Pedro De Jess Maldonado

Passions

Vocation

Mexican diocesan priest who became the first canonized saint and martyr from Chihuahua City, Mexico. He helped the poor with money and clothing, and raised and educated a poor orphan. Maldonado took a special interest in the religious education of both children and adults, explaining Catholic doctrine by using photographs. At harvest time, farmers would ask him to bless fields invaded by locusts, and there are accounts that claim his prayers expelled the locusts more than once. During the Cristero War (1926–1929), Maldonado and other priests in Chihuahua were the targets of anti-Catholic violence. On 10 February 1937 (Ash Wednesday), Maldonado was arrested by government henchmen who had discovered his hiding place on a ranch. They brought him barefoot to the town hall, where they beat him, fracturing his skull and causing his left eye to pop out. He died at Chihuahua City on 11 February 1937 (the 19th anniversary of his first Solemn Mass), from severe brain trauma and injuries throughout his body caused by the beating. According to his death certificate, Maldonado died at 5:15 pm, at the age of 44. On 22 November 1992, Fr. Maldonado was beatified by Pope John Paul II. On 25 May 2000, John Paul canonized him. Link to Wikipedia biography