A young De La Salle Christian Brother shot with eight confreres by revolutionary militia in the Asturian mining town of Turón in October 1934.

Augusto Andrés, born Román Martínez Fernández in Santander in 1910, was a member of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, the teaching order founded by Saint John Baptist de La Salle. He taught in Catholic schools in the mining town of Turón in Asturias, northern Spain, at a time of sharp social and political conflict in the young Spanish Republic. In October 1934, a violent workers’ uprising swept through Asturias, and revolutionary militias targeted clergy and religious as symbols of the old order. Augusto, along with eight fellow Brothers and a Passionist priest, was seized and executed on October 9, 1934, at the age of twenty-four. He is remembered today as one of the Nine Martyrs of Turón, canonized in 1999, whose deaths came not for any political act but simply for their religious identity and vocation as teachers.

Quick Facts

• Born: May 6, 1910, Santander, Cantabria, Spain (born Román Martínez Fernández)
• Died: October 9, 1934, Turón, Asturias, Spain, at age 24
• Feast Day: October 9 (with the Martyrs of Turón)
• Beatified: April 29, 1990, by Pope John Paul II
• Canonized: November 21, 1999, by Pope John Paul II
• Patron of: honored among the Martyrs of Turón and the Brothers of the Christian Schools; no separate individual patronage

Who Was Saint Augusto Andrés?

Augusto Andrés was born Román Martínez Fernández on May 6, 1910, in Santander, on Spain’s northern coast, and entered the Brothers of the Christian Schools, taking the religious name Augusto upon profession. The Lasallian Brothers, founded in seventeenth-century France by Saint John Baptist de La Salle, dedicated themselves specifically to the free education of poor and working-class children, and by the twentieth century ran schools throughout Spain, including in the mining communities of Asturias in the north. Augusto was assigned to teach in Turón, a mining town whose population was largely working-class and where, like much of Spain in the early 1930s, political tension between left-wing and right-wing movements ran extremely high. In October 1934, a major uprising by miners and other workers broke out across Asturias, briefly establishing a revolutionary commune before being suppressed by the national army. During the uprising, revolutionary committees in Turón rounded up Catholic clergy and religious present in the town, viewing them as representatives of an order they were trying to overthrow. Augusto, still only twenty-four years old, was among those seized. He and eight of his fellow Brothers, along with a Passionist priest, were shot on October 9, 1934.

Historical Setting

Augusto Andrés died during the Asturian miners’ revolution of October 1934, one of the most violent episodes of Spain’s turbulent Second Republic, which had been established in 1931 amid deep divisions over the role of the Church, land reform, and the future shape of Spanish society. Anticlerical sentiment had grown sharply in these years, fueled by resentment toward the Church’s historical alliance with the landed and political establishment, and violence against clergy and religious had already flared elsewhere in Spain. The Asturian uprising, led largely by socialist and anarchist miners’ unions, briefly seized control of the region before being put down by government forces within about two weeks. During that short but intense period, revolutionary committees executed a number of priests and religious in towns like Turón, a pattern of anticlerical violence that would recur on a far larger scale two years later during the Spanish Civil War.

Why the Church Venerates Saint Augusto Andrés

The Church venerates Augusto Andrés as a martyr killed specifically because of his identity as a Catholic religious and teacher, at a moment when religious life itself had become a target of revolutionary violence. He and his companions were not political actors; they were schoolteachers serving a working-class mining community, killed for what they represented rather than anything they had done. Their deaths are honored as an early instance of the broader wave of religious persecution that would engulf Spain during the Civil War of 1936 to 1939, and their youth, most of the Turón martyrs were in their twenties, adds particular weight to the witness of committing their lives so completely, so early, to teaching and to Christ.

Canonization and Feast Day

Augusto Andrés was beatified on April 29, 1990, by Pope John Paul II, together with his eight fellow Brothers and the Passionist priest who died with them, collectively known as the Martyrs of Turón. He was canonized by the same pope on November 21, 1999. Because his death, along with his companions, is recorded with clear documentation from the Lasallian order and from the beatification and canonization processes themselves, the historical record here is considerably firmer than for saints of the ancient Church. His feast is kept on October 9, the anniversary of his martyrdom, shared with his companion martyrs of Turón.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

Augusto Andrés’s death at twenty-four is a stark reminder that religious vocation and ordinary civic identity can become dangerous in moments of social upheaval, even for those whose only public role is teaching children. His story calls modern Catholics to recognize that hostility to the Church sometimes arises less from anything a particular believer has done than from what they represent to a wider movement. It is also a call to persevere in ordinary vocations, teaching, in his case, even when the surrounding society grows hostile toward faith. His youth and the swiftness of his death invite reflection on how completely and how early a life can be given over to God, and on the courage required to remain in a post of quiet service under real threat.

A Prayer to Saint Augusto Andrés

Saint Augusto Andrés, young teacher and martyr, you gave your whole life to the classroom and then, without warning, gave it entirely to Christ. Pray for teachers everywhere who serve quietly amid hostility or indifference to their faith. Give courage to Christians who live under threat because of who they are rather than what they have done. Help us to remain faithful to our small daily vocations even when the world around us grows dangerous, trusting, as you did, that no love offered to God and to students is ever wasted. Amen.

Sources

• the Roman Martyrology
• Vatican.va, beatification and canonization records for the Martyrs of Turón
• the Lasallian Institute (Brothers of the Christian Schools), historical record of the Martyrs of Turón
• EWTN, profile of the Spanish martyrs of the 1934 Asturian revolution