Vatican
City, 14 September 2013 (VIS) – The Argentine priest Fr. Jose
Gabriel Brochero (1840-1914), “the gaucho priest”, and one of the
nation's most popular figures, was beatified today in Cordoba.
Brochero, who became known for the assistance he gave to the sick and
dying during the cholera epidemic that blighted Cordoba in 1867, was
appointed in 1869 as vicar of the department of San Alberto, now
Valle Traslasierra. There, travelling from village to village by
mule, he took care of the needs of its inhabitants, building
churches, chapels and schools, and with the aid of the peasants,
opened up paths and passages through the mountains. In his old age he
became deaf and blind as a result of the leprosy he contracted
through living in close contact with those who were afflicted with
the disease.
On
the occasion of his beatification, the Holy Father addressed a letter
to Archbishop Jose Maria Arancedo of Santa Fe, president of the
Argentine Episcopal Conference, ample extracts from which we publish
here below:
“That
Fr. Brochero finally joins the blesseds is a great joy and a blessing
for the Argentine people and for devotees of this shepherd who had
the smell of his sheep, who became poor among the poor, who always
fought to stay close to God and to the people, who did and continues
to do so much good, bringing God's loving caress to our suffering
people. I imagine the good priest Brochero on his mule … travelling
along the barren and desolate roads of the two hundred square
kilometres that made up his parish, searching for your
great-grandparents, your great-great-grandparents, to ask if they
needed anything and to invite them to do the spiritual exercises of
St. Ignatius of Loyola. He knew every corner of the parish. He did
not stay in the sacristy combing his sheep”.
“Fr.
Brochero brought Jesus to each family. He would visit them with an
image of the Virgin and a prayer book with the Word of God, the
things he needed to celebrate Mass each day. They would invite him
around to chat, and Brochero would talk to them in a way that
everyone understood, that came from his heart, his faith and the love
he had for Jesus”.
This
beatification is very important for today's pastoral care. Fr.
Brochero embodied the current relevance of the Gospel, he was a
pioneer who went out to the geographical and existential peripheries
to bring the love and mercy of God to all. He did not stay in the
parish office, but instead pressed on, ranging through the parish
atop his mule, becoming ill with leprosy, seeking his flock, bringing
faith to the street. This is what Jesus wants today: missionary
disciples who take faith out onto the streets! Brochero was a normal
man, fragile, like each of us, but he knew the love of Jesus … he
learned how to leave behind the petty selfishness we all have,
overcoming his own weakness, defeating with the help of God the inner
forces the devil uses to bind us to comfort. … Brochero listened to
the call of God and chose sacrifice for the good of His kingdom, for
the common good that the enormous dignity deserved by every person,
as a child of God, and was faithful to the very end, continuing to
pray and celebrate Mass, even as a blind leper”.
“Let
us allow Brochero to enter today, mule and all, into the homes of our
hearts, inviting us to prayer, to the encounter with Jesus; let him
deliver us from our bondage so that we too might go out to seek our
brother, to touch the flesh of Christ in those who suffer and who
need God's love”.
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