Manuel Carrasco Formiguera: Difference between revisions

The execution of the sentence was delayed eight months and took place on 9 April 1938,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uniodejoves.org/carrasco.htm |title=Biografía de Manuel Carrasco en la web de la Unió de Joves de UDC |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110418063246/http://www.uniodejoves.org/carrasco.htm |archivedate=2011-04-18 |df= }}</ref> despite the efforts of the Vatican. Franco having signed his ''enterado'' (certifying his approval), official notification of the ''enterado'' was delayed until dusk, perhaps to leave no time for last pleas for clemency. Carrasco was accompanied in his final hours by Father Ignacio Romana, an intimate friend since they had been fellow pupils in infant school, then at the bachillerato of the Jesuits college in the calle Caspe, and after that at the Faculty of Law of Barcelona University. The Jesuit Fr Romana urged Carrasco to renounce his Catalanism, adhere to Franco, and so save his life, but Carrasco refused. He wrote two letters, one to his wife Pilar, and another to the President of the Generalitat de Catalunya, [[Luís Companys]], asking that his execution not become a pretext for reprisals. Carrasco asked further that his diary be handed over to his wife. The judge of the Court of Executions,Sub-Lieutenant Aranaz, gave his word that he would send both the letter and the diary to his wife. He did not do this.<ref>Raguer, p.172</ref> When Fr Romana and Carrasco reached the ditch outside the prison, the place selected being sunken, shaped to make harmless a misdirected bullet, Carrasco walked towards the place where he was to be shot carrying in one hand a [[crucifix]] with a [[plenary indulgence]] for the hour of death, and in the other, a woollen shoe of his baby daughter Rosa Maria. As soon as he was finally placed in position he gave the little shoe to Father Ignacio and they embraced. Carrasco, who had declined a bandage over his eyes, declared: "The motto that has been mine for my whole life and which I carry in my heart, I now wish to shout aloud at this transcendental moment, ''Visca Catalunya lliure!'' "(Long Live free Catalonia!). He still had time to add 'Jesus, Jesus!' as the officer shouted 'Fire!' He fell backwards, shot in the head. A ''coup de grâce'' was not needed.<ref>Raguer, p.175</ref> According to various authors,<ref>Josep M. Solé i Sabaté y Joan Villarroya, capítulo Mayo de 1937 - Abril de 1939 en Víctimas de la guerra civil, {{ISBN|978-84-8460-333-7}}, pg. 229, donde se cita a Hilari Raguer</ref> Carrasco's execution was personally ordered by [[Francisco Franco|Franco]], in response to the protests of several foreign governments, including the Vatican, against Franco's aerial bombing of civilian targets, and particularly the Italian air raids on Barcelona during 17–20 March 1938, publicly condemned by the [[Holy See]] through an informal note published on 24 March in ''[[L'Osservatore Romano]]''.<ref>Julía, Santos; Casanova, Julián; Solé i Sabaté, Josep Maria; Villarroya, Juan; Moreno, Francisco. ''Víctimas de la guerra civil.'' Editorial Temas de Hoy. Madrid. 2006. p.229</ref>