On October 28, 2007, Cardinal Saraiva Martins presided over the largest beatification ceremony in the history of the Church, held in St. Peter’s Square.  Among those beatified were several Capuchin Poor Clares.  Msgr. Vincente Ortí, a Spanish historian based in Rome explained:
After 1936, all the main cities, cathedrals, religious communities and parishes church were attacked, ransacked and burned. These persecutions aimed at the erasing of all Catholic tradition in Spain. Hatred for the faith went even beyond murders and found expression in thousands of sacrilegious acts: tabernacles were emptied, consecrated particles were eaten, shot at, strewn in streets and trodden on; churches were used as stables, altars were demolished, priests and nuns were held at gunpoint in the attempt to force them to recant their faith.
                                               - Interview in Inside the Vatican, December 2007