Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The Heroism of my Ancestors: Fr. Nicanor Acebedo

I was doing some historical readings on Philippine Church history lately just to pass away the hours when I stumbled across this excerpt from a letter of Bishop Thomas Hendrick of Cebu, who narrated the atrocities which had been committed on priests in his diocese during the war years at the turn of the 20th century, during the American occupation. The atrocities were committed by American soldiers under orders from General Jacob Smith, who verbally ordered them to "turn Samar into a howling wilderness".  At this time the whole of Eastern Visayas was still under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Diocese of Cebu.  

"One of them, Father Nicanor Acebedo, parish priest of Basey, Samar, was watercured by Captain, now Major Erwin F. Glenn of the 5th U.S. Infantry now stationed in Nebraska...his assistant priest was also watercured, at the same time; both were injured for life, the assistant's reason being impaired...I forgot to say that Fr. Nicanor was tortured because he rowed from Basey to Leyte to get rice for his people, which was against military orders..."

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