Vilar David, Vicente, Bl.

views updated

VILAR DAVID, VICENTE, BL.

Martyr, married layman, and industrial engineer; b. Manises, Valencia, Spain, June 28, 1889; d. Manises, Feb.14, 1937. Vicente, husband of Isabel Rodes Reig (d.1993), was the youngest of eight children of a family that owned a ceramics factory. He received his initial education from the piarists, then studied industrial engineering in Valencia. While working in his family's business, Vicente undertook charitable work among the poor, involved himself in parish activities, and enacted some of the Church's social teaching during his tenure in several municipal positions. Beginning in 1931, he openly and courageously offered refuge to persecuted religious during the surge of anti-ecclesial sentiment and refused to moderate his own religious practices. He was killed "in odium fidei "; shot in the street a few yards from his home. Pope John Paul II beatified him on Oct.1, 1995.

Feast: Feb. 24.

Bibliography: v. cÁrcel ortÍ, Martires españoles del siglo XX (Madrid 1995). j. pÉrez de urbel, Catholic Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939, tr. m. f. ingrams (Kansas City, Mo.1993). Acta Apostolicae Sedis 19 (1995): 92326. L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, no. 40 (1995): 13.

[k. i. rabenstein]

About this article

Vilar David, Vicente, Bl.

Updated About encyclopedia.com content Print Article