José María de Yermo y Parres (1851–1904)

Biography

from Mexico. Fifty-two days after his birth he was orphaned by his mother. His aunt, Ma. del Carmen, together with his father, took charge of his education, which was Christian and austere, at the same time full of affection and concern. His first studies were done under the direction of private teachers and later in private schools in Mexico City, distinguishing himself for his notable achievement, being decorated by Emperor Maximilian. In 1867 he entered a religious Congregation, where after 10 years and after many internal struggles, he discovered that this was not his path. Some time later he continued his ecclesiastical studies in León, Gto. where he was ordained a priest in 1879. Father Yermo was appointed chaplain of two very poor rural neighborhoods and there he discovered his vocation to serve the poor and abandoned, and thus he founded a religious community called "Siervas del Sgdo. Corazón de Jesús y de los Pobres". Three years later, in 1888, Father Yermo established the novitiate in order to give a more solid formation to his collaborators. On the chosen day, Father Yermo shows his heroic character by working tirelessly saving people from a flood that devastated a third of the city of León, receiving the title of "Giant of Charity" from the governor of Guanajuato. In that same year, she founded the first project in the Republic dedicated to the regeneration of prostituted women in Puebla. In January 1904 he brought the first missionaries, who together with the Jesuits would work in the Sierra Tarahumara ever since. He died on September 20, 1904, 25 years into his priesthood. He was beatified by S.S. John Paul II, in May 1990 and canonized on May 21, 2000 by the same Pope.