Salvador Huerta Gutiérrez

About Salvador Huerta Gutiérrez

Salvador Huerta Gutiérrez was a mechanic and married Catholic layman from Magdalena, Jalisco. He was born in March 1880 and moved with his family to Guadalajara while still young. In 1907 he married Adelina Jiménez. They had eleven children. He joined the association of Nocturnal Adoration in 1921.

Historian Fidel González Fernández’s account traces his training through work with German mechanics and railway machinery. After marriage, Salvador and Adelina lived in Aguascalientes before settling in Guadalajara in 1909. His repair business grew enough to require larger premises. The account draws on testimony collected for the beatification cause, including recollections by relatives and former workers. A former employee remembered his patient instruction of apprentices and his supervision of their work. These recollections, preserved through the later account, describe his everyday work as well as his religious life.

The religious conflict also divided the family’s daily life. According to family testimony reproduced by González Fernández, Salvador’s eldest son and Ezequiel’s son Manuel had joined the Cristeros. The brothers wanted the young men to leave the armed struggle and travel to the United States. Adelina accompanied them toward the train on the morning Salvador was arrested.

On April 2, 1927, police took him from his workshop under the pretext of requesting mechanical assistance. He was imprisoned, and his home was searched. His brother Ezequiel was also detained. The brothers were taken to the cemetery of Mezquitán for execution.

Salvador was shot on April 3, 1927.

He and Ezequiel were beatified in Guadalajara on November 20, 2005.

His memory also forms part of the local church history of Aguascalientes. The diocese’s 2016 pastoral plan includes him among martyrs connected with the region, recalling his railway employment and his residence there as a newly married man.