“Die for love of God and without using weapons.”

Juan and Jacinto were both born in the same year of 1660, in the town of San Francisco Cajones in Oaxaca, Mexico. They grew up together in their Zapotec tribal community with Jacinto descending from a long line of tribal chiefs.

They were raised Catholic and served as altar servers. They married, and Juan had a daughter and Jacinto had two boys. Both families participated in their faith.

During the centuries that Spanish missionaries were spreading Catholicism in the Americas, missionary priests would appoint locals in various degrees and duties. Juan and Jacinto were both given the role and title as “Attorney General” after progressing through the ranks of altar server, judge, councilor, municipal president, and constitutional mayor as established by the 3rd Provincial Mexican Council. Their main duty consisted of watching over and ensuring the purity of faith, and the moral practice of their town, while assisting the priest. They were revered within their community.

The area of Oaxaca had been newly converted and sensitive as idolatry had been common practice prior.

On September 14, 1700, Juan and Jacinto learned that there was to be a rite of idolatry performed that night in the home of Jose Flores. They notified 2 priests, and it was decided they would intervene. They went in secret to the home and surprised them. Juan, Jacinto, and the priests began to reprove them, and the offenders ran out, covering their faces. Confusion followed, and the sacrilegious instruments were confiscated.

In the morning, the local authorities were notified. By noon, Juan and Jacinto learned of retaliation, so they took refuge in the convent. That night, outside the convent walls, armed rebels demanded Juan and Jacinto to be handed over otherwise they would kill all those present.

The priests would not hand them over, so additional threats of fire and destruction were made. They broke down the doors, reclaimed their idolatry instruments, and set fire to Juan’s home.

Juan and Jacinto asked the priests for Confession and Holy Communion before stepping out through the gates without weapons. They were brutally beaten and tortured as the Idolaters tried to persuade them to leave their faith. In response they stated, “If your religion is authentic, why don’t you build temples for public worship instead of practicing at night to trick the poor Christians?”

They were thrown in the local prison, tortured further, and the next morning taken to the nearby village of San Pedro. That afternoon of September 16th, they were thrown down Tanga Hill, now called Monte Fiscal-Santos, where they were beaten with clubs and cut up with knives. Their chests were cut open, their hearts removed, and fed to the dogs becoming martyrs for their faith.

For God’s Glory.