Today, May 24, is the memorial of Blessed Isidore Ngei Ko Lat and Blessed Mario Vergara.
Isidore was born in Myanmar in 1918 to farmers. As a child, Isidore already wanted to serve God. When World War II broke out, he served as a catechist in his village and put up a little school for children.
Meanwhile, the Italian Fr. Mario Vergara, a missionary of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME), came to Myanmar and opened an orphanage and sanatorium. During World War II, he was red-tagged and was taken to a concentration camp in India. He eventually returned to Myanmar afterwards.
When Fr. Mario returned at the time when the country became independent in 1948, he met Isidore. They decided to join forces in teaching catechism.
One day, the two men walked into a dispute with ethnic minority rebels in a remote area where they had started recruiting Catholics and conversions in Myanmar. It turned out these rebels hated Catholics.
Fr. Mario and Isidore were arrested in 1950 and promptly shot dead. Their bodies were placed in bags and thrown into the Salween River.
They were beatified in Caserta, Italy in 2014 by Cardinal Angelo Amato.