Father Victor Salandini; Served With Chavez

Father Victor Salandini, 66, a priest who served as spiritual leader to the late Cesar Chavez and others in the farm workers movement. He joined Chavez’s crusade in 1965, spending nearly 29 years walking picket lines in the United States and Canada. But his unwavering support for the labor movement sometimes put him at odds with parishes that took a more moderate stand. “To thousands of farm workers, he is a prophet,” Chavez said in 1972. Salandini was affectionately named the “tortilla priest” in 1971 after he ran out of traditional Communion wafers while ministering to striking farm workers and used corn tortillas instead. He embraced the name and 20 years later wrote “The Confessions of a Tortilla Priest.” Salandini’s death came less than four months after he completed a 343-mile pilgrimage through Central California in support of the United Farm Workers union. In Escondido on Aug. 2 of liver cancer.