Martyrs of La Rioja

Carlos de Dios Murias, OFM Conv. (10 October 1945 – 18 July 1976) and his two companions Gabriel Longueville (18 March 1931 – 18 July 1976) and Wenceslao Pedernera (28 September 1936 – 25 July 1976) were two priests and a married man who were killed in the La Rioja province in Argentina.

Murias was a professed member from the Order of Friars Minor Conventual and Longueville was a priest incardinated in the Viviers diocese in France before moving to Argentina where he was incardinated into the La Rioja diocese.

The two worked together in a La Rioja parish before their deaths while Pedernera, who served as a lay catechist, was married with three daughters and was slain in front of them.

Carlos de Dios Murias was born on 10 October 1945 in Córdoba to an estate agent; one sibling was Marta.

His father wanted him to become a soldier but Murias did not desire that career path for himself.

His mother was a schoolteacher who worked in the town of Villa Giardino.

He attended school in Córdoba before deciding to become a veterinarian.

He abandoned this soon after and decided to pursue studies in civil engineering.

Wenceslao Pedernera married in 1962 and moved with his wife and three daughters to La Rioja in mid-1973 while he also helped manage an organization dedicated to social activism.

He was shot 20 times in front of his wife and daughters around a week following the murders of Murias and Longueville.

But he later stopped that too and in 1965 entered the Order of Friars Minor Conventual for his novitiate while making his initial profession in 1966 and his solemn vows not long after.

In his adolescence he first met and became close with Enrique Angelelli who served as the Bishop of La Rioja.

It was in La Rioja that he and Gabriel Longueville began working together in the same parish after Longueville was sent to Argentina in 1969 from Viviers.

The pair were captured one evening and found dead after having been tortured and mutilated.

Murias studied civil engineering before he became a Franciscan and following his 1972 ordination began to do pastoral work in Buenos Aires before transferring to La Rioja in 1975 to collaborate with his friend and mentor Bishop Enrique Angelelli.

He requested that Angelelli ordain him which occurred on 17 December 1972.

He first worked on the outskirts of Buenos Aires and then in a Franciscan parish.

Murias developed ties with - but never was a member - the left-wing movement known as Christians for Liberation.

In 1975 he worked in the Itatí slum at José León Suárez in Buenos Aires.

In Itatí he accompanied a statue of the Virgin of Itatí from house to house while reciting rosaries and fast became a beloved priest in the area.

In December 1975 his mentor Angelelli offered him refuge in La Rioja following political conflict and rising violence where Murias was stationed and so he moved to La Rioja where the poor soon became his focus.

This came after Murias asked for authorization to move to La Rioja so he could be able to work alongside Angelelli.

He tended to the poor in La Rioja and had a passion for being able to help them and the underprivileged people living in La Rioja.

He was stationed together with the French priest Gabriel Longueville in a small parish church.

Jorge Rafael Videla soon launched a coup and managed to gain control over the nation leading to increased violence and religious persecution.

Murias's patron and mentor Angelelli was an outspoken critic of the regime as was Murias to a lesser extent.

The beatification for the three men was initiated in 2010 and in 2011 received the critical support of Jorge Bergoglio, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires who became Pope Francis in 2013.

The three later became Venerables.

In March 2013 both Juan Carlos Romero and Angel Pezzeta were sentenced to life imprisonment for their part in the murder of Murias and Longueville.

Pope Francis confirmed their beatification on 8 June 2018.

Their beatification, as well the beatification of Angelelli, was celebrated at La Rioja City Park in La Rioja on 27 April 2019.

Carlos de Dios Murias was a professed member from the Order of Friars Minor Conventual who was killed alongside the French priest Gabriel Longueville who both worked in the same parish in La Rioja after transferring from the Viviers diocese.

Wenceslao Pedernera was a married man who had three daughters.

Murias and Longueville were tortured and killed together in Chamical while Pedernera was killed in front of his wife and children.

The trio were murdered in a time of political conflict in which religious persecution flared and human rights abuses were rampant.

The Bishop of La Rioja Enrique Angelelli - himself killed just after the trio - condemned human rights abuses and was critical and vocal about the regime that Jorge Rafael Videla controlled.

Murias himself was a protégé of Angelelli and himself was outspoken about the regime.

The authorities began monitoring him and his fellow pastor Gabriel Longueville while monitoring all their homilies waiting for the time to be able to arrest them.

Both were kidnapped and killed with their corpses found not long after in the middle of a field.

Pedernera was killed after four hooded men stormed his home and Pedernera came under suspicion due to his social activism and his helping manage a social organization.