On May 1, 2026, our brother Manuel Martínez Moneo passed away in our community of El Escorial (Madrid) due to respiratory failure. Manuel had been quite well until lunchtime that same day. After eating, he became more agitated and the palliative care doctors who were attending him were called. While they and the superior of the community were still present, Manolo’s life peacefully came to an end.
Manuel was born on January 16, 1932, in Alesanco (La Rioja), a town belonging to the Diocese of Calahorra. He was the son of Valentín and Amparo. He had an older sister, Isabel, and two younger siblings, Pedro and Mari. His brothers Miguel and Casto had already passed away.
Manuel entered the Congregation in San Miguel del Monte, where he received the habit on May 31, 1960. A year later he made his temporary profession, and on June 1, 1964, he also made his perpetual profession in San Miguel del Monte.
Manuel was a skilled man in everything related to administration, management, and organization: finances, cooking, hospitality, gardening, etc. He was a brother who did not shy away from the tasks entrusted to him and was able to organize and manage works as diverse as the House of El Escorial, the boarding school in Jaraíz, and the guesthouse in Miranda de Ebro. Although he showed great dedication and commitment in all these tasks, many brothers especially appreciated how he cared for some of them during illness, as he did with Fr. Santiago López and, more recently, accompanying—already at an advanced age—our dear brother Garito.
After serving as a cook in San Miguel del Monte, he was assigned in 1968 to El Escorial. From there, in 1978, he moved to Jaraíz de la Vera. Four years later he returned to El Escorial and, in 1998, he took charge of the guesthouse in Miranda de Ebro, where he remained until 2024, when he joined the community of El Escorial with his health already very weakened.
We give thanks to God for this good, generous, and devoted brother. A brother who always had a deep love for the Congregation and who sought, as far as he was able, to help build true fraternity. May God welcome him and may Our Lady of Peace accompany him on his journey to heaven.
The funeral rites (D.V.) for our brother Manuel will be celebrated next Saturday, May 2, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. in the Church of the Sacred Hearts in El Escorial.
05/01/2026