Bishop Schlaefer; Missionary in Nicaragua

Bishop Salvador Schlaefer, a much-loved missionary in Nicaragua for more than 45 years, has died. He was 73.

He died Friday of a heart attack while traveling near the Atlantic coastal city of Bluefields, church officials announced Saturday.

Born in Campbell Sport, Wis., Schlaefer first came to Nicaragua as a missionary in 1947, a year after his ordination as a Roman Catholic priest of the Capuchin order.

“He was a pastor who dedicated his life to protecting the thousands of citizens of many ethnic groups who populate the Nicaraguan Atlantic Coast,” said Msgr. Eddy Montenegro, a vicar general with the Managua archdiocese.

In 1970, Schlaefer was ordained bishop of Bluefields, which he used as his base for countless missions along the coast to visit Creoles and other indigenous groups.

He earned the nickname “Pilgrim” for his many aid missions after the hurricanes and other storms that so often lash the coast.

He also helped build churches, schools and health clinics in the impoverished region.

In 1983, as civil war rocked Nicaragua, Schlaefer accompanied groups of Nicaraguan coastal Indians as they fled to Honduras to escape fighting between the Sandinistas and U.S.-backed Contra rebels.

Once, Schlaefer was erroneously reported killed in the fighting; he emerged from the jungle with grenade shrapnel wounds on his legs after a group of Indians he was escorting became snared in the cross-fire.

Schlaefer served at one time as president of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua, a group of church bishops.