Blessed 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. Darío Acosta Zurita was born in Naolinco, Mexico on 14 December 1908 as one of five children to Leopoldo Acosta and Dominga Zurita. His sole sister was Elisa while two brothers were Heriberto and Vicente and then Leopoldo who was the last. He was baptized in the parish church of Saint Matthew the Apostle. His mother instilled in him a Christian education while his father worked as a butcher – his father later died in his childhood and he was forced to find work to support his mother and siblings. Bishop Rafael Guízar Valencia visited Veracruz looking for potential seminarians at the time that Zurita had discerned that his call was to that of the religious life, though the bishop refused to accept him for he was still looking after his mother and was not considered old enough. His mother then traveled to Xalapa to meet the bishop and begged him to accept her son; the bishop relented and allowed him to commence his ecclesiastical studies. He was known for his athleticism and his gentle and charitable nature. Zurita was soon named as the captain of the seminarians' football team.