Pedro Manuel Salado de Alba was born on January 1, 1968
in Chiclana de la Frontera in Cadiz, Spain.
From a young age he was a restless boy who liked Music.
Since childhood, he was involved in the activities of his parish and school.
Manuel sang in the choir at the parish of Saint John the Baptist where he learnt to play the guitar
and payed at the Masses held at a pastoral center called the Home of Nazareth
His spiritual restlessness led him to become a Catechist and to give himself to others more and more everyday.
He was invited to travel to Taize (an ecumenical religious community, in France)
and that was a turning point for him,
There he discovered his Missionary vocation.
Manuel took his final vows in 1990, at the age of 22 and lived in the Home of Nazareth in Cordoba until 1998,
when he was sent on mission to Ecuador.
Quininde, in the province of Esmaraldas, Ecuador, amazed Pedro with it's beauty.
Ecuador held beaches and lush vegetation, full of color and life, and plants and animals that he had never seen before.
He spent some time in Ecuador, where he carried out an arduous task directing a school in the community,
where he demonstrated all his professional, human and spiritual qualities.
The population, on the other hand needed help to get by.
Many children had no opportunity to learn to read and write.
To help provide for their needs, Pedro Manuel built the Home and School of the Holy Family of Nazareth in Quininde.
He worked hard with the children so they could receive moral and spiritual education.
The children loved him very much that they got so close to him.
Manyy who knew Brother Pedro considered him to be a gift from God.
He was known to be a shy person, a great worker, and full of humility.
He didn't have any shoes and one day when he was going to play soccer, the people had to lend him a pair.
He lived in poverty, which was shown in his ability to adapt to everything.
On February 5, 2012, Brother Manuel took a group of children for a walk to the Atacames beach.
The kids were playing and went into the water.
Around noon, the tide rose and the current dragged the children out to sea.
In a very short time, the children were all swallowed up.
Manuel quickly realized that this was a matter of life and death.
He didn't hesitate to jump into the water and save each one of the children.
"I've got to save my children!" were the last words he saved before charging into the water, and managing to pull them out one by one.
After bringing back the last two to the beach, he was completely exhausted.
One of the sisters from the home said to him "Manuel, you've retrieved them all," after which he died form exhaustion.
The children then gathered around him and prayed that God would not take him, but Pedro Manuel had already completed his mission on earth.
And this was how God had wanted him to give his life.
Now on both sides of the ocean, this Missionary's legacy has not died with him, but continues to grow
as his is a story of self-sacrifice to bring souls to Christ.
Brother Pedro Manuel, pray for us.