Pope Francis decrees two new CSsR Venerables in the Church...

Through God's grace, Pope Francis accepted the report on the heroicity of virtue by the Congregation for Saints Causes yesterday. Subsequently, he decreed two new venerables in the Church, including this father and daughter. Here is a brief biography of each:

Venerable FRANCISO BARRECHEGUREN MONTAGUT (1881-1957)
Redemptorist Missionary Francisco Barrecheguren Montagut was born in Lérida on August 21, 1881, into a wealthy family. Baptized ten days later in the cathedral parish, at just eleven months, his father died. After the death of his sisters, Carmen (1876) and Manolita (1883), and his mother (1885), and having no other family in Catalonia, he went to live in Granada with his paternal uncles, from whom they supplied his cultural and spiritual training. Francisco finished high school in 1897 at the Jesuit College in El Paso (Málaga), and he then began university courses. Having to leave Granada to continue university, he preferred, on the counsel of relatives, to abandon his studies and to commit to the fabric factory of his uncle Victoriano Montealegre, who was also his guardian. In the company he served as administrator.

On October 2, 1904, in the parish church of St. Mary Magdalene in Granada, Francisco married Concha García Bald. On November 27th of the following year, her only daughter, Maria Concepción, familiarly named "Conchita," was born. From this time on, Francisco's constant concern was Conchita's human and Christian formation, so he spared no sacrifices and energy. He was in fact the one who took care of school teaching and prepared her for the sacraments of confession, communion and confirmation. The same attentive and prompt love, Francisco also expressed it towards his wife, particularly after Conchita's death on May 13, 1927, when Concha manifested a decline in mental health.

Until June 13, 1937, the day of his wife died, the Venerable was always patient and affectionate, even when Concha returned home after a long period of care, and exploded into sudden and unmotivated gestures of anger. After the death of his wife, Francisco dedicated time to prayer and works of charity. He developed a call to religious life, and with the advice of the Jesuit P. Avellán, his spiritual director, of many Redemptorists and especially of his friend Pedro Segura y Sáenz, Archbishop of Seville, he decided to join the Congregation of the Holy Redeemer. After, in March, he decided to donate all his assets to the nuns of the Congregation of the Eucharist Skey. He professed religious vows on August 24, 1947, at the age of 66. Two years later, on July 25, 1949, in Madrid, he was ordained a priest by his friend Mons. Jesús Mérida Pérez.

Francisco's eight years of priesthood were marked by constant apostolic commitment and a patient acceptance of the rhythms of religious life. Particularly significant was his pastoral activity at the bedside of the infirm. On October 7, 1957, he died in Granada's Redemptorist house. In November 1996 the mortal remains were transferred to the church of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Granada, next to those of his venerable daughter Conchita.

Venerable MARIA DE LA CONCEPTION BARRECHEGUREN GARCIA
(CONCHITA)
(1905-1927)

Maria de la Concepción (Conchita) Barrecheguren was born on November 27, 1905 in Granada, to the venerable Francisco Barrecheguren Montagut and Concha García Balvo, both from wealthy families and animated by great faith and solid moral principles. The newborn was baptized in the Parish of Granada on 8 December 1905, under the name Maria de la Concepción del Perpetual Socorro, Francesca de Paola, Eloisa, Primitiva de la Santissima Trinidad, although she was always called "Conchita Good morning."

From childhood Conchita showed signs of precarious health. When she was just over a year and a half, she became seriously ill with an acute enterocolitis. The little one was miraculously healed and her parents attributed unexpected healing to the intercession of the Virgin of Lourdes. Considering the precarious state of health of the child, her parents decided, at the suggestion of doctors, not to let her attend any school in the city, thus becoming her educators. Particularly involved in the education of his daughter, the father, assisted by two teachers, giving her an adequate catechetical preparation for the sacraments of Confirmation, which she received on May 1912, and the first Communion, to which he approached in Midnight mass of December 25, 1912.

In addition to studying and also doing domestic activities with her mother, she spent several hours praying in the oratory of the house, reciting the rosary and teaching catechism to domestic collaborators, as well as walking with her father and reciting with him some pious exercises.

From a young age Conchita felt the call to religious life, wishing to become a Carmelite. Unfortunately, disease prevented her wish from being fulfilled. At the age of ten she had a profound religious crisis due to scruples, but positively resolved this over about two years with the wise intervention of her new confessor, the Redemptorist Father Ruiz Abad. In 1917 she was diagnosed with intestinal inflammation that caused her severe pain and forced her to a strict diet. In addition, in 1924, her mother began suffering from a serious mental imbalance, so much so that she was admitted to the Sanatorio della Purissima in Granada, with an absolute ban on receiving visits. The Venerable and her father heroically faced this new pain, supported by constant prayer and trust in God.
Despite her poor health, Conchita made several trips and pilgrimages, of which she took notes and wrote chronicles. In August 1926 after a pilgrimage to Lisieux, near the tomb of St. Teresa of the Child Jesus, she became ill with tuberculosis, so doctors advised her parents to move to Carmine, near the Alhambra forests, in hopes of stopping the worsening of the disease. Unfortunately, however, the transfer did not lead to the desired improvement and Conchita died on the morning of May 13, 1927, at the age of only 22.

Buried in the family chapel of Granada cemetery, on May 13, 1978 the mortal remains were transferred to the oratory of Carmelo di Conchita (Alhambra). Since November 29, 2007 they have been resting in the Redemptorist church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Granada, next to the remains of their father, the Venerable Father Francisco Barrecheguren Montagut, C.Ss.R.

Submitted by Patrick Hayes, Redemptorist Archivist