In 1936 15 monks from the monastery of Viaceli in Spain were killed as part of the religious persecution at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. The monastery of Viaceli was founded in 1903 and by 1936 numbered 60 monks. On 8 September of that year the 40 remaining monks were forcibly removed from the monastery, two of them were shot a fortnight later while 12 others were bound and drowned in the sea at the beginning of December and one other was executed at the end of the month. They were all killed because of their Christian faith and because they were monks. They were beatified on 3 October 2015, at the cathedral in Santander.