{"id":22851,"date":"2026-03-18T10:24:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T10:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=22851"},"modified":"2026-03-18T10:24:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T10:24:01","slug":"priests-die-saving-altar-boys-from-drowning-during-retreat-in-ecuador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=22851","title":{"rendered":"Priests die saving altar boys from drowning during retreat in Ecuador"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Father Alfonso Avil\u00e9s P\u00e9rez.<\/span>\u00a0(Photo: Diocese of Daule)<\/span><\/p>\n

Two Catholic priests have died after rescuing two altar boys from drowning during a retreat in coastal Ecuador.<\/p>\n

Father Alfonso Avil\u00e9s P\u00e9rez and Father Pedro Anzo\u00e1tegui lost their lives on 13 March after entering the sea to save the young servers, who had got into difficulty while taking part in a Lenten retreat in the town of Playas.<\/p>\n

Both priests succeeded in bringing the boys to safety, but were themselves unable to return. All of the young people attending the retreat were later confirmed to be safe and out of danger.<\/p>\n

The incident has prompted an outpouring of grief across the Catholic community, particularly within the Diocese of Daule and the Diocese of San Jacinto, where the two men served.<\/p>\n

Father Avil\u00e9s, originally from Spain, had served for more than three decades as a priest and spent nine years at St Albert the Great Parish. In a statement, the parish said he \u201cdeparted for the Father\u2019s House, generously giving himself for those entrusted to his care\u201d, EWTN reports.<\/p>\n

He was known for his pastoral work, including promoting family catechesis, Eucharistic adoration and the formation of altar servers. His ministry left what the parish described as a lasting legacy of \u201cfaith, closeness, and love for the community\u201d.<\/p>\n

Father Anzo\u00e1tegui, ordained in 2010, served in the Diocese of San Jacinto, including at Holy Cross Parish in Dur\u00e1n. He was also known for his work among local communities in Guayaquil.<\/p>\n

During a Mass held the following day, Luis Cabrera led prayers for the two priests, asking the congregation to remember \u201cour brothers Alfonso and Pedro whom the Lord, in these circumstances, today fills with his grace and blessing\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tributes have continued from those who knew Father Avil\u00e9s personally. Carlos Polo described him as \u201cthe holiest priest I have ever known\u201d, adding that \u201che died living his law – the law of love\u201d.<\/p>\n

A former altar server also spoke of the priest\u2019s influence, saying he encouraged young people to live with courage and faith. \u201cHe raised us with temperance. He instilled in us the aspiration to be gentlemen, heroes, warriors – upright individuals and good sons of God,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

At a memorial Mass, Crist\u00f3bal Kud\u0142awiec reflected on the tragedy, telling worshippers that in moments of loss, \u201cGod makes no mistakes, and his will is holy\u201d. He added that even in the face of such events, believers are called to trust: \u201cI believe in you, Lord Jesus. I trust in you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Funeral services were held locally, with members of the community, clergy and public figures gathering to pay their respects as tributes continued for both priests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Father Alfonso Avil\u00e9s P\u00e9rez.\u00a0(Photo: Diocese of Daule) Two Catholic priests have died after rescuing two altar boys from drowning during a retreat in coastal Ecuador. Father Alfonso Avil\u00e9s P\u00e9rez and Father Pedro Anzo\u00e1tegui lost their lives on 13 March after entering the sea to save the young servers, who had got into difficulty while taking<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[7587,3219,1981,1841,7128,4070,896,770],"class_list":["post-22851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-christian-living","tag-altar","tag-boys","tag-die","tag-drowning","tag-ecuador","tag-priests","tag-retreat","tag-saving"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}