[1] In 1934, the coal-mining town of Turón in Asturias was the centre of anti-government and anti-clerical hostility in the years prior to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.
Following the calling of a general strike, the miners of Asturias began to arm and organize themselves, occupying several towns and setting up "revolutionary committees."
The Brothers' school was an irritant to the insurrectionists in charge of operations in Turón because of the religious influence it ostensibly exerted on the young.
Although their deaths occurred two years prior to the outbreak of the war, it was part and parcel of the communal violence that was a feature of the conflict, and the times before and after.
[4] Of the 6,000 religious persons killed during the Spanish Civil War about one thousand have had their causes advanced for beatification, though the Martyrs of Turón were the first to be canonized.