Fr. Bob Kus 
Today, we look at the life of a missionary of our time who was killed for the faith. His name was Michael Cypher, later known in Religious life as Fr. Casimir.
Michael Cypher was born on January 12, 1941 in Medford, Wisconsin. He was the 10th of 12 children of a farm family.
After spending his childhood and teen years in Catholic schools, Michael joined the Conventual Franciscans. As a seminarian, Michael was known for his great kindness, sense of humor, simplicity, and generosity. He loved nature and loved to write.
He graduated from Loyola University in Chicago and was ordained a priest in 1968. In Religious Life, his name was Casimir.
After serving as a parish priest in Illinois and California, Fr. Casimir felt called to the missions of Honduras. As a missionary, he went to the Department of Olancho. (A Honduran department is like an American state.) There, he worked with the poorest of the poor. At the time that Fr. Casimir served in that area of Honduras, almost half of all children born died before the age of five. In the missions, he celebrated Mass and other sacraments with the people, ran a parish and school, and served in any way he could. Though his Spanish was far from perfect, the people loved him because they knew he loved them.
Unfortunately, during his time in Honduras, there was great political strife that had developed. Though Fr. Casimir was not known for being political, he was a Catholic priest, and as such, the government saw him as a champion of the poor.
On June 25, 1975, 5,000 poor and landless peasants began a six-day “Hunger March” from Olancho to the nation’s capital, Tegucigalpa, to demand that the government act on promises it had made on land reforms.
Para-military groups that were controlled by wealthy landowners and the Honduran Army moved to stop the march, raided the bishop’s residence, attacked Catholic rectories, and terrorized any civil institutions associated with the reform movement.
On that day of the march, Fr. Casimir was taking an old truck to the repair shop. When he heard shots coming from the public square, he ran to see what was happening. Many believed that the soldiers mistook him for another priest, while others said that it didn’t matter, as all priests were seen as the enemy of the state.
He was captured, stripped naked, and beaten. Despite constant humiliation from the authorities, he ran through the square blessing dead bodies of the poor and anointing those still alive. Finally, he, another priest, and some women were taken to a detention facility and sentenced to death. Many people were baked alive. After unspeakable torture, the priests were shot in the head. Fr. Casimir was 34 years old. The priests’ dead bodies were thrown into a dry well with live people, dynamited, and then bulldozed to conceal the crime.
With the help of the United States government, the bodies were found and buried. Today, people all over Honduras honor Fr. Casimir in the Cathedral of Gualaco in Olancho.
Today, he is known as Servant of God Casimir Cypher, first step on the journey to canonization.
What a tragic end to a life devoted to helping others. Heartbreaking and inspiring how many incredible servants of The Lord have sacrificed their lives to do such good in this world. Thank you for sharing this story.