A symposium was held in late May for the 50th anniversary of Friar Casimir Cypher’s death. The event took place in the auditorium of the Campus Santa Clara in Juticalpa in Honduras.
On June 25, 1975, Friar Casimir Cypher OFM Conv. drove his borrowed pickup into the city of Juticalpa for repairs. He was unaware that the National Union of Campesinos had organized a demonstration that day for better implementation of land reform legislation. Hearing gunshots, Fr. Casimir ran toward the commotion.
Knowing that he was a priest, soldiers arrested him. He was stripped in the town square, ridiculed, and beaten. Along with another priest, Fr. Ivan Betancort, two of Fr. Ivan’s companions, and ten campesino leaders, Friar Casimir was brutally tortured and executed. His body and those of the others killed with him were then thrown into a deep well and dynamited in an attempt to cover up the massacre.
The two-day symposium included presentations on the historical and ecclesial context relevant to Friar Casimir’s life and mission, and the missionary-pastoral challenges facing the Church in Honduras.
For the past four years, Friar Juan Alonzo Pagoada Acosta, Vice-Postulator of the cause of friar Casimir’s canonization, has listened to witnesses who knew Friar Casimir. He wrote the following:
The event concluded with a focus on identifying sources of light and signs of hope, which, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Friar Casimir’s murder, will inspire and strengthen the ongoing efforts to recognize him as someone whose Gospel witness continues to bear fruit for the people of Olancho.
Let us remain united in prayer so that the preliminary phase of the Cause may continue to bear the fruits of inspiration and apostolic commitment in the Conventual Franciscan mission.
-friar Juan Alonzo Pagoada Acosta OFM Conv., Vice-Postulator of the cause
