Page 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6

A Saint for Our Newest Diocese

Xalapa, in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, is the newest diocese where the Basilian Fathers Missions are working. Here, the community maintains a scholasticate where young men interested in the priesthood live and study, and a rectoria, similar to a parish.

Our community in Xalapa is thrilled that their new diocese is also getting a new saint this year – Rafael Guízar Valencia (1878-1938). The saint was born in Michoacan, one of 11 children. Rafael was known throughout his life for his piety and special kindness for the poor. A standout evangelizer in Mexico at the time of its religious persecution last century, he particularly cared for the wounded and dying in Mexico’s 1910-17 revolution and their families. Disguised as a vendor of trinkets, and sometimes under a hail of bullets, he attended to the dying, giving them absolution and viaticum which he carried concealed so as not to be arrested for his priestly ministry.

Named Bishop of Veracruz in 1919, Rafael revived the diocesan seminary, establishing it in Xalapa, but moving it later to Mexico City, when the anti-clerical forces confiscated the buildings. It has since been returned to Xalapa and this is where our seminarians attend. 

During the religious persecutions of his time, Rafael was exiled three times.

Each time he returned, giving courage and leadership to the clergy of Veracruz who ministered in hiding. The third exile was in 1931 when the governor of Veracruz limited the number of priests to one for every 100,000 inhabitants – only 13 Priests for the entire state! Even though a death sentence was passed against him, he courageously returned a final time. He died, after a painful illness, in 1938 in a house next to his seminary in Mexico City.

Bishop Rafael Guízar Valencia was beatified in 1995, and canonized in October 2006. What a wonderful patron for our seminarians!

Bittersweet Celebrations in Colombia

Summer and early fall brought multiple, joyous celebrations to Ecce Homo parish. Padre Juan Carlos led the annual pre-confirmation retreat in August. 120 young people were confirmed in October. This celebration was soon followed in November by the parish feast of Ecce Homo, held on the feast of Christ the King.

This year’s activities hold a bittersweet note for our missionaries. In June, the archbishop divided the parish into two parts, and established a new parish. After celebrating the feast of Saint Basil with our missionaries on June 14, he promulgated the new parish: Parroquia San Basilio! How wonderful that the new parish is named for our community patron, St. Basil. Our priests will be taking over the new parish and another community will continue their work in Ecce Homo at the end of the year. 

Although sad to leave the parish where they have labored for ten years, they are eager to start their work in the new parish. All Basilian co-missionaries can be justly proud of helping our priests to build up the community of God in Ecco Homo. Part of the Basilian charisma is to go into an area, build it up, turn it over to the local diocese, and move on to the next challenge. 

Currently, the Medellin community is in the process of moving to their house in Olaya, next to the new church. In the meantime, all of the activities of both parishes continue to move along. There are two libraries, a clinic, a dining room for children, training in industrial sewing, a number of “restaurants” for pre-school children, Taller San Basilio, a “salon virtual” with internet access, and two stores for the poor in which basic food supplies and used clothes are available at cost.

Recently, one of the parishioners wrote a book called “The Life of Colombia as Lived in Four Houses,” about Balnquizal and its founding families. A large section of the book tells the history of Ecce Homo parish, and the work of the Basilians there.