A 76-year-old friar died from severe head injuries suffered in an attack at the Santo Espíritu del Monte monastery in Gilet, near Valencia, two days earlier. He had remained in critical condition at Valencia’s Hospital Clínico after emergency services transferred him from the monastery.
The assault occurred on the morning of Saturday, November 9, when a man climbed over the property’s fence and entered the residential area. The attacker moved toward rooms on an upper floor where several friars were resting and struck members of the community with objects that included sticks, a staff and a glass bottle, according to the supplied report.
Witness accounts cited in the evidence said the man declared that he was Jesus Christ and threatened to kill the friars. The report characterized his behavior as an apparent psychotic crisis, but it did not provide a medical diagnosis. Any conclusion about his mental condition remained subject to investigation and judicial review.
Seven friars were described as having been attacked. Emergency services deployed several medical units. A mobile emergency team transported the 76-year-old victim with serious traumatic brain injuries to Hospital Clínico, where he later died. Basic life-support crews treated and transferred three other injured men, aged 95, 66 and 57.
The available figures described seven men as targets but provided hospital-transfer details for four. The packet did not explain the condition of every other friar involved. That distinction matters because being present during or struck in the attack does not necessarily mean each person required admission to hospital.
Two religious remained hospitalized after the death, the report said. The 95-year-old was in stable condition at Sagunto Hospital, while the 57-year-old had already been discharged. The evidence did not give an updated condition for every member of the monastery or provide a complete clinical account of all injuries.
The Civil Guard launched an extensive search after the attacker left the scene and later arrested a 46-year-old man. Investigative sources said he was expected to appear before a judge on November 12. At the point covered by the report, an arrest had been made, but no final judicial determination or criminal sentence had occurred.
Gilet Mayor Salva Costa said there were no guests staying at the monastery when the assault happened. He also said the alleged attacker was not known in the town or by the friars. Costa described the community as shocked by violence at a place that had maintained an open and welcoming posture.
The friar’s death changed the consequences of the attack from a multiple-injury case to a fatal assault investigation. It also increased the seriousness of the legal questions facing the detained suspect, though the supplied account did not specify formal charges.
The verified sequence is limited but clear: an intruder entered the monastery, assaulted members of the religious community, fled and was arrested after a search; one critically injured friar then died in hospital. Further claims about motive, criminal responsibility or mental health would require findings beyond the contemporaneous evidence.
