BIOGRAPHY OF BROTHER PEDRO DE SAN JOSE BETANCUR

VATICAN CITY, JUL 30, 2002 (VIS) - On the occasion of the canonization of Blessed Brother Pedro de San Jose Betancur that will take place today at the hippodrome in Guatemala City at 9 a.m. local time (5 p.m. Rome time), in continuation we offer a brief biography.

Brother Pedro was born March 21, 1626 in Vilaflor, Tenerife, Spain. He left his country at age 24 and departed for America, arriving in Havana, Cuba, where he stayed for one year. In 1651 he left for Guatemala, passing through Trujillo, Honduras, and from there he began the journey on foot toward the city of Santiago de los Caballeros, Old Guatemala. When he arrived, he knelt down, kissed the ground and said: "I must live and die here."

On January 10, 1655 he presented his petition to enter the Secular Franciscan Order (Third Franciscan Order) and on June 11, 1656 he made his profession in the same order.

On February 24, 1658, Pedro bought a small house from Maria Esquivel for 40 pesos, the remains of which are in the 'Posada de Belen'. He converted it into an infirmary at night and installed an oratory dedicated to the Virgin which would later be used as a school for Christian doctrine and reading and writing for illiterate children and adults, as well as a hospice for the homeless. It is recognized as the first school to teach reading and writing in Guatemala. From 1658 on, he collaborated in his small hospital with the first Tertiary Brothers in founding the fourth hospital in the history of Guatemala and the first for convalescents in America and the world.

Brother Pedro called the oratory the 'Little House of Our Lady of Bethlehem', which would be the cradle of the new religious 'Bethlemite' order, the first native order in America.

The interior life of Brother Pedro and his devotion were centered in the great mysteries of the life of Christ, the Nativity in Bethlehem, the sorrowful Passion and the Eucharist.

On December 7, 1663, Brother Pedro requested official approval of Bethlehem Hospital from King Felipe IV.

On April 20, 1667, already seriously ill, he made his will in Bethlehem Hospital in which he requested to be buried in the Church of the Lord, St. Francis the Great in the chapel where the Tertiaries were buried.

On April 25, 1667, while looking at an image of St. Joseph in Bethlehem Hospital, he exclaimed, "This is my Glory," and he expired. When he died, he left his work and his religious family to the charge of Brother Rodrigo de la Cruz, duke of Talamanca and the ex-governor of Costa Rica, miraculously converted by the life and example of Brother Peter.

On May 2, 1667, eight days after the death of Brother Pedro, the foundation of Bethlehem Hospital was officially recognized.

On August 20, 1667, the first constitutions of the Bethlemite Brothers were approved. With this act, the new order of the Bethlemite Brothers was born juridically.

On July 25, 1771, Pope Clement XIV pronounced that Brother Pedro had practiced the theological and moral virtues to a heroic degree, declaring him Venerable.

On June 22, 1980, the Pope recognized Brother Pedro's sanctity and declared him Blessed. From that moment on, his spirit has been present in an extraordinary way in the 'Social Works of Brother Pedro' in Old Guatemala.

On July 7, 2001, the decree on the miracle for his canonization was approved by John Paul II.

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