The San Antonio Archdiocese has released details on the funeral of former Archbishop Patrick Flores.
Services will begin at 11 a.m. Monday at San Fernando Cathedral with a Mass followed by visitation and rosaries. At 7 p.m. Monday, a vigil will be held.
The funeral mass will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17 at San Fernando Cathedral. Flores will be buried in San Fernando Cemetery No. 2 off of Castroville and Cupples roads.
Flores was the fourth Archbishop for San Antonio and was the first Mexican-American bishop in the United States. He died Monday at age 87 in hospice after being hospitalized for congestive heart failure and pneumonia.
Flores became the first Mexican-American bishop in the United States in 1970, and served as San Antonio's Archbishop from 1979 through 2004.
In June of 2000, Flores was held hostage for more than 9 hours by Nelson Antonio Escolero, in El Salvador. Escolero had been arrested for driving with a suspended license and feared he would be deported. Armed with a fake hand grenade, he also held secretary Myrtle Sanchez for the first two hours of the stand-off. Police hostage negotiators were surprised when Escolero released Archbishop Flores and surrendered in the evening.
Longtime friend Father David García said Flores’ condition was announced to several parishes over the weekend. He said the archdiocese asked parishioners to “pray for him.”
