Cause of Br. Lycarion
The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints has set the date for Brother Lycarion’s congress of theologians for June 13, 2023. This is one of the least known causes of the Institute, and Brother Guillermo Villarreal, Postulator General, in a recent letter to the Provincials and District Superiors, requested the Marist World assistance in bringing it to light. The goal is for all brothers, collaborators, lay Marists, and students in your administrative unit to be aware of this cause.
Brief biography of Brother Lycarion
The Servant of God François Benjamin May, born in Switzerland in 1870, entered the Marist Brothers Institute at the novitiate in Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux (France) on May 2, 1888 and made his perpetual profession on August 15, 1893.
He was sent to Spain, where he learned Spanish and studied to be able to teach. He was then assigned to Arceniega (Álava), where he directed a junior seminary for future Marist Brothers. Later, he was appointed director of the San José Workers’ Patronage located in the populous neighborhood of San Andrés de Palomar, in Barcelona, where he was brutally murdered during the so-called Tragic Week of Barcelona on July 27, 1909 at the age of 39.
Process of Brother Lycarion
The first process for Brother Lycarion began in Barcelona on July 1, 1966. On November 11, 1967, the Diocesan Process was closed, and on November 15, 1967, the transcript of the process was sent to the Sacred Congregation of Rites.
However, the process was halted as Pope Paul VI, since 1964, fearing that the memory of the martyrs would be used for political and publicity purposes, suspended all processes of Spanish martyrs. It was not until the papacy of His Holiness John Paul II that they were reactivated, when in 1994 he called for the memory of the martyrs to be revived as a testimony of reconciliation in the apostolic letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente.
Additionally, when the Code of Canon law was modified and the Apostolic Constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister was published in 1983, it was requested that all cases, such as that of Brother Lycarion, that had not obtained a decree of legal validity, had to undergo supplementary diocesan investigation, directed by a historical commission before being able to request recognition of legal validity.
On January 17, 1997, Brother Gabriele Andreucci, requested to the Most Reverend Cardinal Ricard María Carles Gordó, to open an informative process on Brother Lycarion in order to complete the investigation. Specifically, he requested the appointment of some experts historians who would complete the information according to the Normae of 1983.
On October 10, 1997, the Commission of History Experts was established, and on November 25, 1997, the tribunal was established in Barcelona.
The History Commission concluded its work on November 27, 2000, and the tribunal was closed on February 27, 2001.
On March 1, 2001, the opening of the acts and delivery to the postulation of the second duplicate was requested. On July 18, 2001, the request for the decree of legal validity of the ordinary process was made, which would have been granted on March 22, 2002.
At the same time, on November 11, 1994, the family house of Brother Alfano in Vase de Hône, Aosta was acquired by the Institute.
In the summer of 2001, Brother Andreucci was replaced by Brother Bigotto as Postulator General. Brother Bigotto continued the cause of Brother Lycarion. On April 3, 2002, it was requested that the cause be joined with the Cause of Brother Eusebio and companion martyrs. The congregation replied, on April 17, that the two causes must be considered distinct and autonomous.
On January 21, 2014, Rev. Daniel Ols stopped being the relator and Fr. Simon Alfredo, OSB was appointed in his place.
On May 28, 2018, Brother Antonio Martínez requested the appointment of a new relator for the process of Brother Lycarion. Mons. José Jaime Brosel Gavilá was appointed as relator on June 1, 2018.
Given the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Positio was studied without the historical consultation taking place. According to this procedure, each consultant made their contribution in writing.
The objections presented were answered and approved by the General Relator. In December 2022, the date of the celebration of the Congress of Theologians was announced.
More information can be obtained from the Institute’s website.