Maria Engracia Lecuona y Aramburú

Who they were

The decree on martyrdom records that she was born at Oyarzun in the province of Guipuzcoa on 2 July 1897, entered the monastery as extern sister and made her religious vows in 1934, and that in July 1936 she was one of the seven nuns who had stayed to guard the monastery and who moved together to a half-basement flat in Madrid, where none of them would leave the others even though she could. She was beatified on 10 May 1998 by Pope John Paul II.

The miracles

As a martyr she was raised to the altars without a miracle.

Why that counted as sanctity

The decree says she lived her consecration with fervour and a desire to advance in the way of perfection, and that the seven nuns prepared themselves calmly for martyrdom.