Martyrs of Astorga: the torture and murder of three nurses by leftist militiamen

In 2021, the Catholic Church beatified three Spanish nurses murdered for their faith on October 28, 1936 during the Spanish Civil War.

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TVE and leftist media silenced the beatification of the three nurses

Perhaps some Spanish readers of Counting Stars have not heard about this beatification because many Spanish media silenced it. Particularly, Spanish Television and many left-wing media imposed a cloak of silence and concealment around this public recognition of a horrendous martyrdom. Apparently, the "historical memory" that the left proclaims becomes in amnesia when it comes to addressing the crimes of the left.

The murdered nurses that leftist feminism seems not to remember were called María Pilar Gullón Yturriaga (25 years old), Olga Pérez-Monteserín Núñez (23 years old) and Octavia Iglesias Blanco (41 years old). María Pilar and Octavia were cousins, and Olga was a friend of María Pilar. "Octavia, Pilar and Olga had in common, above all, faith in Christ well internalized and lived in the family and parish environment", points out María Victoria Hernández, postulator of his beatification.

They volunteered to care for the wounded on the front lines.

At the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in July 1936, the three of them were in Astorga (León), and they volunteered to be Red Cross nurses and care for the wounded on the front (the grandmother and María Pilar's mother had already been collaborating with the Red Cross of Astorga for a long time). After a preparation course, they were sent to Somiedo (Asturias), 120 kilometers from Astorga, on October 8, 1936. strong>, treating the wounded from the national side there in the small local hospital, which was in an area close to the front (Asturias was in the hands of the republicans and León in the hands of the nationals). While there they received the blue capes with the Red Cross that officially identified them as nurses of that institution.

Socialist militiamen murdered all the hospital patients

Initially, it was planned that every eight days there would be a new rotation of volunteers to replace them at the Somiedo hospital, but when that period reached, the three decided to remain in place caring for the wounded and sick. On the 22nd of October, the Republican army began an offensive in the Port of Somiedo. On October 27, they took over the hospital where the three nurses from Astorga worked.The leftists, members of the militia of the General Workers' Union (UGT, the PSOE union), murdered all the patients in the hospital. - a war crime - and they captured the commanders, about 70 soldiers, the chaplain and the health personnel. "The doctor and nurses had the opportunity to flee, but they did not do so so as not to abandon the patients and assist them until the end," says María Victoria Hernández.

The three nurses were tortured and raped throughout the night

The prisoners were taken to Pola de Somiedo, 8 kilometers away, where five national army commanders were shot, after which their corpses were burned and exposed for public ridicule. Despite being visibly identified as Red Cross nurses, Pilar, Olga and Octavia were handed over to the militiamen, who took them for nuns and tortured and raped them throughout the night. To hide their screams, the leftists moved a cart whose wheels squeaked a lot around the house. According to witnesses, the three nurses prayed when they could in the midst of that horror.

They refused to renounce their faith and were murdered

These visible displays of Christian faith led the militiamen to especially target the three nurses, demanding that they renounce their faith in exchange for their freedom. They refused. On October 28, at two in the afternoon, the moment of the execution arrived, in which some militia women offered to take part, and were cruel to the nurses. At the request of the militia women, the three prisoners were tied up and paraded through the town, and finally they were completely stripped of their clothes, which the militia women distributed among themselves. The first to be killed were Olga and Octavia. Finally they also shot Pilar. The three died giving a last show of courage and fortitude and shouting "Long live Christ the King." The militiamen left the naked corpses of the nurses on the outskirts of the town, where they had been murdered, for an entire day, to finally throw them into a common grave.

The crime caused a commotion: they were the first Red Cross nurses murdered

Confirmation of the murder of the three nurses came on February 10, 1937 through the efforts of the International Red Cross, although due to the war, their bodies could not be recovered until January 30, 1938, being taken to the Astorga Cathedral, where they were buried by permission of Pope Pius XI, in the middle of a crowd of faithful. Since June 28, 1948, at the request of the National Assembly of the Red Cross, the bodies have been buried in the Chapel of San Juan Bautista, within said Cathedral.

When the facts spread, they caused a public commotion: "never before in Europe had Red Cross nurses been murdered, much less after raping them," says María Victoria Hernández. It was the first time that three Red Cross collaborators had been murdered, and "relevant were the articles in the magazine of the Spanish Red Cross, which, in subsequent years, publicly remembered the anniversary of the death of these three young women. It was precisely this Institution that insisted before the Spanish government that justice be done for these three murdered nurses while they were carrying out their noble volunteer work." Precisely, in memory of their deceased colleagues, volunteers from the Red Cross of León were present at the beatification ceremony.

The cause for beatification of the three nurses began on March 24, 2006. Finally, on June 11, 2019, Pope Francis recognized the martyrdom of the three women, authorizing their beatification, which was celebrated last Saturday in the Cathedral of Astorga, with its bishop, Jesús Fernández González, officiating the ceremony.

The Socialist Party remains silent about the horrendous crime

It must be added that unlike what it has done on other occasions with victims of war crimes committed by the national side, the leftist government of Spain did not dedicate a single mention to those murdered on the occasion of their beatification ceremony in 2021. Nor did the Astorga City Council do so on its Twitter account. Like this Likewise, the Somiedo City Council, where the three women were murdered, does not include any mention of them in its website. It so happens that the government of Spain and the two aforementioned municipal governments are in the hands of the Socialist Party (PSOE) and the murderers of the three nurses were socialist militiamen, so in this case, it remains in suspended the "historical memory" that the left preaches.