Ciudad Cuauhtémoc is a municipality in the central zone of the Mexican State of Chihuahua, 105 kilometers southwest of the state capital. It is considered to be the gateway to the Sierra Tarahumara, the Land of the Three Cultures (Rarámuri, Mennonita and Mestiza) and the most productive region of apples in Latin America. The apples are the economic pillar of this region, along with the dairy agroindustry, although there are also factories specialized in thermal insulation.
The climate is semiarid temperated-cold, located in a transition between the plateau and the Sierra Madre Occidental, with an average altitude of 2,060 meters above sea level. The temperature varies from -2°C to 29°C, with a deficient rainfall regime (average annual precipitation of 450 mm). July, August and September are the rainiest months.
It is the third most populated municipality in the State, with about 140,000 inhabitants, just behind Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua. The city was developed by the settlement of the Mennonites, which, being a train station, established here the place of commercial exchange for their communities. In 1948 he reached the city’s rank.
In 1964, Colonia General Francisco Villa, in the northwest of the city, began to take shape. A manor that was reserved for a sanctuary to San Martín de Porres, “fray Escoba”, promoted by a group of faithful with activities to raise funds, the raising of the first temple and the donation of the image of the saint’s patron.
Over time, this temple was the one attended by the most faithful within the Parroquia San Antonio. Furthermore, due to its geographical location, it accommodates the majority of the city’s funerals, due to its proximity to the funeral parlors. Therefore, the municipal headquarters was divided in 1995 between three parishes: Cristo Rey, Saint Anthony and San Martín de Porres.
This parroquial restructuring coincided with the diocesan: the Prelature of Madera, on November 17, 1995, due to the bull Cum praelatura de San Juan Pablo II, it expanded to include part of the territory of the Archdiocese of Chihuahua and became a Diocese with double headquarters: Madera and Cuauhtémoc.
Days before this, on November 6, 1995, the archbishop of Chihuahua, José Fernández Arteaga, on the 7th of the afternoon, erected the Parish of Saint Martin de Porres in the presence of the vicar of the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine of the Order of Augustinian Recollects for Mexico and Costa Rica, José Félix Echarri. This Order would be responsible for serving the new Parish.
It then had 39,000 inhabitants, 77% of which were Catholic. Furthermore, the main church had five more temples within the urban zone and three in the rural areas of Santa Lucía, Barraganes, Ciénega de Castillo. The Lord of the Warriors and the three villages became a quasi-parish in 2017; and the sector of Saint Francis and Our Lady of the Consolation also were separated from the Parish in 2020.
In these 30 years, all the temples have been remodeled and a workshop building, catechesis rooms and auditorium have been built. In 2012, the previous main temple was completely demolished and a new one was built, inaugurated the following year.
Seven Augustinian Recollects have been parish priests in Saint Martin de Porres since its founding: Carlos Abajos, Germán Sanz, Rafael Castillo, Antonio Franco, Jesús María Rodríguez, Honorio Calvo and Gustavo Camarena.
From the 3rd to the 6th of November there were celebrations for this 30th anniversary. Coinciding with the liturgical fiesta of the patron, on the 3rd day there was a Solemn Eucharist on the 7th of the afternoon presided over by the bishop, Jesús Omar Alemán, followed by an act in the parish hall in which some of the religious priests who shared life and mission were spoken via videoconference. Cuauhtémoc.
On November 5th, a jubilee process was celebrated for 30 years of the Parish and the Jubilee 2025 Pilgrims of Hope. I left the Parish at five in the afternoon and went to the Cathedral of San Antonio de Padua for the Eucharist at 7 pm.
On the 6th of November, the anniversary of the Parish, a Parish Holy Hour was celebrated in thanksgiving, in the main church.
