Murdered Priests and Seminarians

Profiles in Catholicism

Sep 5, 201810 min read

Updated: Dec 19, 2024

Prayers

Prayer for the Murdered Father Luke Adeleke of Nigeria

Good and gracious God,

One of your beloved men/priest was murdered It happened on an evening getting ready for the celebration of your birth. It was an unknown gunman. He was on his way to celebrate Mass with the congregation. Bless this generous and kind priest, dear Lord, help him to realize the path of your ways. Bless his congregation and his friends. Help him realize that although his time on this earth was short he brought the goodness of your life to his people

by Eileen Quinn Knight, Ph.D. Profiles in Catholicism

Prayer of remembrance of Father Rudy Romano and Father Conrado de la Cruz

Lord so many years have passed we recall their lives of sacrifice they were the true prophets of the poor. They stood as Jesus did to bring justice as the cure. To end violence and oppression, they sought to end the suffering and the pain, They were missionaries and gave their lives without seeking to win or gain. Filipinos with hearts of love, they were killed and disappeared, their bodies never found, Lord we continue to remember them as they lie in unmarked graves in the lost and unknown ground. May their sacrifice inspire, and their selfless lives endure, In the spirits of all who live for justice and serve the wretched and the poor. Amen by Father Shay Cullen Profiles in Catholicism

A Prayer for Father Nikolaos Kakavelakis

O God, you sent your Son, Jesus Christ, among us to lead us back to you. Through the priestly ministry, Fr. Nikolaos gives glory to your name, and leads the faithful in Lyon into an encounter with you through Word and Sacrament. We pray for him, that you may wrap your healing arms around him as he recovers from this terrible act of violence. May he find strength in the prayers of the community he serves, and the Church universal, and may his sufferings be joined to Christ on the cross, for the salvation and sanctification of the world. May Mary, the Mother of God, and health of the sick, intercede for him. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

by Deacon Andrew Matijevic Profiles in Catholicism

A Prayer for the 1989 Murdered Jesuits in El Salvador

Good and Gracious God,

We are horrified by the testimony of a former Salvadoran army officer that the "high command" gave orders to eliminate Jesuits priests during the country's civil war in 1989. These men were the priests to the people, Lord, and ministering to their needs. As with Pontius Pilate, the Central American country's president knew of the crimes to be committed and did not intervene.

These men with their housekeeper were brutally treated, Lord, by a former colonel in the army of El Salvador, who is on trial in Spain, Inocente Orlando Montano, on the campus of the Catholic University. Lord, we beg you to help the people of El Salvador who bear the brunt of this loss, help them to continue to heal even 30 years later.

At the testimony July 8, Mendoza said his superior, Guillermo Benavides, a former colonel and then-director of the army academy, told troops the night before the crime that an order had come to move against Spanish Jesuit Father Ignacio Ellacuria, rector of Central American University in San Salvador. May Guillermo Benavides, realize how the horror and evil of this act affected the entire community. Assist all in San Salvador to heal. May the plentitude of vocations to the priesthood for the Jesuits in this region continue to flourish and make a difference. by Eileen Quinn Knight, Ph.D. Profiles in Catholicism

Prayer for a Martyr

O Lord, we Catholics revere and pray for those who have witnessed to you

with their lives.

Sadly, martyrdom continues today, even in the midst of a worldwide pandemic which is taking hundreds of thousands of people from their loved ones and communities.

We gather in spirit, in mourning and hope to honor the memory of a true martyr,

who so loved you that he gave his life for you and all of us.

Seminarian Michael Nnadi of Nigeria Witnessed, by word and deed, to Your Divine Love for us all, through Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

This witness, this offering of love and hope to a fellow human sadly did not fall on deaf ears.

The man who Michael so loved that he wanted to share his joy and hope with him became enraged at Michael's love.

Spurning not only Michael but the One God of all humans, the man killed Michael.

Michael is a true martyr to our faith.

He died because of his faith in you, O Lord.

He now rests and rejoices with you, O Lord.

May we Catholics take Michael's witness, faith, hope, and love into our hearts and souls. May we be inspired to live out in our lives your words of peace and love for all humans. May we work together with people of all faiths

to help those in need. The sick, the poor, the mentally challenged,

all who are in need.

Amen. Alleluia. Praise the Lord.

A reflection on the martyrdom of the Michael Nnadi

[CNA Staff, May 2, 2020, / 04:30 pm (CNA).- A man claiming to have killed the murdered Nigerian. Seminarian Michael Nnadi has given an interview in which he says he executed the aspiring priest because he would not stop announcing the Christian faith in captivity.]

They provoke a memory, the image, the story, or your servant Steven who was commissioned by the original Apostles to preach the word. He did so with fire and vigor. And he was hated for it. They, his enemies accused him by saying “This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law.” But

Steven was filled with the Spirit and wisdom, was emboldened to say: “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the Holy Spirit; you are just like your ancestors.”

They, his enemies, ran him out of the city, took up stones, and killed him. “But he, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

Is final words were: “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God O Lord God, you servant Michael is much like Seven. Your servant. Your preacher. Your suppliant. We trust that his final words were those of Steven: “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

Our Prayer, O Lord, is that we too may be inspired with the spirit of Steven of not giving up preaching your word. Inspired by your servant Michael, of not giving up preaching the word. We ask this in the name of Jesus your Son, who was offered up for us. Amen

by Father David O. Brown, O.S.M. Profiles in Catholicism