Fra Carmelo Bolta Bañuls: a martyr in Damascus after 29 years of service in the Holy Land

Fra Carmelo Bolta Bañuls: a martyr in Damascus after 29 years of service in the Holy Land

The biographies of the martyrs of Damascus, who will be canonised on 20 October, continue to be studied in depth

He was one of the oldest of those who found death in St Paul’s convent in Damascus due to the violent attack against the Christians, in the night between 9 and 10 July 1860.

Fra Carmelo Bolta Bañuls was 58 years old: the parish priest for the Latins, he taught Arabic to the young missionaries and was in the convent when the Druze persecutors broke in.

Together with Fra Manuel Ruiz López  and the nine other martyrs, he will be canonized on 20 October  in St peter’s Square, almost a century from the day of their beatification.

The stories of his uncle Isidoro

Carmelo Bolta Bañuls was born in a small Spanish village, Real de Gandía (Valencia) on 29 May 1803. He grew up in a family with a healthy religious tradition and as a young boy was fascinated by the stories of his maternal uncle, the Franciscan Father Isidoro Bañuls, who had returned from the mission in the Holy Land.

Fra Ulise Zarza OFM, Vice-Postulator of the Causes of the Saints

“According to the sources at our disposal,” says fra Ulise Zarza, Vice postulator and member, together with fra Rodrigo Machado Soares and fra Narciso Klimas, of the Committee for the preparation of the celebrations for the canonization of the Martyrs, “it was from his uncle that Pascual, as he was called before his religious profession, learned of the shrines of Jerusalem, of Bethlehem, of Nazareth and how the friars solemnized Christmas and Easter in these places.”

The journey to the Holy Land, in 1831

After having been admitted to the novitiate of the Royal Convent of St Francis in Valencia of the Observant Minors, he became a friar minor and was ordained a priest in 1829: once he had obtained permission from this Superiors to go to the missions of the Holy Land he set off, together with Father Manuel Ruiz, on 20 July 1831 for Jaffa, where he arrived on 3 August 1831.

“We know that he was a cultivated, cordial and friendly man, but his health was delicate,” fra Ulise continues. “It is for this reason that he had to leave the position of Superior of the hospice in Jaffa after a few months because the climate was not good for his health.” During his time in the Holy Land, Father Carmelo, who mastered oriental languages, mainly devoted himself to teaching his religious confreres who were preparing for the priesthood in Jerusalem.

He was guardian in Damascus for three years (1843-1845) and them from 1845 to 1851, he was parish priest in Ain-Karem, at San Giovanni in Montana, Shrine of the Visitation. In September 1851, he returned to Damascus as parish priest and Arabic teacher for the young priests: towards the end of the 1850s, Father Engelbert Holland, also one of the martyrs, joined him in these duties.

The grace of martyrdom

“In the case of Father Carmelo we have an eye witness of his martyrdom,” Fra Ulise explains. “Naame Massabki, the son of Mooti, one of the three Maronite martyrs. At the time of the facts, Naame was a boy, and he had hidden in a corner of the church when the Druze broke into the convent.”

“He speaks to us of the last seconds of the life of the religious:  violently beaten by his assassins, they threatened to kill him if he did not embrace Islam. Carmelo’s last words were: “Never, because Jesus Christ says: Do not fear those who kill the body, but what can kill the body and soul and send them to hell.” This is one thing that Father Carmelo and Fra Manuel Ruiz and all the other martyrs had in common: in their story,   there is a precise moment in which they accept that grace: the grace of martyrdom.”

The cult of Father Carmelo in Spain

Today the Cofradía di Real di Gandía bears the name of Carmelo Bolta and celebrates his public feast-day every year. The square of the parish church of Real di Gandía and also some civic institutions are also named after him: the house where he was born, the state primary schools and the Valencian Farming Cooperative.

Silvia Giuliano