Blessed Matias Cardona - August 20

Piarist Father Matias Cardona, Sch.P. had just been ordained as a priest on April 11, 1936, in Calahora, which is located in the Rioja Province of Spain. He was staying for a short time in Barcelona when the Spanish Civil War began. He has just finished his theological studies and was ready to begin his teaching apostolate at St. Anthony’s School.

It was not safe living at the school, so on Sunday, July 19, he went to his aunt’s house. He stayed there for a few days and then went to a friend’s house, Mr. Jose Godes. Thinking that Vallibona, his naive town, would be a safer place, on July 30, he returned home and was welcomed by his sister Dolores. He stayed there until August 17, when he was arrested. According to the testimony of his sister, Fr. Matias spent those days reading and praying. She said that she asked him to go out from time to time and go to the coffee shop and talk with the people, but he refused to do so saying, “No, I am a priest, and i will follow my own conscience.”

Friends advised him to go to France, promising him the necessary documents. He thanked them but never accepted their offer, telling them that he was in the hands of God. On August 11, in Vallibona, the sacred images in the parish church were burned. The local major had advised his sister to look for a safer place to hide Fr. Matias. On August 17, they took him to his uncle’s farm, Casa Cardona, which was located just outside the town.

Just after he had left, some militiamen arrived at his sister’s house to arrest him. They searched the house but could not find him. A few hours later, they returned and threatened to kill her and her brother unless they told them where Fr. Matias was hiding, She was frightened and gave them the information. The militiamen ordered two men to go to Casa Cardona to arrest Fr. Matias. One witness, Jose Codino, testified:

“I was there when at the first hours of the afternoon. I believe it was August 17, 1936, I saw two armed men arriving there. One of them winked at the other as if to say that they had found what they were looking for. They entered and asked for Fr. Matias. When he heard his name, he came out and presented himself. ‘Are you carrying ordinary arms or bombs?’ one of them asked him. ‘Nothing of the sort,’ answered Fr. Matias. ‘The mayor has ordered us to take you to the People’s Committee,’ said one of the men who then added, ‘Leave here what you have in your pockets.’ Fr. Matias took out his breviary and kissed it. The more furious of the two men snatched it and threw it into the fireplace saying, ‘It is much better to burn it.’ Fr. Matias was arrested and taken to the Vallibona Committee.”

One of the two men who arrested him later recalled what happened following his arrest. “We were near his sister’s home, and I asked him if he wanted to stop and see his family. ‘Go, we will wait for you.’ ‘No, no, I do not need to,’ he answered. But my companion insisted. Fr. Matias went as far as 10 meters from his house and called out in a loud voice. His father was not there. His sister came to the window. The Religious said to her: ‘It seems that they are taking me as a prisoner.” He took off his wide straw hat and threw it through the air toward his sister on the window and said to her, ‘Keep it as a remembrance.”

They arrived at the Committee where Fr. Matias met Mr. Jose Querol and another priest, Fr. Manuel Meseguer. During the absence of the militiamen, Mr. Querol later recalled that “He greeted me and said in a quiet voice,’Mr. Jose, if we don’t meet again… until heaven.”

Later that evening, the two priests were locked in the jail and given a mattress on which to sleep. They were allowed to receive food and visits from relatives. His sister remembered, “ I use to visit my brother and take food to him. Other relatives did the same. He told me one day that he was happy and at peace. I am happily ready to give my life for God. We never had to face difficult times. Our faith will have more merit.”

August 20, 1936, was the day the two priests were sacrificed. Fr. Matias’ sister who had visited him during the early hours of the day, affirmed that she saw him in his habitual, peaceful spirit and with confidence in God. Around seven o’clock, three men with red handkerchiefs around their collars took him out of the jail, together with Fr. Manuel, to a place called Pigro del Coll, where, after taking them out of the car and walking with them a few meters away, they shot them. After a short time, the militiamen were seen coming back into town in the same car. During the evening, the news of the execution spread throughout the town.

Later on, one of the militiamen said that Fr. Matias with his proverbial spiritual fortitude and priestly zeal, had talked to them with moving words, and he forgave them. One of the militiamen said, “Enough…! Let us finish our work. He is going to convert us…” He said that Fr. Matias wanted to be shot with his arms folded in the form of a cross. His body was later found by the road. He had been shot in the forehead, with his arms extended.

Their bodies were taken by the committeemen and buried in the Vallibona cemetery. After the war was over, his sister took his mortal remains and those of Fr. Meseguer and put them in niches in that same cemetery.

Fr. Matias died at the age of 33, and he had lived for seven years as a Piarist religious. He was born in Vallibona on December 23, 1902. His parents were Narcis and Dominga. He was an altar boy at his parish church. His parish priest, Fr. Melchor Boix, told him about the Piarist House of Studies at the Morella School. At the age of 12, he and another boy from Vallibona were admitted to the minor seminary. He soon adapted to his new environment, but it was difficult for him to catch up to the academic level of his classmates because he had been born into a poor family and had always lived in a small town. Fr. Pere Boronat, who was one of his companions in Morella, remembered him as a hard worker, a sympathetic and pious young boy.

He had to leave the school in order to help his family. His parish priest got him a job working at the Christian Brother’s School in Barcelona. When he was 20, he was called for military service. He remained in the military for eight years, working in the radio-telegraph battalion and going to school to obtain a military degree. He became very ill and was in a military hospital in Malaga, when he met Sr. Ana Maria Ferrer. He spoke with her about his vocation, and she encouraged him to speak with the Piarist Provincial from Catalonia. In 1929, he asked to be admitted into the Pious Schools, and he entered the novitiate in Moia on July 25, 1929. He made his first profession on August 24, 1930. In 1933, he began his Theological studies at Albelda de Iregua. He made his Solemn Profession on the Feast of the Assumption 1934. He was ordained as a priest on April 11, 1936, in the chapel of the Bishop of Calahorra City. Less than five months later, he would earn the crown of martyrdom.