Maldonado Lucero, Pedro (Peter) de Jesús, St.

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MALDONADO LUCERO, PEDRO (PETER) DE JESÚS, ST.

Martyr, priest; b. June 15, 1892, Sacramento, Chihuahua, Mexico; d. Feb. 11, 1937, Chihuahua. At seventeen he entered the archdiocesan seminary at Chihuahua. When political upheaval interrupted his schooling (1914), he studied music. Following his ordination (1918) in El Paso, Texas, he dedicated himself to catechizing children, and promoting allnight vigils and Marian associations at S. Isabel, Chihuahua. In 1934, Pedro was imprisoned, mistreated, and exiled to El Paso, but he soon returned. A group of drunk soldiers apprehended him after Ash Wednesday liturgy, beat him and shot him. He died later from the injuries he sustained. Fr. Maldonado was both beatified (Nov. 22, 1992) and canonized (May 21, 2000) with Cristobal magallanes [see guadalajara (mexico), martyrs of, ss.] by Pope John Paul II.

Feast: May 25 (Mexico).

Bibliography: j. cardoso, Los mártires mexicanos (Mexico City 1953). j. h. contreras orozco, El mártir de Chihuahua: persecución y levantamientos de católicos: Vida y martirio del P. Pedro Maldonado (Chihuahua, Chih., Mexico 1992).

[k. i. rabenstein]