An American missionary in the Dominican Republic, the Reverend Charles Barnes spoke out against tyranny. Barnes raised awareness of the slaughter of thousands of Haitian innocents at the hand of the Dominican Republic's Trujillo regime by writing letters to contacts in the American State Department. Intercepted by Trujillo's officials, Barnes' letters made him the target of the regime, and he was martyred for his advocacy in 1938.
Barnes came to the Dominican Republic in April 1936, and served as Vicar of the Church of the Epiphany, where his remains are interred. He was born in Camden, New Jersey, on March 17, 1894, and received his graduate theological training at the General Theological Seminary in New York. Ordained to the priesthood in 1920, Barnes served in Pennsylvania, present-day Belize, and Honduras before coming to the Dominican Republic.
From A Great Cloud of Witnesses.
Grant, we pray, merciful God, that your Church standing firm in the witness of your Son and following the good example of your servant Charles Barnes may ever speak boldly against evil and confess the truth before the rulers of this world; through your Son Jesus Christ who with you and the Holy Spirit, live and reign, One God, now and forever. Amen.