Letter on the occasion of the beatification of the martyr Fr. Martino Capelli, SCJ
Letter on the occasion of the beatification of the martyr Fr. Martino Capelli, SCJ
The saints surprise us, they confound us,
because by their lives they urge us to abandon a dull and dreary mediocrity.
(Pope Francis, Gaudete et exsultate, 138)
To the members of the Congregation
To all members of the Dehonian Family
I address you once again in this month in which we celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. On this occasion, my message coincides with the anniversary of the foundation of the Congregation, and I wish to invite you to live with gratitude and spiritual fruitfulness the forthcoming beatification of the Venerable Servant of God Martino Capelli (1912–1944), which, as you well know, will take place on September 27 in Bologna, Italy.
On November 21, 2025, Leo XIV, accepting and confirming the votes of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, declared: “The martyrdom and the cause which determined the martyrdom of the Servant of God Martino Capelli, professed priest of the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in hatred of the faith, have been established.” The Supreme Pontiff then ordered that the present decree be published and inserted into the acts of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.
This is not merely an institutional event, but a caress of Providence for our Congregation in this time of grace. As we journey along the path of our Dehonian Jubilee, God surprises us with this wonderful gift: a gift that confirms our charism and the spirituality of our Founder.
In this year 2026, the grace of God grants us, in addition to the beatification, the celebration of several events that I wish to highlight: the 25th anniversary of the beatification of Blessed John Maria of the Cross, on March 11, and the 90th anniversary of his martyrdom, on August 23. This is joined to the celebration of the Dehonian Jubilee in the month of November, which will take place in Kisangani and Wamba, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, places marked by the witness of faith of our confreres, whose blood and life have forever marked the African soil and continue to inspire us to reflect on the meaning of oblation as lived in the Congregation (Ecce venio, Ecce ancilla).
In the “Irrevocable Consecration to the Heart of Jesus,” which we find in the Spiritual Writings of Fr. Martino, we read:
O Jesus, I want to enter into your holy Heart, to enclose myself within it with all my miseries, so as to sing forever of your mercies. I want you, from now on, to be for me father, teacher, and lord. May you be the center, the longing of my life. I will love you and make you loved by others.
Martino Capelli is not only a martyr; he is a tangible example of what it means to be a Priest of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We may say that he is a living face of our charism.
Moreover, Martino lived oblation to the point of offering his own life, uniting his sacrifice to that of Christ on the Cross. It was there, contemplating the pierced side of the Savior, that Martino learned not to respond with hatred, but with comfort and presence, consoling the people entrusted to him. He did not hold back in love, for he gave his life, shedding his blood in order to follow faithfully Jesus Christ, his only Master and Lord.
As we celebrate his martyrdom, we cannot remain indifferent before the conflicts and wars that today, in so many parts of the world, continue to sow death and division. His witness is a precious occasion to sharpen our gaze upon society. We are moved to question ourselves about the sufferings of our brothers and sisters and to take upon ourselves the wounds of the world, so that our Dehonian spirituality may be translated into a concrete commitment to justice and reconciliation: “By animating in this way all that we are, all that we do and suffer in the service of the Gospel, our love, through our participation in the work of reconciliation, heals humanity, reunites it in the Body of Christ, and consecrates it for the Glory and Joy of God” (Cst. 25).
Within this horizon of holiness that embraces the continents, our prayer also joins that of the witnesses of the Dehonian Family: Blessed Albertina Berkenbrock (†1931) in Brazil and Blessed Marie-Clémentine Anuarite Nengapeta (†1964) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Their lives, marked by purity and total self-giving, remind us that sacrifice knows no geographical boundaries, but speaks the one language of oblative love.
Together with these two witnesses, we also remember the Servant of God Bernardo Longo (†1964), Venerable Aloisio Sebastião Boeing (†2006), and the Servant of God Léo Tarcísio Gonçalves (†2007), luminous figures who teach us that fidelity to the Gospel blossoms in every land where the heart opens itself to the action of the Spirit, making visible the tenderness of God for wounded humanity. All of this is also an invitation to recover the “memory” of our Dehonian witnesses.
I therefore urge you to reinvigorate this essential element of our identity: prayer that becomes intercession and commitment to peace and reconciliation through concrete gestures born from the heart. Every act of charity, however small, resounds in eternity. Let us not allow our prayer to become a sterile rite; rather, let us once again feel the heartbeat of the world in our communities, in our apostolate, and in our mission.
I also invite you to make use of the materials on the life and times of Fr. Martino prepared for this event and available on the Congregation’s website. With these materials, I suggest that you promote knowledge of our brother and of his fellow martyrs in the communities, in Dehonian groups, and in the apostolates you accompany, placing before yourselves the following reflection: what does this beatification bring to you in the context of the realities in which you live?
Furthermore, I encourage you to develop concrete initiatives — or to support those already existing — that promote the culture of peace, justice, and reconciliation, beginning from your own contexts. Finally, and in a special way, I invite you to prepare moments of prayer to thank God for the gift of this beatification.
May what we are celebrating awaken in each one of us the awareness that, by vocation, we cannot remain indifferent; we must stand close to the open wounds of the world, offering ourselves and our prayer as a healing balm of reparation. May the example of the Venerable Martino Capelli kindle in us the fire that Venerable Leo Dehon desired for his Congregation. May this Jubilee be not only a gaze toward the past, but an impulse toward the future, and may it obtain for us the grace to be, like him, builders of peace and witnesses of the Gospel.
In Corde Iesu,
Fr. Carlos Luis Suárez Codorniú, S.C.J.
Superior General
