Venerable Salvador Valera Parra

Salvador Valera Parra (27 February 1816 – 15 March 1889), also known as "Cura Valera", was a Spanish Catholic priest who served in the provinces of Murcia and Almería. He was declared Venerable by Pope Francis in March 2021. On 20 June 2025, Pope Leo XIV approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Fr. Valera. He was beatified on 7 February 2026 in Huércal-Overa. Salvador Valera Parra was born in the town of Huércal-Overa on 27 February 1816 to a family of farmers. At the age of fourteen, he transferred to the city of Murcia to pursue his studies at the Major Seminary of San Fulgencio. He was welcomed in Murcia by his aunt María Josefa, abbess of a convent of Capuchin Poor Clares, where he lived in a nearby house donated to the convent. Salvador was ordained a priest at the age of 24 on 4 April 1840. It seems that the ordination took place in the city of Alicante, since the Bishop of Cartagena, José Antonio Azpeitia, had moved to the locality of Tudela for medical reasons. About six days later, he celebrated his first Mass on a Friday that spring in the convent of the Poor Clares, which had been a faithful witness to the efforts, sacrifices, and dedication of the young Salvador. With this gesture, Fr. Valera expressed his gratitude for all of the help he had received. Days after celebrating his first Mass, Fr. Valera returned to his town of Huércal-Overa. After his time in Huércal-Overa, Fr. Valera was not yet thirty-three when he took charge of the Church of San Lázaro (Alhama de Murcia) in Alhama de Murcia. In this town he lived simply and austerely, bordering poverty, because the residences of the church were some attached barns. He left Alhama in late May 1851. In the same year, the Diocese of Cartagena began oposiciones, a system of competitive examinations where priests competed for desirable parishes. Fr.