On Saturday, November 1, the Diocese of Vitoria witnessed the first in situ beatification in its history.

The priest martyr Pedro de Asúa was proclaimed blessed in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception during a Eucharist presided over by Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, accompanied by Bishop Miguel Asurmendi, the Nuncio of the Holy See in Spain, Bishop Renzo Fratini and 17 other bishops and archbishops. The presence of civil authorities and a large number of people who crowded the nave constituted a testimony of joy and popular support for the figure of the coherent, helpful, hard-working priest, who, from his identification with Jesus Christ, is close to anyone who requires his ministry. It is about the attraction that has always exercised in the Basque people a tradition of strong and faithful priests to the Gospel and, at the same time, endearing and human, simple and full of closeness to their parishioners.

On the same Saturday morning, Saturday 1, but from St. Peter's place , Pope Francis mentioned the new Blessed with these words: Humble and austere priest who preached the Gospel with holiness of life, the catechesis and dedication towards the poor and needy. Arrested, tortured and killed for having manifested his will to remain faithful to the Lord in the Church, he represents for us an admirable example of fortitude in faith and witness of charity.

Reading these words of the Pope, and thinking of the figure of Don Pedro, I must admit that on Saturday I experienced a comforting injection of hope that contrasted with the latest unfortunate news about the corruption cases.

A simple, competent, helpful, humble and wise saint, in the face of a plethora of villains whose names and faces occupy the front pages of the media, is the testimony of a combined therapy that could contribute to the moral regeneration that our society has been crying out for years.

In the face of the figures of the hunters of images and prebends, a man who abandons his brilliant architect's degree program to respond fully to the priestly vocation. God's paradoxes led the seminarian Pedro to be commissioned to design the new seminar and, once he was ordained, to become the diocesan architect. At that time, the Diocese of Vitoria included, together with Alava, the territories of Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, so Blessed Asúa did not lack work.

In any case, on the day of the inauguration of seminar , which he himself had designed down to the smallest detail, he decided to disappear when the authorities and the public gathered in the new building to thank him and applaud him. Since he received the commissions as architect of the Diocese, he commented: "I stopped being an architect to be a priest and, lo and behold, I am a priest and I am still an architect". During these days, it has been said that what he left as a vocation (Architecture) he took up again out of obedience.

In our subculture of image and glitz, this testimony will undoubtedly have an impact on those who live only for immediate success.

At that time, the priestly movement of Vitoria was spreading a spirituality among seminarians and priests based on the exercise of the ministry under the motto: "Only priest, priest always and in every priest". Don Pedro, as parish priest of Balmaseda, fully fulfilled his mission statement. Cardinal Amato recalled this during the homily of his beatification: Throughout his priestly life he had built stone buildings, such as the seminar of Vitoria, and also spiritual buildings, such as the institution of Nocturnal Adoration or the promotion of the Spiritual Exercises and monthly retreats. His heart was nourished by Eucharistic grace. His strength was sustained by the charity of Christ. He was generous with the poor and the sick, magnanimous in supporting apostolic initiatives. He was an authentic priest, entirely dedicated to Christ and to the Church.

It has been recalled during these weeks that Blessed Peter accepted from the beginning the possibility of martyrdom, especially when news of the thousands of murders of priests, laity and religious were coming from everywhere. He commented that he would be ready to die for Jesus Christ, since - in his humility - he recognized: "I have done so little up to now for Him".

His wish submission came true as the Prefect of the Cause of the Saints recalled: On August 29, 1936 he was arrested and forced into a car. In the Cantabrian town of Liendo, without any process subject and without any determined accusation or any possibility of defense, the militiamen took him out of the vehicle at eleven o'clock at night and shot him twice in the head and once in the shoulder blade, in cold blood, while the priest pronounced words of forgiveness.

Years ago I had the opportunity to talk with senior priests of the Basque dioceses who had made their programs of study in the building of the seminar of Vitoria. All of them agreed that the spaces, dimensions and functionality of that building fully met the needs of the seminarians and formators who live within those walls. The atmosphere was familiar and pleasant. In fact, when 11 years after the Civil War the Basque Dioceses were divided into three territories, many of those seminarians, who had begun their programs of study in Vitoria, missed the warmth and homely atmosphere of the building in Alava in contrast to the new buildings in Derio (Bizkaia) and San Sebastian, Donostia.

The Church in her mystery is the family of the children of God, as Vatican II reminded us, and without a doubt, her buildings should always express that homelike climax that is based on divine filiation and concrete fraternity.

A few years ago, the team of Italian architects Maurizio Bergamo and Mattia Del Prete proposed a rethinking at design of Catholic churches. The structure of the buildings should be inspired by, and even vertebrated by, a primordial form: the celebration of the Eucharist itself. It was not so much a matter of creating a structure and then "decorating" it with the celebratory elements, but rather of structurally configuring all projects from the heart of the Liturgy (his ideas can be found in his book: "Espacios celebrativos"; EGA, Ediciones, S.L., Bilbao, 1997).

Priests such as Blessed Pedro de Asúa achieved this in full, as can also be seen in his architectural work.

We are living in an interesting historical moment of crisis or discernment. The usual protagonists of the media, unfortunately, continue to be the corrupt, a whole fauna of "sharks" and "wolves".

The saints are in some way equivalent to and surpass those classical heroes who inspired the ethical mettle of thinkers in ancient Greece and Rome.

Pedro de Asúa could be a point of reference, an awakener of ethical coherence and holiness, as Cardinal Amato proposed in Vitoria: Today, more than ever, humanity needs fraternal spirit, understanding, it needs to feel welcomed. Holiness does not destroy, holiness builds (...) This is the invitation that the Church makes today to all of us through Blessed Pedro Asúa Mendía to all, priests and laity, for all are called to holiness. The world needs saints in order to be transformed into a garden of serene coexistence and joyful harmony among peoples. The Church also awaits our contribution so that society may be a place of life, prosperity and fraternity.