On April 23rd 2021, three Spanish-born MSC priests and seven lay catechists of the indigenous Maya people became “blessed” and were beatified in the Cathedral of Santa Cruz del Quiché, Guatemala.
Pope Francis signed a decree which recognised all ten as martyrs, and on April 23rd, Guatemalan Cardinal Álvaro Leonel Ramazzini celebrated the beatification Mass in El Quiché. Three priests of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, namely Jose Maria Gran Cirera, Juan Alonso Fernandez, and Faustino Villanueva, were beatified along with seven lay people: Rosalío Benito, Reyes Us, Domingo del Barrio, Nicolás Castro, Tomás Ramírez, Miguel Tiú, and Juan Barrera Méndez, who was just 12 years of age. All ten were killed in Guatemala at various stages between 1980 and 1991.
Blessed Juan Alonso Fernandez, MSC, is one of the Martyrs of Quiche (beatified 2021). The Asturian professed priest of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart was assigned for 2 years to serve a small Catholic community in Indonesia, from 1963-1965. But before he went to the predominantly Islamic nation, he stayed for a while in the Philippines, among the small community of the MSC, where an Emeritus Bishop in Indonesia, vividly remembers his first meeting with the now-Blessed in Manila, whom he accompanied on the young priest's journey to Indonesia. Returning to Guatemala, he founded the parish of San Maria Regina in the town of Lancetillo, and served there until he was seized, tortured and murdered by government forces.
Fr. Juan Alonso Fernandez was assassinated on February 15, 1981 in Cunen, Guatemala. He is remembered with the other martyrs of El Quiché on that date.