16 April 2024, El Paso, TX, Steven Zimmerman – There’s a lot of “hidden” history in El Paso and many stories that are not widely known. One of those stories is the product of the Mexican Revolution.
Saint Pedro De Jesus Maldonado Lucero (St Peter of Jesus Maldonado), born June 15, 1892, in Chihuahua City, wanted to be a priest. He felt the call of Christ in his life and could think of no better service than that of the Lord. He became a seventeen-year-old student at the Conciliar Seminary of the Diocese of Chihuahua City.
When he began seminary in 1909, there were already rumblings of a coming war, a fight for freedom and independence. Young Pedro could not have known how that would affect his studies, but he began to have an idea the following year when fighting began.
In 1914, Pedro had a choice: leave seminary or find other options.
Victoriano Huerta, the 35th President of Mexico (February 19, 1913, to July 15, 1914), was not a friend of the Catholic Church. To help pay for the Civil War, he would plunder the Church and sell its goods to pay his men. When the Church complained, Huerta said, “Mexico can do without her priests but cannot do without her soldiers.”
In 1914, a more extensive suppression of the Catholic Church began. With the government raiding the Church to pay its soldiers and the overall political situation becoming dire, Pedro had to decide how to live out his calling to a priestly vocation.
When talking about why he was in seminary, Saint Pedro De Jesus Maldonado Lucero once said, “I thought of having my heart always in heaven, in the tabernacle.” This thought motivated and guided him to continue his studies, no matter what.
In 1914, Pedro came to El Paso to study for the priesthood.
El Paso in 1914 also saw the influx of many individuals escaping war in Mexico. Saint Pedro De Jesus Maldonado Lucero was not the only one coming to the city. Families, individuals, and even religious groups like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which built its first chapel in Texas, arrived.
St. Peter of Jesus Maldonado finished his studies here in El Paso. Because of the health of his Bishop in Mexico City, he was ordained here, in El Paso, at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral on January 15, 1918, by Bishop Anthony J Schuler, S.J. (Bishop Schuler was a Jesuit).
The now-Father Maldonado said his first Masses in El Paso. His first solemn sung Mass was held at the Church of the Holy Family in Chihuahua on February 11, 1918. That day, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes was special to Fr. Maldonado. Why? He always felt a special connection to Our Lady of Lourdes.
As a priest, St. Maldonado was assigned to many churches throughout Mexico. During this time, he founded many religious organizations to help increase devotion to the Holy Eucharist and our Blessed Mother. Yet, even during this spiritual growth in Mexico, things would take a turn for the worse once again.
1926 was the start of another persecution of the Catholic Church in Mexico. A priest wearing a Roman collar was suddenly guilty of a capital offense. Priests were suddenly arrested, tortured, and murdered for nothing more than saying a mass, hearing a confession, or simply being a priest. Fr. Maldonado would not let this deter him; he continued saying mass and helping others grow in faith.
Then, in May of 1934, because of his work as a priest and following the condemnation of the “State Priest” of Mexico, Fr. Maldonado returned to El Paso. Still, while serving in El Paso, he felt called to serve the people of Chihuahua. Knowing the dangers, he returned to Mexico.
The work of a priest was dangerous during these times. The Masonic government of Mexico was keen on removing the Church and anything attached to it. Priests had to say Mass and hear confessions in secret, and baptisms and confirmations were not public. The Church had moved underground.
On February 10, 1937, Ash Wednesday, Fr. Maldonado was arrested. For the next fifteen hours, Fr. Maldonado was brotherly tortured. Even still, even after all he suffered – the beatings, the loss of blood, and being rendered unconscious, he was still alive.
Fr. Maldonado died on February 11, 1937, seventeen years after his first Solemn Sung Mass on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. I can almost imagine the Blessed Mother, on the day of his passing, taking him into Her arms and carrying him home.
There is also a connection at St. Stephen’s Deacon and Martyr Catholic Church in El Paso. Behind the altar, as you walk towards the tabernacle, there is a relic of El Paso’s saint.
Saint Pedro De Jesus Maldonado Lucero is the patron saint of the Clergy of the Archdiocese of Chihuahua and the Diocese of El Paso. He’s also the patron saint of the Knights of Columbus.
Click any photo to enlarge.
All photos copyright 2019 by Steven E Zimmerman. These photos are not for commercial use.
St. Stephen Deacon and Martyr Parish
