Darío Acosta Zurita
Darío Acosta Zurita (14 December 1908 – 25 July 1931) was a Mexican Roman Catholic priest who ministered in Veracruz where he lived and was killed. Zurita commenced his studies for the priesthood after he had once been refused entrance and he became known as an athletic seminarian. Bishop Rafael Guízar Valencia ordained him in 1931 and he was killed three months later after gunmen stormed the cathedral – enacting the so-called Tejeda Law – and shot him dead.
Zurita's beatification cause commenced under Pope John Paul II on 3 September 1988 and he was beatified under Pope Benedict XVI on 20 November 2005 after the latter confirmed that Zurita had been killed 'in odium fidei' – in hatred of the faith. Cardinal José Saraiva Martins presided over the beatification on the pontiff's behalf in Guadalajara.
Patron saint of Persecuted Christians; Catechists; Athletes
In the Martyrology
- July 25 Blessed Ángel Darío Acosta Zurita, priest and martyr