URIBE VELASCO, DAVID, ST.

Martyr, pastor; b. Dec. 29, 1889, Buenavista de Cuéllar, Guerrero, Diocese of Chilapa, Mexico; d. Apr. 12, 1927, San José Vistahermosa Ranch, Chilapa-Chilpancingo, Morales, Diocese of Cuernavaca. He entered the seminary at age 14. During his third year of theology at Chilapa seminary, the bishop of Tabasco asked David to work with him. He was ordained priest (1913) and immediately served as assistant to the bishop. When persecution began in earnest the following year, both had to flee into hiding at Veracruz. Velasco returned to Chilapa, but soon left again for Guerrero because the situation was unstable. Finding conditions there intolerable, he went home again but was detained by the police en route, condemned to death, and released upon the petition of some of his parishioners. Thereafter David was the pastor of Iguala, Guerrero, a troubled area. Unable to remain safely, he fled to Mexico City. Upon returning, he was recognized, apprehended, and taken by train to Cuernavaca. He was offered his liberty if he accepted the laws and would be the bishop of the church to be created by the Republic. He refused and was shot in the nape of the neck. His relics are venerated in his hometown parish. Fr. Uribe was both beatified (Nov. 22, 1992) and canonized (May 21, 2000) with Cristobal magallanes by Pope John Paul II.

Feast: May 25 (Mexico).

See Also: mexico, modern; guadalajara (mexico), martyrs of, ss.

Bibliography: j. cardoso, Los mártires mexicanos (Mexico City 1953).

[k. i. rabenstein]