Feast of Blessed Mario Vergara

Beato Mario Vergara, ora pro nobis

May 24th is the Feast of Blessed Mario Vergara, Priest, Missionary and Martyr. Born in Frattamaggiore, Naples on November 16, 1910, he was the youngest of nine children. Entering seminary in Aversa in 1921, he received Confirmation and moved to the Pontifical Seminary of Campania in Posillipo in 1927. Ordained a priest on August 26, 1934, he soon travelled to Burma and began his missionary activities. At the outbreak of WWII, he was arrested and interred in a British concentration camp in India. After four years of captivity he resumed his missionary work. Murdered with catechist Isidore Ngei Ko Lat by Protestant (Baptists) guerrillas on May 24, 1950, their bodies were thrown in the Salween River. Presided by Cardinal Angelo Amato, the beatification of Fr. Mario Vergara and Isidore Ngei was celebrated in Aversa on May 24, 2014. In celebration, I’m posting a prayer for the Missionary martyrs. Evviva Beato Mario Vergara!

Prayer for the Blessed Martyrs Mario and Isidore

We humbly beseech the mercy of your majesty, almighty and merciful God, that, as you have poured the knowledge of your Only Begotten Son into the hearts of the peoples by the preaching of the blessed Martyrs Mario and Isidore, so, through their intercession, we may be made steadfast in the faith. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.