A SAINT FROM EL PASO
Saint Pedro de Jesús Maldonado was born in a neighborhood of Chihuahua City known as San Nicolás and was one of seven children of Apolinar Maldonado and Micaela Lucero. When he was 17 years old, he entered the diocesan seminary, where he was known for his piety; once, after completing the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, he told the rector of the seminary "I have thought of always having my heart in heaven and in the Tabernacle." In 1913 and 1914, many seminarians fled to El Paso, Texas, because of religious persecution in Mexico, but Maldonado remained in Chihuahua and studied music. Later, he continued his religious studies and was ordained as a priest on January 25, 1918. His ordination took place in the Cathedral of St. Patrick, in the Diocese of El Paso. October 12, 1984, the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints exhorted the Archdiocese of Chihuahua to speed up Fr. (Father) Maldonado's process, formally initiating the cause of canonization. On November 22, 1992, Fr. Maldonado was beatified by Pope John Paul II. On May 25, 2000, John Paul canonized him.