The Church in Spain will celebrate a historic event: Pope Leo XIV has authorized the beatification of the venerable Salvador Valera Parra, popularly known as the “cura Valera”, priest of Huércal-Overa (Almería) whose life of pastoral dedication and reputation for holiness have marked generations of the faithful.
Beatification in Huércal-Overa
The Diocese of Cartagena announced that the beatification ceremony will take place on February 7, 2026, in Huércal-Overa, presided over by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of the Saints, on behalf of the Holy Father. The Bishop of Almería, Mons. Antonio Gómez Cantero, expressed his joy in a statement and invited both the faithful of Almería and those of Cartagena to participate in this ecclesial event, recalling that Valera exercised part of his ministry in both dioceses.
As also reported by El Debate, the ceremony will be held in the Municipal Multi-Purpose Space, with capacity to accommodate thousands of faithful, and will be preceded on the 6th by a prayer vigil and will culminate on Sunday, February 8, with a Mass of thanksgiving that will coincide with the traditional “Noche de las Lumbres”, a three-century-old festival to which the cura Valera himself joined in life.
The Approved Miracle
The Bishop of Almería confirmed that Leo XIV approved the miracle attributed to the intercession of the priest. The event occurred in 2007 at the Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, in the United States, when a prematurely born baby was declared clinically dead for an hour. At that moment, a doctor from Huércal-Overa and spiritual son of cura Valera offered a spontaneous prayer asking for his intercession. Inexplicably, the child recovered his pulse and today leads a normal life.
The Life of Cura Valera
Salvador Valera Parra was born on February 27, 1816, into a deeply Christian family of farmers. He studied at the Seminary of Murcia and was ordained a priest in Alicante in 1840. After serving in Alhama de Murcia, he returned to Huércal-Overa, where he was appointed archpriest in 1853. Later, he also served as parish priest in Cartagena, where he actively participated in moments of grave social crisis, such as a riot in the prison and a cholera epidemic in 1865.
Isabel II granted him the distinction of knight of the Royal and Distinguished Order of Charles III in recognition of his work. He died in 1889 in his native town and, by popular acclaim, was buried in the main altar of the parish of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción.
A Priestly Model
The rector of the Seminary of San Fulgencio, Jesús Sánchez, declared to the Diocese of Cartagena that cura Valera was “an exemplary priest who lived his priestly identity with fidelity and died in the odor of sanctity”. He also highlighted that he will be “the first blessed formed in this seminary who reaches holiness through heroic priestly virtues and not as a martyr”, which represents a special stimulus for the current seminarians of Murcia and Almería, who today share formation in the same center.