Naturally, this remarkable public act of faith and love - so unusual in this age of skepticism and public revolt from the authority of Christ - infurtated His enemies, of whom the chief were the Freemasons. They plotted to overthrow the hated Catholic regime and to kill its leader. Moreno knew what was going on and must have had a premonition that he would meet with a violent death, for he wrote to the pope, Pius IX: "What greater happiness can be awarded to me, most Holy Father, than to see myself detested and calumniated for the love of our divine Redeemer? But what still greater happiness would it be if your benediction could obtain from heaven the grace to shed my blood for Him who, being God, has deigned to shed every drop of His at the pillar and upon the cross?" On August 4, 1875, he wrote to a friend, "I am about to be assassinated, but I am happy to die for the faith. We shall meet one another in heaven."
An example of the courage of this brave leader is found in the following story. The president was warned that a barber who was coming to the presidential residence to shave him was in reality an assassin and was planning to cut Moreno's throat. The president received the man as though he knew nothing, and allowed him to prepare him for shaving. As the barber, razor in hand, was about to begin, Moreno calmly drew a revolver, laid it on a near-by table, and informed his would-be-killer that one false move out of him and he would be a dead man.
Murder on the First Friday
But Moreno's treacherous enemies were determined to have his life. Next time they would not fail.
The devout president had the custom of making a Holy Hour each First Friday in the cathedral across the square from the House of Parliament. On the First Friday of August, 1975, which happened to be the Feast of the Transfiguraton, Garcia Moreno went to the cathedral to make his Holy Hour. That day he had a double reason for spendng some time before the Blessed Sacrament, for he was about to mae an important speech in defense of the rights of the Church
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