From: rich <
richarra@gmail.com>
13 April =E2=80=93 St Jose Sab=C3=A1s Reyes Salazar
Also known as Sabas Reyes
Memorials
13 April
21 May as one of the Martyrs of the Mexican Revolution
=C2 Priest and Martyr of the Cristero War, Teacher, Catechist, Protector
of children and the youth of Mexico, he had a special devotion to the
Holy Trinity and the Souls in Purgatory =E2=80=93 born on 5 December 1883 i=
n
Cocula, Jalisco, Mexico and died by being shot at 9pm on 13 April 1927
in a cemetery outside Tototlan, Jalisco, Mexico. He was 44 years old.
He was born in Cocula, Jalisco, the son of Norberto Reyes L=C3=B3pez and Francisca Salazar Castillo. He was Baptised on 8 December. Due to the
poverty of the time, his family was moved to Guadalajara for work
prospects, where he had an extremely poor childhood. To mitigate
hunger and poverty, he was a newspaper seller and was unable to
complete primary school.
He entered the Conciliar Seminary of Guadalajara, where according to
the criteria of the time, his lack of education disqualified him to
become a clergyman for Guadalajara Diocese, however, taking into
account his noble and devout nature, the superiors themselves,
recommended that he join a diocese in need. St Sab=C3=A1s was humble and constant in his vocation and was received in the Diocese of
Tamaulipas, where he was Ordained to the sacred orders, on 24 December
1911. He celebrated his first Mass in Guadalajara in 1912 in the
company of his family and friends.
For two years he exercised the priestly ministry in Tantoyuca,
Veracruz. In 1914 religious persecution was unleashed in the State of Tamaulipas, Father Sab=C3=A1s asked permission to move to the diocese of Guadalajara.
In the year 1919 he went to the parish of Tototl=C3=A1n, Jalisco, to collaborate with the priest Francisco Vizcarra Ruiz, first as chaplain
of the San Antonio de G=C3=B3mez farm and sanctuary and later in 1921, he
was transferred to the main Parish Church.
When the worship had to be suspended in the Churches of the Republic,
the Parish Priest of Tototl=C3=A1n left the town and Father Sab=C3=A1s was = left
in charge, administering the sacraments. Father Sab=C3=A1s then gave the orphaned children asylum in his own home.
When the federal troops arrived, they murdered the innocent and
desecrated the closed Church by using it as stables and destroying all
the holy images, then they set it on fire. When the soldiers left,
Father Sab=C3=A1s and the faithful came to extinguish the flames. His parishioners begged him to leave the area but he said: =E2=80=9CMy superior=
s
sent me here and my parish priest entrusted me with the care of the
parish. If it is God's will, I will gladly accept martyrdom=E2=80=
=9D
At Easter in 1927, warned that the federal troops would attack
Tototl=C3=A1n, he went into hiding at the home of Mrs Mar=C3=ADa Ontiveros, along with three companions =E2=80=93 the young Jos=C3=A9 Beltr=C3=A1n and = the orphan
children Octavio C=C3=A1rdenas and Salvador Botello From that moment until
his capture, he kept praying the rosary and although, when the
soldiers reached his hiding place, the owner of the house denied that
he was there, to protect her, her family and the orphans, Father Sab=C3=A1s came out from his hiding and said:=C2 =E2=80=9CHere I am, what is do you=
wish
with me? =E2=80=9C In response, they tied his arms tightly and dragged him away.
He was dragged to the parish church, which was now a stable and
headquarters for federal soldiers and was tied to a column in the
harsh rays of the sun. For several hours he was denied drinking water
and finally, a woman was allowed to provide him with food. She asked
the parishioners to pray to God for him.=C2 For three days through
hunger and thirst and with unspeakable sadism they burned his hands
because they were consecrated.=C2 On the night of 12 April, tied by the
hands and tied to the neck by a rope he was taken before the General
who interrogated him, seeking the whereabouts of other priests. To
continue tormenting him, two bonfires were lit, one next to his face
and another next to his feet. The latter, meanwhile, muttered over and
over again: =E2=80=9CLord of Heaven, my Mother of Guadalupe, grant me strength.=E2=80=9D The brutal torment lasted until the first hours of dawn. Occasionally, one of the soldiers would stab him with a burning stick
and scoff:=C2 =E2=80=9CYou who say God comes down into your hands, let H=
im come
down now to free you from mine.=E2=80=9D
At dusk on Holy Wednesday, he was dragged to the cemetary where he was
riddled with bullets.=C2 One of his executioners later commented:=C2 = =E2=80=9CI am
very sorry to have killed that Father, he died unfairly. We had
already given him three or four shots and he still got up and shouted =E2=80=9CViva Cristo Rey!=E2=80=9D =E2=80=9CLong live Christ the King !=E2= =80=9D
The next day, 14 April, at seven in the morning, two men who were
going to prepare a grave for Don Aurelio de la Torre who was murdered
for hiding Father Jos=C3=A9 Dolores Guzm=C3=A1n, saw the body of Father Rey=
es
which was lying outside the cemetery, already rigid, with four bullet
wounds =E2=80=93 two in the chest, one in the right arm and one in the forehead. The neck, ribs and ankles bore the marked signs of the
ropes, his hands were burned and virtually all his bones were broken
.. They requested the necessary permission to bury him in Don Aurelio=E2=80= =99s
own grave.
They placed the body in a box and buried it on Maundy Thursday
afternoon. Later, his remains were transferred to the parish church of
San Agust=C3=ADn, in Tototl=C3=A1n. All the people considered Father Sab=C3= =A1s Reyes
Salazar as a martyr of Jesus Christ and as such, venerated his relics.
The process and cause for his Canonisation along with other priests
and laymen murdered during that period began in 1954. The Decree
recognising his martyrdom and that of his fellow martyrs was
promulgated on 7 March 1992. He was Beatified on 22 November 1992 in
Rome and Canonised on 21 May 2000, the Jubilee Holy Year, by St John
Paul II.
People who knew him and dealt with him during the interrogations of
the Cause of Canonisation, related that he was simple, humble and
selfless in his care of others.
Saint Sab=C3=A1s Reyes, you dedicated your life to teaching and educating children, assisting your parishioners and spilling your Blood for
Christ the King, pray for us!
https://anastpaul.com/2020/04/13/
Saint Quote:
You are My Mother, the Mother of Mercy, and the consolation of the
souls in Purgatory.
--Saint Bridget to our Lady
Bible Quote:
=C2 When the wood faileth, the fire shall go out: and when the talebearer
is taken away, contentions shall cease. As coals are to burning coals,
and wood to fire, so an angry man stirreth up strife. [Pro 26:20-21]
DRB
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From The Passion And Death Of Jesus Christ, by Saint Alphonsus
And what kind of affronts did not the Redeemer suffer in His Passion?
He saw Himself affronted by His own disciples. One of them betrays Him
and sells Him for thirty pieces. Another denies Him many times,
protesting publicly that he knows Him not; and thus attesting that he
was ashamed to have known Him in the past. The other disciples, when
they see Him taken and bound, all fly and abandon Him: Then his
disciples leaving him, all fled away. (Mark xiv. 50).
O my Jesus, thus abandoned, who will ever undertake Thy defence, if,
when Thou art first taken, those most dear to Thee depart from and
forsake Thee? But, my God, to think that this dishonour did not end
with Thy Passion! How many souls, after having offered themselves to
follow Thee, and after having been favoured by Thee with many graces
and special signs of love, being then driven by some passion of vile
interest, or human respect, or sordid pleasure, have ungratefully
forsaken Thee! Which of these ungrateful ones is found to turn and
lament, saying, Ah, my dear Jesus, pardon me; for I will not leave
Thee again. I will rather lose my life a thousand times than lose Thy
grace, O my God, my Love, my All.
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)