“The Americas saw the greatest bloodshed among Catholic missionaries in 2005. (The Vatican treats North and South America as a single continent.) There were 8 priests, 2 nuns, and 2 monks killed in Latin America. Colombia, where 4 priests and 1 nun died violently, was the single bloodiest country. But Church personnel also died in Mexico, Brazil, and Jamaica.
Africa also saw considerable violence against Catholic evangelists, with 1 bishop, 6 priests, and 1 lay evangelist dying, in Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, and Nigeria.
In Asia there were 3 priests killed in India, and 1 in Indonesia.
Nor was Europe spared: 1 priest was killed in Brussels, and 1 in Moscow. The Americas also furnished the greatest number of “martyrs for the faith” on the Fides list, with 10. Colombia and India each saw 5 natives killed.
The complete list includes:
Father Thomas Richard Heath, an American Dominican priest, killed by gunmen during a robbery in Kisumu, Kenya on January 13.
Father Thomas Harsidiyono, killed in another apparent robbery attempt in Java, Indonesia, on January 14.
Father Jan Hermanovsky, a Slovakian priest serving in Russia, killed by intruders at his parish in Brjansk on January 20.
Father Manuel Delgado, a Franciscan priest, whose badly beaten body was found outside Cuidad Juarez, Mexico, on February 6.
Sister Dorothy Stang, and American sister of Notre Dame and naturalized Brazilian citizen, was killed at Anapu, Brazil, on February 12. An outspoken defender of indigenous tribes, she had received several death threats before her assassination.
Father Mathew Uzhuthal, an Indian priest, died on May 1 as the result of multiple stabbing wounds he had received 19 days earlier when he was assailed by a young man with a long criminal record at his rectory in Patna, India.
Father Rene de Haes, a Belgian Jesuit priest who had served in Africa since 1959, was killed by gunfire as he drove north of Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, on May 7.
Father Robert De Leener, a Belgian priest, was killed on June 5 by a homeless man whom he had invited into his rectory in Brussels.
Bishop Luigi Locati, an Italian native who was preparing to retire after 40 years in the missions, was killed on July 14 near the office where he worked as apostolic vicar of the Isiolo diocese. Msgr. Luis Enrique Rojas, died on July 21, three weeks after being fatally wounded by robbers at the cathedral rectory in Barranquila, Colombia. Msgr. Rojas had survived another assault in December 2004.
Father Paulo Henrique Machado, a Brazilian priest, was killed by unknown assailants near Rio de Janeiro on July 25. Although money and a wristwatch were taken from his body, police believe that the killing was prompted by his active denunciation of human-rights abuses and drug trafficking.
Father Godwin Okwesili, a Nigerian priest, was killed by intruders at his parish in Lago on August 2.
Father Vicente Rozo Bavona, a Colombian priest, was killed along with Father Jesus Emilio Mora on August 15, when rebel guerrillas ambushed the car in which they were driving to celebrate Mass.
Father Jesus Emilio Mora, a Colombian priest, died witih Father Bavona (above) on August 15.
Father Jesus Adrian Sanchez, also a Colombian priest, was killed on August 18 by a rebel guerrilla who burst into a classroom where he was teaching religious education, in the Chaparral region.
Father Francois Djikulo, was killed sometime in August by rebels in Mutendele, in the Democratic Republic, as he attempted a personal peace initiative. He died alongside his lay associate, Simon Kayimbi, apparently after brutal treatment.
Simon Kayimbi, a Congolese lay catechist, died with Father Dikulo (above) in August.
Father Mathew Nellickal, an Indian priest and vicar general of the Tezpur diocese, was found dead at his home on September 3.
Father Giuseppe Bessone, an Italian missionary priest, was killed by a young robber at his parish in Blumenau, Brazil, on September 2.
Father Angelo Redaelli, an Italian Franciscan priest serving in Africa, was killed by a mob in Owando, in Congo-Brazzaville, on September 12.
Father Ignazio Bara, an Indian priest, was killed on September 12 when he tried to intervene during an attack by Hindu fundamentalists on Christian villagers in Simdega, India.
Father Luis Velasquez Romero, a Mexican priest, was killed by gunmen in Tijuana on October 25. The killers are believed to have been involved in drug trafficking.
Sister Suresh Barwa, an Indian nun of the Miissionaries of the Poor, was killed alongside Brother Marco Candelario Lasbuna in Kingston, Jamaica, on October 27.
Marco Candelario Lasbuna, a native of the Philippines who was also a member of the Missionaries of Charity, died with Sister Barwa (above) on October 27. The two were killed by a single bullet, shot by an unknown attacker, as they worked in the kitchen of a community residence.
Sister Margarita Vásquez Sandino, a Colombian nun, was killed on November 11 in Medellin as she was traveling to visit a sick relative. The motive was believed to be robbery.
Father Philip Valayam, a Salesian priest from India, was killed by intruders in the rectory of the parish where he was serving in Nairobi, Kenya, when he returned home after celebrating midnight Mass for Christmas.
Grace isn’t cheap.
Opus, you have done a most wonderful thing in these posts.
We Catholics are indebted to you—not only for posting these facts, but also demonstrating that these martyrs walked the talk. Again, thank you!
It’s one thing to make drive-by trips to these countries that are targeted and to come back comfortably to the US and write drive-by e-mails and call that evangelization. It’s another thing for these Catholic missionaries and parish priests to go to these countries and live among the people and accept, as their own lifestyle, the poverty and difficult circumstances of the people they serve—and do this as a life’s work.
Congratulations, sandyeggo, on your brother’s vocation.
Now, what such a list has to do with the move of Holy Spirit in Latin America is rather beyond me . . .
unless it’s a kind of thread hijacking.
Sister Margarita Vásquez Sandino, a Colombian nun, was killed on November 11 in Medellin as she was traveling to visit a sick relative. The motive was believed to be robbery.
= = =
This relates to the topic of the thread precisely how?
There’s no doubt that many Catholics have been martyred, just as there are many other Christians who dare to share their faith and stand strong have been.
Amazing to me that given all the posts in this thread, only a few directly addressed the witness that yours (OpusatFR) provided.
One had the incredible temerity to suggest these lists of self-sacrificers had “nothing to do with the Holy Spirit in Latin America”. Yep, I guess all these people died for nothing; they didn’t die for a Reality they knew as a fact, in their heart. Nope. They died for an illusion.
AMAZING TO SUGGEST THAT, AMAZING! Or you’re not suggesting that? If not, if they died PRECISELY BECAUSE of their love of God and therefore were some of the greatest witnesses to the Holy Spirit’s power, then what the HECK is this thread all about?
Another, “There’s no doubt that many Catholics have been martyred, just as there are many other Christians who dare to share their faith and stand strong have been.” True that, however funny how this thread is only about attacking Catholicism. No one, except you, seems interested in recognizing the reality of the situation described, to whit, that the Holy Spirit is INDEED working in Latin America, just not in the way the OP would seem to want.
Too bad others (including myself) didn’t see Opus’ posts before, and ABSORB their MEANING; we all would’ve saved ourselves a lot of wasted time.
Is dying for a cause proof that it was true and right?
Does dying for a cause prove it is true and right?
Does dying for a cause prove it is true and right?