His assassins cryed out, “Die, destroyer of liberty!” The victim replied, “God does not die.”

A Statesman After God’s Own Heart: Gabriel Garcia Moreno

by Joseph F. X. Sladky

On 6 August 1875, in the Plaza Major of Quito, Ecuador, a man lay dying.  It was the First Friday of the Month.  Earlier, after spending time in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament in the Cathedral, the man made his way to the Presidential Palace to meet with his ministers.  As he approached the Palace, he was ambushed and cut down by bullets and a cutlass, one of his assassins crying out, “Die, destroyer of liberty!”  The victim replied, “God does not die.”  The man lived long enough to receive Extreme Unction and to make his peace with his murderers, sincerely forgiving them.  Such were the last hours of Gabriel García Moreno.

Gabriel García Moreno has been called the greatest Catholic statesman of the modern era. Unlike many modern politicians who measure the greatness of a civilization by its material progress, García Moreno understood that the touchstone of a true civilization is the moral and religious perfection of its people.

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