Another famous citizen
of this beautiful town is the Blessed
Rubén López Aguilar
(born in Concepción on April 12, 1908, murdered in Barcelona,
Spain on August 5, 1936). From a young age, Rubén felt the calling to the priesthood
and entered the postulancy on December 2, 1930, in the city of Bogotá, joining the novitiate the following year. During the 1933 war between Peru and Colombia, he served as a nurse at the San Rafael Hospital in Pasto, showing great compassion and generosity. He was later chosen to travel to Spain to perfect his nursing skills. There, he dedicated himself to studies and work at a sanatorium 30 kilometers from Madrid, in Ciempozuelos.
Unfortunately, his stay in Spain coincided with one of the bloodiest periods of Spanish history, marked by a horrific persecution of Catholics by communists, masons, and the extreme left. Between 1936 and 1939, Spanish communists murdered 4,100 secular priests; 2,300 religious men; 283 nuns; and thousands of lay people. At the beginning of 1936, Rubén and several fellow Antioquians were asked to leave the sanatorium and forced to move to Barcelona, a journey that ended with his disappearance.
Apparently, due to futile doubts about their identity cards and passports (legitimately issued at the time by the Colombian ambassador to Spain), they were stopped by the communist militia, tortured, and killed. His body was later found and identified with the number 4198. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II together with six other companions from the San Juan de Dios community in Rome on October 25, 1992.
Birthplace of Rubén López Aguilar, next to the church in Concepción, Antioquia
