, and moved to Motril in 1936. His apostolate was primarily dedicated to hearing confessions and preaching the Gospel. 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."