Salvi Huix Miralpéix

Salvi Huix Miralpéix (in Spanish: Salvio Huix Miralpéix; December 22, 1877 – August 5, 1936) was a Catalonian Roman Catholic cleric who served as Bishop of Lleida from 1935 to 1936. As one of the thirteen bishops killed in the Republican zone during the Spanish Civil War, he has been recognized as a martyr of the Catholic Church and was beatified on October 13, 2013 as part of the 522 Spanish Martyrs.

Life

Salvi Huix Miralpéix was born to a pious and wealthy family in Santa Margarida de Vallors in the municipio of Sant Hilari Sacalm.[1]

He studied at the seminary in Vic, where he was noted for the zeal with which he pursued his studies.[1] He was ordained a priest on September 19, 1903 by Bishop Josep Torras i Bages. After his ordination, he served as an assistant priest in rural parishes in Cóll and Sant Vicenç de Castellet.

In 1907 he made his solemn profession to enter the Congregation of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri in Vic.[1] As an Oratorian, he founded a confraternity under the patronage of Saint Joseph, an organization intended to revitalize the spiritual and parish life of working married men. He also taught theology at the seminary of Vic.[1]

On February 16, 1928 he was appointed apostolic administrator of Ibiza and was consecrated as the titular bishop of Selymbria on April 15 of the same year by Archbishop Federico Tedeschini.[2] On January 28, 1935 he became bishop of Lleida and on May 5 he took possession of the diocese, succeeding Bishop Manuel Irurita.

During the Civil War, the Republicans attacked the bishop's palace in Lleida in July 1936. Bishop Huix Miralpéix fled and found refuge in the home of some relatives of his domestics. To avoid exposing them to the possibility of reprisal, he handed himself over at a Republican roadblock. He was imprisoned in the prison of Lleida with other Catholics, both ecclesiastics and lay people, where he distinguished himself by continuing to minister to his fellow prisoners.[1]

On August 5, 1936 he was taken from prison with twenty lay people and brought to the municipal cemetery of Lleida. There, he was forced to dig his own grave. The militants offered him freedom, but only if he would renounce his faith, which he refused.[1] Instead, he requested that he be the last of the group to be executed so he could bless the other victims as they died. One of the men objected and shot the bishop in the right arm to stop him from administering his blessings. Undeterred, he continued with his left.[1] Finally, he was killed by a shot to the head.[1]

Veneration

His process of canonization is underway. In 1952 he was granted the title of Servant of God and on June 26, 2011 he was recognized as a martyr, having been killed in odium fidei.

He was beatified on October 13, 2013 in Tarragona along with another 521 martyrs.

His liturgical feast is kept on August 5.[1]

References

1. "Blessed Salvi Huix Miralpeix". CatholicSaints.Info. March 18, 2019. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
2. Cheney, David M (September 19, 2019). "Bishop Bl. Salvio Huix Miralpéix, C.O." Catholic-Hierarchy. Retrieved January 10, 2020.

Further reading

• Cárcel Ortí, Vicente (2000). The great persecution: Spain, 1931–1939. Barcelona: Planet. ISBN 84-08-03519-3.
• Montero Moreno, Antonio (1999) [1961]. History of religious persecution in Spain, 1936–1939. Madrid: Catholic Editions. ISBN 84-7914-383-5.
• Redondo, Gonzalo (1993). History of the Church in Spain, 1931–1939. Madrid: Rialp. ISBN 84-321-2984-4.