Luis Mata Trevino was born on September 3, 1940 to Onesimo and Francisca Trevino. He was the tenth of twelve children and was born in Beeville. He joined the United States Marine Corps and in 1964 married Alicia Palacios. They had three children, Irma, Robert and Ruby, all went to St. Joseph School and graduated from A.C. Jones.

Luis never was very religious, but Alicia was. Luis used to drink a lot. In 1976, they joined St. Joseph Church. When their children entered St. Joseph School, Father Charles McNaboe was the pastor and he asked Luis, "Do you want your children in St. Joseph School?" Luis replied, "Yes." Father told Luis, "Then you have to promise to be in church every Sunday, if you are not, your kids are out of the school." Luis began to attend church faithfully.

In 1980 or 1981, Father Robert Clark was assigned to St. Joseph. He asked Luis to work for him at the school. Luis did not want to, but Fr. Clark convinced him. On First Friday’s, Fr. Clark would take communion to the 26 shut-ins in town, Luis would drive since he knew the town. Fr. Clark then asked Luis if he wanted to be a deacon. Luis replied, "No, that’s not for me." Fr. Clark told him, "You need to, that way you can continue to visit the shut-ins. Soon, they will be sending out applications, I’m going to get you one." Fr. Clark went on vacation and the applications were given out, without Luis getting one.

Then Fr. Gough was assigned to the parish, and he also wanted Luis to become a deacon. Again, Luis responded, "It’s not for me." Fr. Gough told Luis, "I am going to Galveston for a kidney transplant, when I come back, I’m getting you into the deaconate." Fr. Gough, (may he rest in peace), died while in Galveston.

Fr. Gough was replaced by Monsignor William Kelly, who also asked Luis to become a deacon. Luis responded, "Monsignor, two priests have already asked and wanted to get me in the program, it didn't work out. No." Msgr. Kelly said, "I have a wedding in New York, when I get back, I’m going to get you in." Msgr. Kelly (may he rest in peace) died at the reception.

For a little while, it was all forgotten. Luis could not understand why anyone would want him to be a deacon. Father John Killeen was then made pastor at St. Joseph. He made Luis a Eucharistic Minister and assigned him to look after the shut-ins. Luis was helping with C.C.D. and began to take classes with the Pastoral Center in different parishes of the diocese. He started taking the classes for his own enrichment, but before you knew it, he had all of the foundation classes he needed for the deaconate. Fr. Killeen asked Luis, "Would you like to become a deacon." Luis immediately responded, "No."

Charlie Burchfield, a coach, said to Luis, "Luis, lets go for the deaconate." Luis said, "No, you go for it." Charlie went to Fr. Killeen, who came back to Luis. Fr. Killeen said to Luis, "I want you to keep taking classes." This would mean lots of travel for Luis, and he came up with the perfect excuse, "Father, my car is no good to be making all of those trips to Corpus." Fr. Killeen responded, "You can take mine." Luis tried everything he could to get out of going, but Fr. Killeen was insistent.

Charlie eventually dropped out of the formation classes and Luis continued. Luis said to Charlie, "You're the one who got me into this and you're quitting?" Fr. Killeen would not let Luis quit. Luis was supposed to be ordained in 1988, but there was no ordination, so he had to continue going to the classes. Finally, in 1990, he was ordained a deacon in the Church.

He had so many experiences in those six years and so many struggles. Deacon Luis says, "I thank God and all those people who supported me and helped me. God has a plan for all of us. When He wants you, you cannot run away from Him. He is like Pepe – le – Pew, He will chase you until you give up, and when He has a plan for you, He's going to use you."

Deacon Luis' favorite scripture passage is Jeremiah 1:5: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I consecrated you." He states that the reason for this is because he was not supposed to be born. "I was supposed to be aborted and during my adult life, I was lost in drinking." Overnight though, Deacon Luis says he could not drink another drop of alcohol.

"God made all of this happen. You can rebel all you want, if He wants you, He will get you."