Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Camagüey (Agenzia Fides) – The “Plaza de la Caridad” in Camagüey was filled on November 29, by thousands of people arriving from all the Cuban dioceses to celebrate the Beatification of Jose Olallo Valdes, Hospitaller Brother of Saint John of God. The Mass was covered by many media sources in Cuba and re-transmitted by the government-run television station.
The celebration was presided by Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, accompanied by Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino, Archbishop of Havana, Archbishop Juan Garcia of Camagüey, and Archbishop Luigi Bonazzi, Apostolic Nuncio in Cuba. Also participating were all the Cuban Bishops, as well as Auxiliary Bishop Felipe Estevez of Miami, Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Varela of Panama City, and Archbishop Octavio Ruiz, Vice-President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and priests, deacons, religious, including a numerous group of Hospitaller Brothers of Saint John of God, led by their Superior General, Fray Donatus Forkan. The ceremony was also attended by President Raul Castro along with several of his closest collaborators, Ms. Caridad Diego, Director of the Office for Religious Affairs of the Central Committee, and civil authorities of Camagüey.
In his homily, Cardinal Saraiva communicated the greeting and blessing of the Holy Father Benedict XVI. In his words, he recalled that Fr. Olallo's life, although he lived in the 19th century, continues to be an example even today as it springs forth from the eternal youth that characterizes Christian charity, of which the blesseds and saints are the most convincing witnesses. Speaking of the Blessed, he mentioned “his enthusiastic fidelity to his vocation as a Hospitaller Brother, as a diligent and attentive male nurse, who was close to everyone who knew him, dedicating his life especially to the marginalized and the sick, working for their physical, social, psychological, and spiritual recovery in a historical time period in which the people of Camagüey suffered great poverty and misery.” “He has been rightly described as 'a champion of Christian charity,' in solidarity with those whom he called 'his favorite brothers.'”
The Cardinal referred to the Beatification of Fr. Olallo as “a landmark event for the Church in Cuba, and for the entire nation of Cuba,” who desires and needs to trust in God, even more so today, “in response to the materialistic culture that is being imposed and that casts aside the vulnerable and weak.” In this sense, he asked all present to “learn from Blessed Olallo the virtue of confidence in God, of loving others in a universal manner.”
At the close of the Beatification Ceremony, the people of Camagüey joined all the other Cubans from all over the country who had come for the event, to accompany the relics of Father Olallo to the Hospital of Saint John of God, where he spent over 50 years of his life caring for the poor and needy of Puerto Principe. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 2/12/2008)
