The story of the eight friars of the convent of Damascus, massacred in 1860 by the Druze, is one of the most brilliant pages written by the Franciscans of the Custody of the Holy Land in the more than 700 years of their presence in those territories. Together with them, three lay Maronite Christians, their collaborators, were canonized.
In July 1860, the persecution of Christians by the Shi'ite Druze in Lebanon spread to Syria. On the 9th July, the populous Christian quarter of Damascus was set on fire, and the people were put to the sword. Christians of various denominations and rites suffered all sorts of violence. That same night, the Franciscan friary of St. Paul was also attacked. The eight religious who lived there – seven of Spanish nationality and one of Austrian nationality – together with three lay Maronite collaborators who had taken refuge there, were slaughtered for refusing to deny their Christian faith and embrace Islam. The bodies of the martyrs, pitifully recovered a few days after the massacre, were buried in a common tomb which, with the rebuilding and consecration of the friary church in 1866, became a destination of devotion by the Christians of Damascus.
In 1872, the Order of Friars Minor began the process for the beatification of Manuel Ruiz and the seven confreres. With a special procedure authorised by Pius XI at the request of the Maronite Patriarchate, the names of the three Massabki brothers, collaborators of the religious, were added to the group of Friars Minor shortly before the beatification. The rite was solemnly celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on October 10, 1926, 700 years after the death of St. Francis. On October 20, 2024, as part of the eighth centenary of the last years of the life of the saint of Assisi, they were canonised.
Br. Manuel Ruiz López, Guardian of the friary, was born in 1804 in San Martín de las Ollas, Burgos, Spain. He entered the Friars Minor in 1825 and was ordained a priest in 1830. The following year, he was sent to the Holy Land, where, after learning the local languages, he carried out a fruitful apostolate. Forced to return to Europe in 1847 for health reasons, he returned to the Holy Land in 1858. On the night of the massacre, as soon as the rioters entered the friary, he ran to the church to consume the Eucharistic Species and was slaughtered at the foot of the altar.
Br. Carmelo Bolta Bañuls, parish priest, was born in 1803 in Real de Gandía, Valencia, Spain. In 1825, he was received among the Friars Minor, and in 1829, he was ordained a priest. In 1831, he left for the Holy Land, where he resided in the friaries of Jaffa, Damascus, and Ain Karem at the Sanctuary of the Visitation. In 1851, he was transferred to Damascus as parish priest and teacher of Arabic.
Br. Engelbert Kolland, parochial vicar, born in 1827 in Ramsau, Salzburg, Austria. He entered the Friars Minor in 1847 and was ordained a priest in 1851. He reached the Holy Land in April 1855. He carried out his missionary apostolate first at the friary of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, then in Damascus as assistant parish priest, where he was much loved by the people.
Br. Nicanor Ascanio Soria was born in 1814 in Villarejo de Salvanés, Madrid, Spain. In 1830, he entered the Friars Minor. Due to the suppression of religious, he was ordained a priest amongst the diocesan clergy. With the reopening of the College for the Missions of Priego di Cuenca, he was able to return to the Friars Minor in 1858. He arrived in the Holy Land in February 1859 and was assigned to the friary of Damascus. His readiness for martyrdom was a constant note of his spirituality.
Br. Nicolás María Alberca Torres, nacido en 1830 en Aguilar de la Frontera, Córdoba, España. Already a religious amongst the Brothers of the Jesús Nazarene Hospital in Cordoba, he was received amongst the Friars Minor in 1856 and ordained a priest in 1858. Called to missionary life, he arrived in the Holy Land in 1859 and was assigned to the friary of Damascus to learn the Arabic language.
Br. Pedro Nolasco Soler Méndez was born in 1827 in Lorca, Murcia, Spain. After some work experience, he was received at the age of twenty-nine amongst the Friars Minor in 1856 and ordained a priest in 1857. The following year , he submitted a request for the mission of the Custody of the Holy Land, where he arrived on the 20th February, 1859. He was sent to the friary of St. Paul in Damascus, where he spent just over a year.
Br. Francisco Pinazo Peñalver was born in 1802 in the village of El Chopo in Alpuente, Valencia, Spain. He was admitted to the novitiate of the Friars Minor in 1831. As a lay brother, he held the office of sacristan until 1835, the year of religious suppression in Spain. In order to re-embrace community life, he opted for service in the Custody of the Holy Land, where he arrived in October 1843. For about 17 years, he worked as a cook and tailor in various friaries. In the friary of Damascus, at the time of his martyrdom, he was the sacristan.
Br. Juan Jacob Fernández was born in 1808 in the town of Moire, Ourense, Spain. In 1831, he entered as a lay brother amongst the Friars Minor. Unfortunately, the suppression of 1835 interrupted his experience of conventual life for a few years. In 1858, he asked to be associated with the Custody of the Holy Land. In 1859, he was serving as the cook at the friary in Damascus.
Francis Massabki, a Maronite Christian, silk merchant, was well known in Damascus and esteemed as an honest and pious man. He was married and the father of eight children. He gave an example of great generosity everywhere, especially towards the poor and needy. He was linked to the Franciscan friars for whom he acted as a proxy. Together with his brothers Mooti and Raffaele he was at the friary of St Paul at the hour of his martyrdom.
Mooti Massabki lived with his wife and five children in the same house as his older brother, Francesco. He attended the convent of St. Paul daily, both for prayer and to carry out teaching activities in the local school for the boys. Ready to shed his blood for Christ, as he taught in catechism lessons, he did not hesitate to offer his life in the name of faith. His two sons, Naame and Joseph, were pupils at the convent school at the time and were eyewitnesses to the martyrdom.
Raffaele Massabki, younger brother of Francis and Mooti, unmarried, gladly lent his help to his family and to the friars; he was very devoted to Our Lady and paused for a long time in prayer in the church of the friary. He was still present within the conventual walls of St. Paul on the night between 9th and 10th July 1860, when the Druze burst in, by whom he was murdered together with his two brothers.