The 19 Algerian (Africa) Martyrs (1994-1996) are witnesses of a clear faith, which through prayer and presence has built a space for dialogue. They are a beautiful image of the Church in Algeria, composed of a few thousand faithful in four dioceses: Algiers, Oran, Constantine-Ippona and Laghouat. The Church of Algeria is aware that it has a prophetic mission: to create an atmosphere of dialogue between the Christian faith and Islam, in the certainty that we are all children of God, the work of His hands, and that the children of God are called to recognize themselves. Each of them was an authentic witness of Christ's love, dialogue, openness to others, friendship and belonging to the Church. The common traits of the 19 martyrs are: their solid faith in Christ and His Gospel; their love for the land where the Lord sent them; their attention and evangelical sensitivity towards the Algerian people, especially the small and mortified, with particular attention to young people; their respect for others’ faith and their desire to understand Islam. Until the end, the 19 martyrs embodied the vocation of the Algerian Church to be a sacrament of Christ's charity for all the people. Pierre Claverie O.P., Bishop of Oran, a few weeks before dying in a homily given on 23 June 1996, said: "‘Throughout the dramatic events in Algeria, I have often been asked, ‘What are you doing there? Why do you stay? Shake off the dust from your sandals! Come back home!’ But where is home? Where are we at home? We are there for the sake of Jesus Christ crucified. There is no other reason and for none else. We have no interest to safeguard, no influence to maintain. We are not driven by any masochistic perversion. We have no power, but we are there as if we were by the bedside of a friend, of a sick brother, silently holding his hand and wiping his brow. We are there for the sake of Jesus, because he is the one suffering there amid a violence that spares none, crucified again and again in the flesh of thousands of innocents. Give your life. This is not reserved for martyrs, or at least we are called to become "martyr-witnesses" of the free gift of love, of the free gift of life. This gift comes to us from the grace of God given in Jesus Christ. And how can we translate this gift, this grace?"

The 19 martyrs beatified in Oran last december 8 at the basilica of Notre-Dame of Santa Cruz. They are:

- Br. Henri Vergès, Marist, and Sr. Paul-Hélène Saint-Raymond, Little Sisters of the Assumption, killed together in the library of Casbah, Algiers, on May 8, 1994;

- Two Augustine Missionaries, killed on October 23, 1994, on their way to Sunday Mass in front of the chapel of Bab-el-Oued: Sr. Esther Paniagua Alonso and Sr. Caridad Alvarez Martín;

- Four Missionaries of Africa ("White Fathers"), killed together in their home of Tizi-Ouzu on December 27, 1994: Fr. Jean Chevillard, Fr. Alain Dieulangard, Fr. Charles Deckers, Fr. Christian Chessel;

- Two sisters of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles, killed by two bullets while leaving Mass on September 3, 1995, one hundred meters from their home in Belcour: Jeanne Littlejohn (Sr. Angèle-Marie) and Denise Leclercq (Sr. Bibiane Leclercq);

- Sr. Odette Prévost, Little Sisters of the Sacred Heart;

- Seven Trappist monks of Tibhirine: the Prior, Fr. Christian de Chergé, Br. Luc Dochier, Fr. Christophe Lebreton, Br. Michel Fleury, Fr. Bruno Lemarchand, Fr. Célestin Ringeard and Br. Paul Favre-Miville.

- Msgr. Pierre Claverie O.P., Bishop of Oran, killed on August 1, 1996, together with a young driver and Muslim friend, Mohamed: this circumstance assumes a character of high symbolic value for the life of the Church in Algeria.