Father Antonio César Fernández, a Salesian missionary murdered by Jihadists in 2019, has posthumously received the Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit.

Spain (29/10/2021 7:45 AM, Gaudium Press) The Salesian missionary Father Antonio César Fernández was murdered by Jihadists in February 2019 in Burkina Faso.

After a general meeting, the council of ministers awarded the priest with the Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit posthumously. The decoration, created by King Alfonso XIII in 1926, is granted by Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to reward the civic virtues of state officials and the outstanding services and activities of Spanish citizens on behalf of the country.

The Spanish Salesian congregation expressed its gratitude for the gesture toward the missionary who gave his life serving the Church in foreign lands.

Father César Fernández was born in Pozoblanco (Córdoba) on July 7, 1946, and was on a mission for several years in Africa. 

In 1982, he established the work of the Salesians in Togo, his first destination as a missionary.

On February 15, 2019, his vehicle was stopped by jihadists while returning from the Provincial Chapter of the Salesians along with two other African missionaries from southern Burkina Faso.

They took the priest to a grove where he was shot dead. He was 72 years old, having spent 55 years as a Salesian and 46 years in the priesthood. (FM)

With information from ACIPrensa.

Compiled by Gustavo Kralj