St. David Uribe Velasco

  Posted on April 13, 2020  by admin  No comments

Born: 29 December 1888 at Buenavista de Cuellar, Guerrero, Mexico

Died: shot in the back of the head on 12 April 1927 near San Jose Videl, Morelia, Mexico

Beatified: 22 November 1992 by Pope John Paul II

Canonized: 21 May 2000 by Pope John Paul II during the Jubilee of Mexico

David was the son of Juan Uribe Ayal and Victoriana Velasco Gutierrez, the seventh of eleven children in an inevitably poor family. Baptized on 6 January 1889. Entered seminary at Chilapa in 1903 at age 14; excellent student. Sub-deacon in 1910, deacon in 1911, and ordained on 2 March 1913.

Parish priest at Buenavista de Cuéllar. Secretary to Bishop Antonio Hernandez Rodriguez of Tobasco. In 1914 David and the bishop were ordered to relocate to Chilapa, Guerrero ahead of the anti-religious violence that was sweeping the country; their ship sank, but David, the bishop, and four others survived. Parish priest at Zirandaro, but Zapatista uprisings forced him to return to Chilapa. Parish priest at Buenavista de Cuéllar, Telotlsapan and Iguala in Guerrero. Had a devotion to Our Lady of Tepeyac.

On 30 July 1926, as a matter of public safety, the bishops of Mexico ordered a halt to public worship, and for churches to close; David, reluctant but obedient, accepted the order, but later returned covertly to his pastoral duties. Arrested by the military on 7 April 1927, and taken to Cuernavaca. Offered freedom if he would become a bishop in the schismatic church that was subservient to the government; he declined. He wrote his will on 11 April 1927, and the next day was driven to a remote location near San Jose Vidal, Morales. He prayed for himself and his executioners, gave them his belongings, promised to pray for them in the next life, and was martyred.