Day of Prayer for Missionary Martyrs - Stories of Martyrdom in Mozambique

March 22, 2023, XXXI Anniversary of the martyrdom of the Catechists of Guiúa

“I was in house number eleven. I was sleeping with my family. They came with the flashlight, lit up the room and started calling us, waking us up. I saw that armed men had arrived and I told them: No, you don't need to tie me up. If they've already found me here, I won't run. Let me out and then you can tie me up if you want. Then my wife took our second child, who was the yougest. Many people came, many armed soldiers. It was a disaster. When I thought about running away, I ran down the hall. They realized I was running away and the soldier started shooting. He fired three shots and missed. Suddenly, the boy, who was inside the room, started calling: Daddy! Dad! Dad! I didn't have the courage to keep running. I had to go back. So I came back. I did it for that kid. So I told him to shut up. And that was before he discovered that his mother was also dead. Children of catechists, wives of catechists are dead…” (Testimony of Armando Duzenta, Catechist)

"It's my first time back here. But when I arrived, I started to see everything as it was that day… I can even see where I was sitting. I can see how it ended, I see the soldiers, their conversations, I remained seated, and I invited all the catechists to pray, because we knew it was our last day. When they finished praying they were already starting to kill people … I am a catechist who escaped the massacre» (Testimony of Paolo Saela Cunhana, Catechist)

Twenty-three people were brutally hacked to death, including nine women and nine children. The guerrillas also killed Paulo's wife, as well as the wives of two other surviving catechists.

“We also wondered why they had attacked us. We were the people of God, we were the people of the Church. This was not a government institution. We were only catechists. It happened to Jesus too. He was crucified. It is the same story that happened to our brother catechists» (Testimony of a catechist)

«Surely this was the last attack, one of the most violent attacks that had national and international repercussions. I think perhaps the sacrifice of these people, especially their offering, if we see it from the perspective of faith, has helped to change hearts. In a certain sense, he succeeded in the work of reconciliation, so that the Mozambicans could reach a peace agreement which was signed a few months later, in October, in Rome» (Testimony of Dom. Diamentino Autuns, IMC, Director of the Centro of Catechesis of Guiúa, now Bishop of Tete).

Who are the catechist martyrs of the Catechetical Center of Guiúa?

There are 23 Mozambican men, women and children who were killed while they were at the Catechetical Center of Guiúa, in the diocese of Inhambane, to participate in a training course for families of catechists. It was on March 22, 1992 that they were assassinated, at a time when Mozambique was already experiencing the final stage of the civil war that began in 1977 and left around 1 million dead and five million displaced.

The diocese of Inhambane had decided to reopen the Guiúa Catechetical Center for the formation of catechist families. The catechists were taken from their homes. Some managed to escape into the bush amidst the ensuing confusion. But others don't. They were kidnapped and about four kilometers from the catechesis center, they were interrogated. Whoever killed them knew who they were. He knew they were from the Church, that they were catechists. They answered who they were, what they were doing there, that they weren't there for political reasons because they were catechists, and they came to learn more about the word of God. However, despite this, they were killed with bladed weapons, bayonets. They testified to their faith with their blood. Their bodies were transported and buried in the Catechesis Centre, where the Diocesan Shrine of Inhambane is currently located.

The deaths of these men and women occurred the same day they began a journey of committed faith. So they will be remembered forever.

The cemetery where they are buried is a pilgrimage destination for hundreds of Christians throughout the year. The Catholics of Mozambique have great veneration for these brothers of theirs and consider them "martyrs".

The canonization process of the Servant of God Luísa Mafo and companions, martyrs of Guiúa, began on March 25, 2017 and concluded, in its diocesan phase, on March 23, 2019. Documentary evidence was collected on the death of the Servants of God and dozens of witnesses were consulted about their life, work and martyrdom.

The documentation is now in the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints and the second phase of the canonization process, the so-called "Roman phase", has begun.

With the opening of the boxes with the acts of the diocesan inquiry into the life and fame of martyrdom of the Servants of God on 16 September 2021, the study of the legal validity of the process began.

The Decree of "legal validity" of the process was issued on 1 July 2022.

Source: https://www.centroguiua.com