San Patricio Church massacre
Encyclopedia
The St. Patrick’s Church massacre was the murder of three priests and two seminarians of the Pallottine order on July 4, 1976, during the Argentine military junta’s “Dirty War
”, at St. Patrick’s Church, located in the Belgrano
neighborhood in the City of Buenos Aires
, Argentina
.
The victims were priests Alfredo Leaden, Alfredo Kelly, and Pedro Duffau and seminarians Salvador Barbeito and Emilio Barletti.
At approximately 1:00 a.m. on , three youths, Luis Pinasco, Guillermo Silva, and Julio Víctor Martínez, watched as two cars parked in front of the church of San Patricio.
As Martínez was the son of a soldier and thought it might be an attempt on his father, he went to Police Station No. 37 to make a complaint.
Minutes later a police car arrived on the scene and officer Miguel Ángel Romano spoke with people who were suspects in the case.
At 2 o'clock in the morning Silva and Pinasco saw a group of people with rifles get out of the cars and enter the church.
The next morning, at the time of the first Mass
, a group of worshippers waiting in front of the church found the door closed.
Surprised by the situation, the young Fernando Savino, organist of the parish decided to enter through a window and found on the first floor the bodies of the five religious
riddled with bullets, and lined up face down in a huge puddle of blood on a red carpet.
The murderers had written with chalk on a door:
They also wrote on a carpet:
The initials “M.S.T.M.” stand for (the Movement of Priests for the Third World
), while the first sentence about “Federal Security” refers to the bomb attack the Montoneros
(whose motto was “Venceremos” ) had set off two days before in the dining room of the Argentine Federal Police headquarters, killing 20 people.
On the body of Salvador Barbeito the murderers put a drawing by Quino
, taken from one of the rooms, in which Mafalda
appears pointing to a police officer’s club saying: (“This is the stick to dent ideologies”).
The next day, the newspaper La Nación
published a story about the slaughter which included the text of a communiqué from Area Command I of the Army that read:
Nobody has been brought to justice for this terrible crime but, with the support of the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the cause for their beatification has begun.
Dirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
”, at St. Patrick’s Church, located in the Belgrano
Belgrano, Buenos Aires
Belgrano is a leafy, northern barrio or neighborhood of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.- Location :The barrio of Palermo is to the southeast; Nuñez is to the northwest; Coghlan, Villa Urquiza, Villa Ortúzar and Colegiales are to the southwest....
neighborhood in the City of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
.
The victims were priests Alfredo Leaden, Alfredo Kelly, and Pedro Duffau and seminarians Salvador Barbeito and Emilio Barletti.
At approximately 1:00 a.m. on , three youths, Luis Pinasco, Guillermo Silva, and Julio Víctor Martínez, watched as two cars parked in front of the church of San Patricio.
As Martínez was the son of a soldier and thought it might be an attempt on his father, he went to Police Station No. 37 to make a complaint.
Minutes later a police car arrived on the scene and officer Miguel Ángel Romano spoke with people who were suspects in the case.
At 2 o'clock in the morning Silva and Pinasco saw a group of people with rifles get out of the cars and enter the church.
The next morning, at the time of the first Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
, a group of worshippers waiting in front of the church found the door closed.
Surprised by the situation, the young Fernando Savino, organist of the parish decided to enter through a window and found on the first floor the bodies of the five religious
Religious (Catholicism)
In the lexicon of certain branches of Christianity, especially the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox branches, religious as a noun usually refers to a member of a religious order of monks, nuns, friars, clerics regular, or other individuals who take the three vows of poverty, chastity, and...
riddled with bullets, and lined up face down in a huge puddle of blood on a red carpet.
The murderers had written with chalk on a door:
They also wrote on a carpet:
The initials “M.S.T.M.” stand for (the Movement of Priests for the Third World
Movement of Priests for the Third World
The Movement of Priests for the Third World was a tendency among the Catholic Church in Argentina which aimed at combining reform ideas which followed the Second Vatican Council with a strong political and social participation...
), while the first sentence about “Federal Security” refers to the bomb attack the Montoneros
Montoneros
Montoneros was an Argentine Peronist urban guerrilla group, active during the 1960s and 1970s. The name is an allusion to 19th century Argentinian history. After Juan Perón's return from 18 years of exile and the 1973 Ezeiza massacre, which marked the definitive split between left and right-wing...
(whose motto was “Venceremos” ) had set off two days before in the dining room of the Argentine Federal Police headquarters, killing 20 people.
On the body of Salvador Barbeito the murderers put a drawing by Quino
Quino
Joaquín Salvador Lavado, better known by his pen name Quino is an Argentine cartoonist. His comic strip Mafalda is very popular in Latin America and many parts of Europe.-Early life and work:...
, taken from one of the rooms, in which Mafalda
Mafalda
Mafalda is a comic strip written and drawn by Argentine cartoonist Joaquín Salvador Lavado, better known by his pen name Quino. The strip features a 6-year-old girl named Mafalda, who is deeply concerned about humanity and world peace and rebels against the current state of the world...
appears pointing to a police officer’s club saying: (“This is the stick to dent ideologies”).
The next day, the newspaper La Nación
La Nación
La Nación is an Argentine daily newspaper. The country's leading conservative paper, the centrist Clarín is its main competitor. It is the only newspaper in Argentina still published in broadsheet format.-Overview:...
published a story about the slaughter which included the text of a communiqué from Area Command I of the Army that read:
Nobody has been brought to justice for this terrible crime but, with the support of the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the cause for their beatification has begun.
External links
- El caso de los padres palotinos, Informe Nunca Más, CONADEP, 1985
- A treinta años de la masacre de San Patricio, por Eduardo Kimel, Página 12, 2 de julio de 2006
- Monumento a los padres palotinos, Clarín, 2 de julio de 2006
- Kirchner y Bergoglio, juntos en una misa de homenaje a sacerdotes palotinos, Clarín, 11 de abril de 2006
- 29 años de la Masacre de San Patricio, Argenpress, 4 de julio de 2005
- Mártires Palotinos, por Cármen Lynch, Comisión Permanente para la Memoria de los Mártires Palotinos
- Masacre de San Patricio - Compilación de artículos
- “4 de julio – La masacre de San Patricio” – Documental sobre los asesinatos del 4 de julio de 1976 - IMDB