Saint of the Day: St. Roman Adame Rosales

(1859-1927)

His life

+ Roman was born in Teocaltiche, Jalisco, Mexico, and was ordained a priest in 1890.

+ In 1913, he was assigned to serve as parish priest in Nochistlan, Zacatecas, and was known for his special care for the sick, as well as his devotion to the Mother of God.

+ In addition to building several chapels in the area in Nochistlan and established a new association of the faithful known as the “Daughters of Mary” for nightly adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

+ When the anticlerical violence of the Mexican Revolution erupted, he began to minister underground, hoping to evade persecution.

+ On April 18, 1927, as he conducted a Lenten mission in Rancho Veladones, he was betrayed by one of those attending the service and arrested the following day. Roman was deprived of food and water and left tied to a post outside the rectory in Yahualican (which had been commandeered by the local colonel). Local parishioners offered to buy the priest’s freedom and the colonel accepted a $6,000 bribe, but ordered Roman’s execution anyway.

+ Padre Roman Adame Rosales was shot in a cemetery near Yahualican on April 21, 1927, and was canonized in 2000. He is honored in the liturgy with Saint Christopher Magallanes and other Martyrs of the Mexican Revolution on May 21.

Spiritual bonus

On this day, the people of Morelia, Mexico, honored the Christ Child under the title Santo Niño de la Salud (“Holy Child of Good Health”). The miraculous image was discovered in 1939 and veneration to Christ under this title was approved by archbishop and the image was solemnly crowned in 1944. A religious community—The Missionaries of the Holy Infant of Good Health—were founded in Morelia in 1970 and currently serve in Mexico, the United States, and Italy.

Prayer

O God, who have united the many nations

in confessing your name,

grant that those reborn in the font of Baptism

may be one in the faith of their hearts

and the homage of their deeds.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal: Collect for Thursday in the Octave of Easter)

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.