Venerable Josep Samsó i Elias

Josep Samsó Elías (17 January 1887 – 1 September 1936) was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest who was killed during the Spanish Civil War. Samsó was known for being a brilliant student who excelled in his studies and later in his pastoral duties; he served as a parish priest in several areas and was better known for his catechesis classes which were considered among the best in the nation. He was a lover of liturgical celebrations that were solemn and used his resources to decorate the interior of his church better. These contributions would later garner it the title of a minor basilica. His initial entrance into his Mataró parish was not well-received with most of the parishioners taking a disliking to him because his much-loved predecessor had retired leaving the parish with an uncertain future without his care. But Samsó managed to win over the parishioners who respected his work and lauded his holiness. His murder prompted calls for him to be beatified with some having taken the view that there would be disbelief that he could be beatified if he had not died in hatred of the faith. The process was launched in the late 1950s and he was titled as a Servant of God. But Pope Paul VI closed all processes stemming from the civil war in 1964 because greater investigation was needed to determine which priests and religious died in hatred of their faith. Pope John Paul II reactivated all processes later on. The cause for Samsó continued until Pope Benedict XVI approved for him to be beatified; the then-Archbishop Angelo Amato presided over the beatification in Barcelona in 2010. Josep Samsó Elías was born in Castellbisbal on 17 January 1887 as the first of two children to the pharmacist Jaume Samsó Olivella and Josefa Elías Puig; he was baptized on 22 January and later received his Confirmation some months following on 20 October. His sister Montserrat was born in 1888 and his father later died on 12 November 1894.