Tema: Garcia Moreno – Model of a Catholic Statesman

The Last Day of Gabriel Garcia Moreno

Marian T. Horvat, Ph.D.
One of the highlights of my pilgrimage to Quito was to follow the footsteps of President Gabriel García Moreno, the ”truly Catholic president” Our Lady of Good Success predicted would come in the 19th century and consecrate the country to the Sacred Heart.

In a fledgling Republic dominated by liberal Freemasons who had evicted the Jesuits and were ruthlessly persecuting the Church, a statesman of different ilk entered Ecuador’s political scene in the 1860s. In the 15 years of his rule, Gabriel Garcia Moreno made that small portion of land - so dearly loved by Our Lord and Our Lady - the model of a Catholic State.


One of the last photos of Garcia Moreno (1821-1875)
As head of State, his first priority was to re-establish for the Church all the rights that the Revolution had denied her, thereby raising the implacable hatred of the Radicals and Socialists. They called him autocratic because he refused concessions to the revolutionary party. They labeled him harsh because he rebuffed any deals with evil. “Liberty for everyone and for everything, save for evil and evildoers,” was his motto.

One of his first acts was to issue a Concordat restoring liberty to the Church. In 1867 he established a constitutional government under the Kingship of Christ. In 1870, it was Ecuador – alone among all the nations of the world – that publicly protested the invasion of the Papal States and offered a national subsidy for the captive Pope. In 1873 he formally consecrated the Republic to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The enraged Socialists and Freemasons who lost their offices when Garcia Moreno assumed the presidency made calumny campaigns against him. But nothing succeeded in turning the people against one so honest and good. Instead, they called him “Father of the People.” Under him Catholic schools and universities prospered, the national debt was dissolved, highways and infrastructure were built, criminals were placed behind bars or hanged, and the streets were safe.

The more the people loved him, the greater the hatred of the Masons. According to biographers, there were six failed intrigues against his life after he became a major public figure in 1860.


The plaque on the Presidential Palace: Here assassinated President of the Republic Dr. Gabriel Garcia Moreno fell on August 6, 1875 When he won re-election to the Presidency in 1875, his death was decreed by the Masonic Lodges of Germany – led by anti-Catholic Grand Master Otto von Bismarck. Warned of this danger, he wrote in his last letter to Pope Pius IX, “May I be deemed worthy to shed my blood for the cause of the Church and Catholic society.”

In early August of 1875, with preparations underway for the inaugural address as re-elected President on August 10, rumors were rife in Quito that a new plot to assassinate the President was underway. On August 5, a priest begged admittance to his office to warn him that an attack was being planned for the next day. He begged the President to take measures.

Garcia Moreno replied, “The only measure to take after calm reflection is to prepare myself to appear before God,” and he continued his work, unperturbed.

On the afternoon of August 6, Garcia Moreno was attacked by an assassin with a machete and three accomplices armed with revolvers on the porch of the Presidential Palace. Still alive he was carried to the Cathedral and died there at the feet of the altar of Our Lady of Sorrow shortly afterwards.

A lecture by an expert


Dr. Salazar, under his great-uncle's picture
Our pilgrimage group had the good fortune to follow the last day in the life of Garcia Moreno with Dr. Francisco Salazar Alvarado as lecturer and guide. His great uncle was General Francisco Javier Salazar, Minister of War under President Garcia Moreno and his close and trusted friend. Growing up in a family where there was constant talk of Garcia Moreno, Dr. Salazar’s interest in him grew. Later, as a diplomat, professor and journalist, he delved much more deeply into the life of his hero.

He shared his findings and anecdotes with us, clearing up many discrepancies and errors in the various accounts I had read about Garcia Moreno’s death.

I invite my readers to follow in the footsteps of Garcia Moreno on that last day of his life, as I recount the lecture of Dr. Salazar to our group, which I taped and now transcribe. (1) Later that evening at his home, he permitted me to scan several photos from his private collection, some of which I will reproduce for the reader here.

His last morning

It was August 6, 1875, First Friday, the day dedicated to the Sacred Heart. The President, following his normal routine, walked from his house along one side of Santo Domingo Plaza [see picture] the short distance to Santo Domingo Church for the 6:00 a.m. Mass. In the Calvary side altar, there is a plaque that reads, “Here Dr. Gabriel Garcia Moreno received Holy Communion on First Friday, August 6, 1875, before being assassinated.”


At left, Santo Domingo plaza - his house is one of the three shown on the side of the Church; at right, a view of the Church interior He returned to his home to work for a while and then take a light breakfast with his wife Mariana at 9:30 a.m. He usually walked to the Presidential Palace after his meal, but that day he remained home to work on his inaugural speech he planned to deliver to Congress on August 10. The conspirators, who had planned their attack for that morning, were frustrated at this change in routine but remained resolved to attack that day.

At 1:00 p.m., he left for the Palace, accompanied only by his aide-de-camp Manuel Pallares. He stopped briefly to greet his in-laws, the Alcazar family, on Sucre Street near the Jesuit Church, la Compania. Because he had been ill and the weather was cool, he buttoned up his coat and continued on his way.

He made one more short stop, at the Cathedral, entering the chapel where the Blessed Sacrament was exposed. After this visit he left, directing himself to the Government Palace. The conspirators were ready.

At the steps of the Presidential Palace he greeted several persons, including Faustino Rayo, who would shortly strike the first brutal machete blow. Rayo, who held a grudge against Moreno for dismissing him from a lucrative office because of his dishonest practices, had taken up leatherwork. He pretended, however, to be on friendly terms with the President, who had recently contracted him to make a saddle for his young son (his only living child), Gabriel García del Alcázar.

He climbed the side stairs to the porch with its thick colonial pillars. At that time there were no railings between the columns, as we see today. In fact, the scrolled black grills came from the famous Tuilleries Palace in Paris, torn down by the revolutionaries and ordered by Garcia Moreno himself for Ecuador’s Palace. They would only arrive and be installed, however, after his death.


The Cathedral (at left) and Presidential Palace in the Grand Plaza; at right, the place where Garcia Moreno fell
He was approaching the Treasury Department’s entrance into the Palace. There, Rayo rushed forward and attacked him with a machete. The first blow struck his hat, which flew off his head and landed in the plaza below. Rayo delivered more blows, and his fellow conspirators took position and fired their guns. Their bullets only grazed him.


An actual photo taken of the President on the Plaza after his fall; below, a second, taken in the Cathedral

Afterward, the infamous cry of Rayo, “Die, tyrant!”

And the beautiful response of Garcia Moreno, staggering from the wounds, “Dios no muere!” “God does not die.” These were the last words of a line he had often repeated, “I am only a man who can be killed and replaced, but God does not die.”

Another shout came from Rayo and fellow assassin Roberto Andrade, “Die, Jesuit!” It was a way to say “Die, lover of Jesuits,” an Order that had been expelled by the anticlerical regime that preceded Moreno’s first presidency. One of his early acts in 1860 had been to invite the Jesuits back and to return their buildings.

Garcia Moreno tried to take out his revolver to defend himself, but his wounded hand made him fumble as he tried to unbutton his jacket. Rayo struck with the machete again, this time nearly severing the left arm. More shots sounded from the pistols of the other conspirators, Roberto Andrade, Manuel Cornejo and Abelardo Moncalyo. Again, their shots only grazed the body.

After Rayo’s last vicious blow, the President staggered and fell from the porch to the ground some ten to twelve feet below, landing in front of a tavern. Today on the wall over that spot is a simple stone marker. It all happened in just a few minutes, according to witnesses.

The fatal blows

His arm broke in the fall, but Garcia Moreno was still alive. The autopsy report, made shortly after his death, (2) said that up until this time he had received no fatal wounds. One cannot help but wonder: Where was the aide-de-camp Manual Pallares?

Instead of stepping forward to protect him, he had turned to run for help, leaving the President defenseless. Was he part of the plot? That was never proved, but there was little doubt in the minds of many – including the aunts of Dr. Salazar who often remarked on the incident – that he was a coward.


The hat he was wearing The sound of the shots had attracted the attention of the people in the square and in the military quarters across the Plaza, where General Salazar was working that day. Women from the tavern and nearby shops had rushed to the fallen President; others were milling around the scene.

Rayo and his accomplices raced down the steps to finish their shameful assignment. Pushing the women aside, Rayo struck repeated blows with his machete, including the two fatal wounds to the head, one that severed a part of his skull. More shots were fired; again the bullets only grazed the body of the President.

Shouting revolutionary slogans like “Down with tyranny,” “Now we are free,” the assassins fled. Rayo tried to make his escape also, but he was behind the others. Hearing the gunshots, General Salazar had ordered troops out into the square. Now, three soldiers grabbed the fleeing Rayo and started to march him to the military headquarters.



Above right, the Cathedral's main altar; at left on a side wall, the 20-foot cross the President carried in the Holy Week procession

Below left, Our Lady of Sorrows altar (behind the main altar) where he was laid; below right, the place - marked with a wood frame - where he died
The news was flying right and left: “The President has been shot and killed.” “The scoundrel Rayo is the murderer.” In the confusion, an order was heard, “Kill the assassin!”

A sergeant fired a shot and killed Rayo there in the middle of the square. In his pockets were large amounts of Peruvian currency, the Judas payment of the Masons which would allow him to flee Ecuador and live in Peru. The crowds took his body, dragging it through the streets, and left it unburied for the vultures to feed upon.

General Salazar arrived at the scene of the dying President and ordered Garcia Moreno to be taken to the Cathedral. His massacred body was placed at the feet of the shrine of Our Lady of Sorrow, to whom he had a great devotion. The priest who administered the Last Rites asked the dying President if he forgave his enemies. With effort Garcia Moreno opened his eyes, his expression affirming his assent. Shortly afterward, he expired.

On the breast of the President was a relic of the true cross, a scapular of the Passion and the Sacred Heart, and his rosary, along with a medal of Pope Pius IX. In his pocket was his copy of The Imitation of Christ, with his rule of life written on the last page [read here]. Penciled in on that page were these few words, “My Savior Jesus Christ, give me a greater love of Thee and profound humility, and teach me what I should do this day for Thy greater glory and service.”

A foiled revolution

The revolutionaries had hoped that the assassination of Garcia Moreno would spark a revolution among the people, who would rally around the Masonic ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity and reject the Catholic Church. Instead, the opposite happened. The people of the nation mourned their lost President, naming him the Father and Regenerator of Ecuador and regarding him as a martyr for the Catholic Faith.

His wounds were stitched – amazingly, no vital organ was severed in the brutal attack – and his body was dressed in full ceremonial uniform and set up in a chair in the corner of the second floor of the Cathedral courtyard. A five-man honor guard took up position behind him, and the people traveled for miles to process past his corpse and pay him homage.


A rare photo of Garcia Moreno's corpse with the honor guard in the Cathedral courtyard; at right,the corner with a marker as it appears today
At the funeral on Sunday, Garcia Moreno’s body was also set up in a chair, facing the audience, as a high tribute to the fallen President. He was buried in the Cathedral, but his body did not find a final peace there.

Eight years later, with the country in revolutionary chaos, the friends and family of Garcia Moreno feared his remains could be removed and desecrated by the Liberals. In the middle of the night, they removed his corpse and placed it in a hidden place, unknown to the world until Dr. Salazar entered the history of Garcia Moreno in 1973 and began his quest to discover it.

His great adventure will be related in the next article.

1. For some details, I referred to Dr. Salazar’s book, Encuentro con la historia: Garcia Moreno, líder católico de Latinoamérica [Encounter With History: Garcia Moreno, Catholic Leader of Latin America], available in Spanish in English from Our Lady of Good Success Apostolate. I also referred to the scholarly work Gabriel García Moreno and Conservative State Formation in the Andes by Peter V. N. Henderson (University of Texas Press, 2008).

2. An official report of the autopsy made at 5 p.m. that afternoon can be found in Encounter with History, Documents section, pp. 178-182, or, in the Spanish copy Encuentro con la historia, pp. 227-234.

The Last Day of Gabriel Garcia Moreno by Marian T. Horvat

Discovery of Garcia Moreno's &
Archbishop Checa's Remains

Marian T. Horvat, Ph.D.
Eight years after Gabriel Garcia Moreno was murdered on that tragic August 6, 1875, renovation work began in the chapel where his coffin rested in Quito’s Cathedral. Family members feared that his enemies, still seething with resentments against the Catholic President, would take advantage of the situation to desecrate his body.

On the evening of March 27, 1883, the deteriorating wood coffin containing his body and a smaller box with his embalmed heart in a crystal vial were rolled in a carpet and smuggled out of the Cathedral by friends and transferred to the house of his mother-in-law. The skeleton was placed in a new coffin, marked with the letters GGM formed with yellow nails, and transferred to a secret place. Only a few trusted friends and priests knew the location. These precautions convey the extremely hostile political climate of that time and the Liberals’ intense hatred for Garcia Moreno.


Garcia Moreno, at right Archbishop Ignatius Checa y Barba Years passed, and the persons privy to the secret died. Only rumors lingered: Some said the coffin was hidden at Carmel Bajo (a Carmelite convent); others, at the Dominican Convent of St. Catherine of Siena or St. John’s Cloister; yet others, at the Church of the Good Shepherd.

This remained the state of affairs until 1973, when the Ecuadorian Conservative Party started preparations to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the death of Garcia Moreno. It would be shameful to be without his mortal remains on this occasion, thought Dr. Francisco Salazar, a member of the special planning committee. He made the decision then to do everything in his power to find the corpse, hidden for 90 years.

A surprise discovery of the hearts

This was an Old World search, without computers or high-tech technology. The secret of the President’s hidden body was given to trustworthy persons who passed it on from one generation to another. Dr. Salazar needed to find those key persons. With an essential letter from the Cardinal authorizing his search, he entered the different convents to speak to the Superiors and make his inquiries.


Good Shepherd Church in Quito
Two years passed, and in March of 1975, a commission was formed to offer more support to Dr. Salazar’s work. His interviews had narrowed the search to two Convents: the Good Shepherd Sisters (an Order rought to Ecuador from France by President Garcia Moreno and dedicated to rehabilitating fallen women) and the Dominican Church and Convent of Santa Catalina.

At Good Shepherd Convent, Dr. Salazar spoke to a very old sister who claimed it was not the body of Garcia Moreno that had been hidden in her Convent, but rather, the embalmed hearts of the President and the murdered Archbishop Ignatius Checa y Barba (poisoned for refusing to cooperate with the Masonic government). But she refused to say anything more. She told him she could only give this information to the Mother Superior.

So Mother Maria de Santa Eufrasia questioned the Sister and learned one of the Convent’s best hidden secrets: The boxes containing the hearts of the President and Archbishop were in two of the columns in the Church. Which ones? She did not know, but that precious data allowed a focused search to begin.

On April 8, a day he still recalls with joy, Dr. Salazar, accompanied by the Mother Superior and sisters as witnesses, entered the Convent Church with a workman. His method was simple. Knocking on the columns with his hands, he found one in the lower choir with a hollow telltale ring about five feet up the column, signaling an interior opening. The workman opened it to reveal a cavity two feet deep and 15 inches high.

Inside was a light colored wood box, and on it were these handwritten words: February 21, 1913, the Heart of Archbishop of Quito His Excellency Ignatius Checa. In the box was a flask with the embalmed heart of the poisoned Archbishop and an official document signed by Archbishop Federico González Suárez describing the contents. The heart, drained of blood, has a whitish color and is marked by a black spot, a sign of the poison that killed the Archbishop.


At left, Good Shepherd Church with its thick square columns;
at right, Dr. Salazar removing the first box from the column
In the pillar across from it, they found a similar niche at the same height and another wood box, this one of dark cedar. On its lid were these words: February 21, 1913, the Heart of the Illustrious Prelate Dom G. Garcia Moreno. Inside, another flask with the embalmed heart of the President and another signed letter of the Archbishop (Encuentros, Documentos, pp. 259-260).

Addressed to the Superior of Good Shepherd Convent, that letter ordered that the hearts be conserved in a hidden place inside the Church. To understand this directive, issued almost 50 years after the assassination of the President, one must know something about that turbulent period in Ecuador’s history.

Unsettled times

In the 3rd apparition of Our Lady to Mother Mariana on January 16, 1599, she told the Conceptionist religious that the years following the Consecration of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart would be ill-fated ones. She accurately prophesized that “the accursed sect of Masonry will take command of the civil government” and that there would be a “cruel persecution of all religious communities.” (The Admirable Life, Vol. 1, pp 141-142)


Francisco Salazar and Cardinal Pablo Munoz Vega with the crystal vials
In fact from 1895 to 1925 - the Liberal Era - the Freemasons established a laicized State with laws of civil matrimony, divorce and equal rights for all religions. At the same time the Church was persecuted: The Jesuits were expelled from the country, education was secularized, and laws were passed despoiling the properties and goods of religious communities. That persecution was particularly intense under President Eloy Alfaro, the standard-bearer of the Radical Liberal Party.

With the overthrow and murder of Alfaro in 1911, Ecuador found itself in the throes of a bitter civil war. In that turbulent climate, Quito’s Archbishop judged it prudent to secure the hearts of the two conservative heroes in a secret place. Thus they were hidden in the Church of the Good Shepherd Convent in 1913.

After the death of Archbishop Checa in 1877, his successors adopted the policy of keeping the Church out of all politics for the rest of that lamentable Liberal Era. Instead of encouraging the militant Catholic conservatives to rally against the Masonic government, they kept silent. The persecution of the Church continued and her action was severely restricted, but this was considered by the ecclesiastic authorities to be a “lesser evil” than facing the bloodshed and martyrdom sure to come with active resistance.

This sad stance of Church authorities continues to this day, who make little to no resistance against the present-day Communist government.

In the Oblates’ private chapel

For some months, the crystal vials with the hearts of Garcia Moreno and Archbishop Checa had a place of distinction on the desk of Dr. Salazar in his home library. He recalls those days with fondness as an unexpected benefit of his search and an honor for his family.


The plaque reads: Picture before which the National Consecration of Equador was made
Finally, Church authorities decided they should be entrusted to the Oblate Fathers of the Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary. The vials were placed in the Congregation’s private chapel in their residence next to the Basilica of the National Vow. Pilgrims to Quito should make a special point of ringing their doorbell to ask to venerate the two hearts. In addition, another treasure awaits them.

In that chapel over the altar is the original picture commissioned by President Garcia Moreno to commemorate the Consecration of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The decree of the Consecration was passed by both Houses of Congress and signed by Garcia Moreno on October 18, 1873 at the Government Palace, where the picture was given a place of honor in the Congressional Hall.

The picture was removed when the Liberal government was installed following Garcia Moreno’s death. Its animus against the Consecration was so great that at the turn of the century it went so far as to officially “de-consecrate” the country to the Sacred Heart.

The picture has its own history of loss and discovery, too long to relate here. Suffice it to say that today that impressive picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus stands custody in the Oblates chapel over the human hearts of the two murdered heroes. The crystal vial containing Garcia Moreno’s heart is in a small niche on the right side of the altar, with Archbishop Checa’s directly opposite to the left side of the altar.

Three days after that surprising discovery, Dr. Salazar would have what he calls “the greatest day of my life”: The bodily remains of Don Gabriel Garcia Moreno were finally found. That is the topic of my next article.


The Oblates' chapel, where one can venerate the hearts of Archbishop Checa and Garcia Moreno
Photo credit, Mathieu Guillory, Excelsior Tours

1. These facts were in a letter found with the remains of Garcia Moreno written by Rafael Varéla, a friend of the family. Encounters with History, Documents, pp. 189-190; Encuentro con la Historia, Documentos, pp. 259-260

Discovery of the Hearts of Garcia Moreno and Archbishop Checa y Barba by Marian T. Horvat

The Search for Garcia Moreno’s Corpse Ends

Marian T. Horvat, Ph.D.
Our pilgrimage group moved from the Cathedral where Garcia Moreno’s macerated body was placed before Our Lady of Sorrows to the Dominican Convent of St. Catherine of Sienna. Dr. Francisco Salazar continued his story from the upper choir of its church, where we could see the place in the right hand corner where the body was finally discovered.


Above, St. Catherine's Church; below, the body was found at the altar's right
After the discovery of Garcia Moreno’s heart on April 11, 1975, Salazar was accompanied by the Bishop to the Dominican Convent, where his research led him to believe the remains of the President were hidden. The Bishop ordered the Mother Superior to cooperate fully in the search.

Decisive evidence appears

The next day, Dr. Salazar spoke with one of the older nuns, Sister Ana Maria Arroyo, who had some interesting information. She had four documents that affirmed that Garcia Moreno’s body had indeed been buried in the convent. One can to see how well kept secrets were in the silence of the cloisters.

She had in her possession three notes signed by a Sister who had safeguarded them for year, after they had been entrusted to her by another Mother whose family had been closely connected to Garcia Moreno. The first one, signed March 19, 1923, said, “I am going to die and I want to confide a secret to you that only a few Mothers know. The venerable remains of the Illustrious Martyr Gabriel García Moreno are in our Church, placed there by his son Gabriel in the company of the Very Reverend Fathers Vacas Galindo and Juan Maria Riera in 1895, when Alfaro took power in our Country. They are located where today we keep the Church ladders. This is recorded for when they will undertake his beatification. She told me others things that I am not saying here, since this seems sufficient.” (Encuentros, p. 23)

A second note, signed by the same Sister and dated February 28, 1941, added a detail: The body had first been buried under the main altar, but then removed because it was feared it might be discovered there.

The third, dated 1959 and addressed to the Cardinal from the Mother Superior at that time, was to notify him a priest had asked permission to search for the body of Garcia Moreno in the Church. The Cardinal’s reply, the fourth note, also dated 1959, explained there was no need to search for the location of the body of Garcia Moreno since he knew exactly where it was and could arrange for its exhumation when he deemed the time right.

But that Cardinal never judged the time right. He died nine years later without exhuming the body or telling anyone the secret. The only recourse for Dr. Salazar was to follow the lead of the main altar and the hint about the ladders. On April 14, 1975, he ordered workmen to raise the floorboards under the main altar. The space was there, but it was empty, as the note had affirmed.

Excavations, but no body

More floorboards were lifted to the right of the altar, then to the left, then on to the side altars. Dr. Salazar complimented the patience of the Mother Superior, who had to bear the checkerboard work he directed of lifting squares of floorboard throughout the Church.

The key question remained unanswered: Where were the ladders stored more than 20 years ago? No one knew. So Dr. Salazar returned to his best source of information, questioning the oldest sisters. One of them took him to the upper choir, where our group was standing that day, and pointed to a place near the door to the right of the sacristy. She recalled being told when she was still young that the Garcia Moreno’s remains were there. It seemed illogical – to store ladders in front of a door, or to bury a body in its doorway.


The hole near the side door Then he learned the door was only recently constructed, an addition made by the present Mother Superior as an entry for the priest so he would not have to use the main door. The walls around the door were searched. Nothing was found. The floorboards were lifted. Again, nothing.

At the end of the day, Dr. Salazar ordered the workmen to dig into the ground close to the door. Under the floorboards, the workmen found the supporting beam and, around it, earth. They poked the ground with bars. Suddenly, one of them plunged into an empty space. A hole! After removing the soil, they could see a large box in a space about 4 feet deep. The hole was dark, surrounded by earth.

“I’m going in,” Salazar announced.

“Aren’t you afraid of ghosts?” asked one apprehensive sister.

“Not a bit,” he replied, trembling with excitement, not fear, at the thought he was at the end of his quest. Candle in hand, he entered the hole and raised the lid of the box. He saw something bright reflecting the candlelight. It was a crystal vial. In it he could make out a photograph of Garcia Moreno. This is it, he thought. We have the remains of Garcia Moreno. He put his hand in the place he thought the head should be, but only felt some velvet cloth.

He brought the vial up, determined it should be opened and read before further exploration was made. Authorities were called as witnesses, and with two blows, the vial was broken. Inside was the photograph of Garcia Moreno with these words on the back: Portrait of President Garcia Moreno, assassinated August 6, 1875. The picture had been cut to fit in the vial and some of the words had been cut off. It also held two testimonial documents, one signed by a close friend of the President, Rafael Varela and the other by his brother-in-law Ignatius del Alcazar. (1)



At left, the crystal vial, at right front and back of the photo inside
For Dr. Salazar, the most significant line was in the document of Varela, which began, “For relatives or friends in memory of Dr. Gabriel Garcia Moreno.” “This is written for me,” Salazar thought. “I am not a relative or religious, but I am a friend.” He continued, “Still today, every time I retell this story, I am filled with emotion as I recall reading that line and the events of that day.”


The contents of the coffin Cardinal Munoz Vega was notified and arrived shortly to inspect the contents of the box. On its lid, they found the yellow nails spelling GGM. The body had decomposed and only the skeleton remained, as seen in the picture at right. Atop the skull was a velvet cap, which is what Dr. Salazar had felt when he placed his hand in the coffin earlier.

Official confirmation

During the medical examination of the body, it was noted that a small part of the skull was missing. A piece of the skull severed from the head of Garcia Moreno during the brutal assassination was housed at the Espinosa Polit Museum. So that remnant was brought to the Convent. It fit perfectly into the missing place in the skull. “For me and everyone present,” Dr. Salazar told us, "this was the final proof."“

Dr. Salazar placed the box and remains of Garcia Moreno into another coffin that he purchased. The Dominican Church was closed to the public, and on June 27, 1975, the Bishops of Quito met there to verify and officially proclaim that the skeleton was that of Garcia Moreno.



At left, Dr. Salazar lifts the skull to examine, at right, the Prelates examine the remains
On August 6, 1975, the 100th anniversary of the death of Gabriel Garcia Moreno, his remains were transferred with solemnity from St. Catherine Church to the Cathedral. There his corpse was placed in a crypt in a side niche to the left of the main altar, where the people of Ecuador - and pilgrims like us - can pay homage to him.

Later Dr. Salazar showed to my friend Judy Mead and me some of his prized relics that he kept in memory of his discovery: some of the lining of the cap found on the skull, the Paris tag and golden cuff from the jacket he was wearing, and his greatest treasure, the first cervical vertebrae from the body of Garcia Moreno.



At left, Dr. Salazar displays his treasures to Judy (in pink) and me; at right, the vertebrae of Garcia Moreno
We had the privilege to venerate that good-sized relic of the great Catholic President who had so valiantly and successfully defeated the Liberal policies promoted by Freemasonry in that turbulent period of South American history.

Our Lady of Good Success & Garcia Moreno

His interest in Garcia Moreno brought Dr. Salazar to the knowledge of Our Lady of Good Success. He was fascinated to learn that the Our Lady had foretold in the 1600s – with perfect accuracy – that a President would come in the 19th century who would combat Freemasonry, consecrate the Country to the Sacred Heart, and die a martyr’s death.



The crypt with Garcia Moreno's remains in Quito's Cathedral
By speaking of this man who boldly countered the Liberal politics of his day, I believe Our Lady was clearly showing her disapproval of the new notion of separation of Church and State, always condemned by the Church and Popes.

It is sad to see that today the post-Vatican II Popes and Hierarchy have aligned themselves with the principles of the Enlightenment, which are fundamentally the same ones that Garcia Moreno combated.

Our Lady of Good Success predicted not only the crisis in the Faith that we are experiencing today, but she also announced the restoration of the Church and Christendom. We who share the ideals of the “truly Catholic President” Gabriel Garcia Moreno are also privileged to participate in this fight to establish the Kingship of Christ on earth.

1. The texts of the two letters found in the vial can be read in Encuentro con la Historia, pp 245-255, or Encounter with History, pp. 185-191.

The Search for Garcia Moreno’s Corpse Ends by Marian T. Horvat

August 6 – Garcia Moreno: Heroic President of Ecuador

August 4, 2011

by José Maria dos Santos
Gabriel Garcia Moreno, heroic President of Ecuador, assassinated for his Faith and Christian Charity.


Manly Catholic of intransigent principles, slain by the enemies of the Faith because of his consistency and courage in defense of the Church and Papacy
Gabriel Garcia Moreno was born in Guayaquil, in southern Ecuador on December 24, 1821. His father, Gabriel Garcia Gómez was Spanish, while his mother, Doña Mercedes Moreno, was a member of the local aristocracy. Tragedy visited the family when the father died suddenly in his youth, shortly after losing his fortune. His young widow employed a priest to teach her son his first letters. Later, Gabriel continued his studies at the Colegio de San Fernando in Quito.
Moved by religious fervor, Garcia Moreno received minor orders in 1838, but became convinced that he did not have a priestly vocation and ended up studying law. After his schooling, Gabriel devoted his life to politics.
He became Commissioner of War in the northern jurisdiction, but in 1846 was involved with some periodicals that were highly critical of Ecuador’s government. Nevertheless, he collaborated with the regime during the threat of invasion by General Flores in 1847. He was an active member of the Municipal Council of Quito and later became Governor of Guayas.
Due to political turmoil, he was exiled in 1848 and traveled to Europe the following year.
When he returned, he dedicated himself to politics once again. In 1853, he successfully lobbied for Ecuador to receive the Jesuits expelled from Colombia.
He soon won a senatorial election, but was exiled a second time before taking his seat. During his deportation, he diligently applied himself to study in France. He worked so hard that his health began to suffer. During this time, he wrote: “I recognize that I have abused my strength and nearly did myself more damage. Neither my head nor my strength are proportional to the energy of my will.”1
Returning, he got involved in the cultural life of the country, where he fulfilled many important functions. In 1857, he was elected mayor of Quito and rector of the local university. Shortly, as a senator, he gained notoriety for his fiery speeches. On April 2, 1861, he became President of Ecuador.

A Providential Mission: Free the Country from Chaos
Originally, Ecuador and Venezuela were part of a larger nation called Great Colombia, which was created by Bolívar in the early 1800s, after the war of independence.
When Great Colombia collapsed in 1830, Ecuador became a nation. Revolutions followed that threw the nation into chaos. Bad government and sectional resentments ravaged the country to such an extent, that the Catholic Church was the only unifying factor in Ecuador.
Garcia Moreno took advantage of this situation to mold the government after the Faith, which was deeply rooted throughout the nation.
His work was difficult because Catholics had been practically orphaned by a lax clergy that often failed in its duties. Seminaries were decadent, religious instruction was wanting and whole sections of the population were left without guidance. Ecuador needed a strong leader. Garcia Moreno was so well suited for this task that even his detractors admit that he was the man Ecuador needed at that critical time.
Historian Calderón García described Garcia Moreno’s character and work as: “Indefatigable, stoic, just, energetic in his decisions, admirably logical in his life, Garcia Moreno is one of the greatest personalities in the history of the Americas.…In fifteen years he completely transformed his little country according to a vast political system that only death prevented him from completing. He was a mystic of the Spanish type, not satisfied with sterile contemplation, he needed action. He was an organizer and a creator.”2
Throughout his entire administration, Church doctrine guided his actions. “His philosophy was inspired in the classical doctrine of Thomism.”3
The cross carried by President Garcia Moreno during Ecuador's Holy Week procession.



Resolution of the President: Concordat with the Holy See
When Garcia Moreno assumed the presidency, the Church in Ecuador was beset with insubordination, immorality and laxity, due largely to an abuse of authority that limited the power of the Holy See regarding religious affairs. The president immediately drafted a concordat to correct this abuse.
The document’s first article gives the tonic note of the whole. It stipulates that the Catholic Church would continue to be the State religion and preserve the rights and prerogatives afforded Her by the Law of God and cannon law. All dissident worship was prohibited.
It states: “the instruction of the youth in the universities, high schools, colleges, public and private schools will all be in accordance with the Catholic Religion,”4 because “The Catholic Religion was one of the few bonds of Ecuadorian nationality…Catholicism is a force of political cohesion.”5 Thus, “the fundamental articles [of the concordat] were not attacked, nor were amendments proposed to them.”6

Consecration of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
However, Garcia Moreno’s adhesion to the Faith was not limited to internal affairs. When the Papal States were invaded in 1870, Garcia Moreno was the only ruler in the world to protest. He wrote to the Minister of Foreign Relations of Italy, decrying the Italian government’s robbery of pontifical land.
The grateful Pope sent him a Decoration of the First Class in the Order of Pius IX with a brief commendation, dated March 27, 1871.7
“As a manifestation of solidarity with the Holy See, [Garcia Moreno] decreed in 1873, that the Supreme Pontiff be sent ten percent of the state’s tithes.”8
However, the most symbolic act of Garcia Moreno’s government was the ecclesiastical and civil consecration of the Republic to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. During its ceremonial consummation, the president affirmed: “I recognize the faith of the Ecuadorian people, and that Faith imposes on me the sacred obligation of conserving its deposit intact.”9
Years before, a decree of the Constitutional Convention had declared the Virgin of Mercies Patroness of Ecuador.
Garcia Moreno's tomb in the crypt of the Cathedral of Quito



Assassinated for His Devotion to the Catholic Faith
This government, led by the religious fervor of its president, worried the Masonic sects, which immediately began planning his assassination.
Perhaps Garcia Moreno foresaw his demise. During this time, he wrote to Pius IX: “What a treasure it is for me Holy Father, to be hated and calumniated for my love for Our Divine Redeemer. What happiness, if your blessing were to obtain for me from Heaven the grace of shedding my blood for Him, Who, being God, willed to shed His Blood for us on the Cross!”10
On August 6, 1875, Garcia Moreno entered the Cathedral to make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. Conspirators interrupted his prayer to tell him he was urgently needed next door at the presidential palace.
Garcia Moreno immediately left the Church. While climbing the steps in front of the palace, a ruffian named Royo struck him in the back of the head with a machete, crying out: “death to the tyrant!” He then almost hacked off the president’s arms as he tried to fend off his assassin’s blows. Meanwhile, three accomplices shot him in the chest.
Mortally wounded, Garcia Moreno was then thrown down onto the plaza, where Royo struck him several more times on the head. While agonizing, he managed to wet his finger in his own blood and write on the ground: “Dios no muere” (God does not die).
He was carried quickly to the Cathedral, where he received Extreme Unction and died.
Learning the sad news, Pius IX declared that Ecuador:
distinguished itself miraculously by the spirit of justice and the unshakable faith of its president, who showed himself always a submissive son of the Church, full of devotion to the Holy See and of zeal to maintain Religion and piety in his whole nation…
So it was, that in the councils of darkness organized by the sects, those villains decreed the assassination of the illustrious President. He fell under the steel of an assassin as a victim of his Faith and of his Christian Charity.11
Footnotes

1. Cartas Inéditas. Garcia Moreno to Roberto Ascásubi. Piura, April 20, 1855: in Ricardo Pattée, trans. Cecília F. Vargas, Garcia Moreno e o Equador de seu tempo (Editoria Vozes: Petrópolis, 1956) p. 126.
2. Calderón García, Latin America: Its Rise and Progress (London: Unwin) p. 220, in Ricardo Pattée, p. 15.
3. Ricardo Pattée, p. 329.
4. 3rd article, in Ricardo Pattée, p. 151.
5. Belisário Quevedo, Sociologia Política y moral (Quito: Editorial Bolívar) 1932, p. 54, in Ricardo Pattée, p. 152.
6. J. Tobar Donoso, La Iglesia Ecuatoriana en el siglo XIX, Vol. I, in Ricardo Pattée, p. 159.
7. “El National,” n° 300, October 10, 1873, in Ricardo Pattée, p. 294.
8. José Felix Heredia, La Consagración de la República del Ecuador al Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, Quito, Editorial Ecuatoriana, 1935, p, 198; in Ricardo Pattée, p. 295.
9. E. MacPherson.
10. E. MacPherson.
11. The words of Pius IX, in a public audience in Rome, on September 20, 1875, in Gary Potter, Garcia Moreno, Statesman and Martyr, http://www.fisheaters.com/moreno.html.


Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites

Estimado Hyeronimus:
Nuevamente te agradezco tus valiosos aportes del mártir Gabriel Garcia Moreno.
Me impresiono mucho las fotografías donde se lo ve muerto, pues tengo un trozo con sangre de su camisa, que es la que se ve en dichas fotos.
En el mismo cuadro "relicario" hay ademas de dicho trozo, un retrato, una "tarjeta de visita" con su nombre , y en el reverso una carta de su puño y letra escrita en 1860.

I'm glad for you. How did you get that relic? (Remember this is the English language forum).

La reliquia proviene de un regalo de un entrañable amigo, que a su vez la recibió en su momento de una persona que tuvo contacto ccon descendientes de don Gabriel García Moreno.
En mi ignorancia de la tecnología informática no sé de qué se trata "el foro de idioma inglés", pero supongo que estoy "metiendo la pata" al escribir en español, de modo que pido disculpas, y no apareceré mas en el mismo a fin de no entorpecer este hilo.
Cordiales saludos.

Sube a la cabecera del hilo y encontrarás este recuadro:

1. ATENCIÓNEste foro está pensando para que los interesados en el hispanismo que no hablan ninguna lengua hispánica puedan escribir o responder a los debates en inglés.Todos los debates y respuestas deben estar en inglés, de lo contrario el foro no tendría utilidad. Si quieres responder en alguna lengua hispánica, haz un tema nuevo en su foro correspondiente.
   Agradecemos la colaboración para mantener el foro ordenado.

Por medio de los foros inglés, francés e italiano damos más proyección internacional a Hispanismo y contribuimos a que gentes de otras lenguas y culturas conozcan mejor nuestra historia, religión, costumbres, filosofía, geografía, etc.

Un abrazo en Cristo