This "Martyr" rubbish that the OP has flagged up on wiki is no more than Vatican rewritten history and propaganda to hide the truth of these priests and nuns. The Vatican was the biggest ally, along with Hitler supplying planes and arms, to Franco's fascist forces.
Many moons ago I worked with an old guy, who as a young man, volunteered to fight with the International Brigade against Franco's fascists. He told me stories long before I read them for myself in books and documentaries in later years. The most vivid of which was entering a village, and on the outskirts, the road embankment was strewn with dead bodies. Apparently they were all socialists murdered by Franco's troops. How did they know they were Republican sympathisers? Well the priest and nuns of that village took Franco's troops with unrestrained zeal round and pointed them out for execution. Then they would take the children to their orphanages and fill the children's heads with propaganda and the evil of their parents.
This old guy happened to be born second generation Irish catholic, a faith that he had long rejected because of his experiences in Spain. He gave me two pieces of advice that I didn't really understand then, but my experience has seen the wisdom of. The first was "Never vote for a political party with the word National in it". The second was that you cannot claim to be a socialist and be a catholic. They are oxymoronic as the Roman Catholic church is the faith of fascism. Something that is self evident through twentieth century history.
The truth is, and we all know that truth can be the first casualty of war as the Vatican has shown, is that these priests and nuns were executed for what the Republicans saw as war crimes and their part in ordering the killings of civilians.
The Republicans of the Spanish Civil War were as far removed from the "Republicans" that the Celtc minded hero worship as I am from Green Brigade membership. They will be turning in their graves to know their cause is being hijacked by these confused political illiterates as the OP calls them. As Immortal Seven points out Eire through the machinations of the RC church there sent thousands to fight for Franco. They wore blue shirts would you believe.
In the parlance of Hollywood westerns the Republicans of Spain who fought to maintain their democratic government were the guys in the white hats. Franco, the RC Church and their modern day equivalents the Green Brigade would always be played by Jack Palance.
en.wikipedia.org
