September 04th, 2023

Father Pedro Esqueda Ramirez was severely tortured after his arrest, on November 18, 1927, for being a practicing Catholic priest during the Cristero War (1926–29), when the Church was outlawed and Catholics were persecuted and executed by the Mexican government.

"Now you must be sorry for being a priest," one soldier said to him after a horrendous beating.

"No, not a moment, and I have but a little time before I see Heaven," the priest answered serenely.

Dragged from prison to his place of execution, on November 22, 1927, the priest was surrounded by Catholic children, distraught about his fate.

"Do not stop studying the catechism, nor leave the Christian doctrine at all," the priest repeated to those who walked beside him to the outskirts of Teocaltitlán, Jalisco, where he was shot with three bullets that ended his earthly life and began his eternal life.