Thought for the Day – 4 January on the Memorial of St Manuel Gonzalez Garcia (1877–1940) the “Apostle of the Abandoned Tabernacles”

Excerpt from an interview with Cardinal Mauro Piacenza who was the Relator of the Cause of St Manuel.

Eminence, I understand that there are three committees present that must analyse an alleged miracle – the Medical Commission of theologians and Cardinals and bishops. What is the Mission of this Commission, of Cardinals and bishops, in the process of approval of a miracle?   Which elements should you take into account to give your vote?

Examining the alleged miracles, the Congregation for the causes of Saints comes with a lot of seriousness.   The study involves a series of steps, including the medical part is especially important.   Finally, the Commission of Cardinals and bishops members of the Congregation examines the case.   They receive, along with the letter … full documentation of the case and a booklet with a summary, that highlights the most relevant areas of the analysis, as well as possible difficulties.

You have been the Relator of the cause of Blessed Manuel González García at the regular meeting of cardinals and bishops.   Can you explain the role of the Relator?

A cardinal is designated or a Bishop from among the members of the Congregation, and is called the ‘speaker’.   He is responsible for presenting the case and expresses his own outlook.   After this takes place, interventions of all those present, that is to adhere to or not to the conclusions of the Relator and then they present their own views.

The Relator presents the essential features of the biographical profile of Blessed, ie, describes the fundamentals of the case being examined, presents the evidence, the medical report (diagnosis of healing, prognosis, therapy, healing) and theological evaluation.   Finally, it formulates its conclusion, issues its own vote also asking the agreement of the other members and then presentation of all the results is proposed to the Holy Father.

BL Manuel González García devoted many of his energies to the clergy and to the formation of the same, as well as seminarians.   How can his message assist the current profile of the priest?

You ask me what particular message of Bl Manuel, can assist the priests and bishops of our time, in the whirlwind of their commitments.

Priests yesterday, today’s priests, priests of about-to-be:   Yes, it is right to pay attention to time and to the diverse situations and circumstances but I would like to talk about what transcends time.

Being priests is to be Christ and Christ is the one who atones for others, He is the one who begs for everyone.   He is the One at the top of the pedestal;   on the other hand, the priest is under the pedestal and carries its weight.   The priest elevates that weight to God with prayer.   And this is what is called in the Eucharist: the offering of Christ and of the whole Church.   In the instant that God raises His Son, raised, with the Son, also, is all mankind who, through the priest, must be saved.   Yes, also by the means of his Ministry, which closely associates it with Christ the Saviour.   This is the prayer of the priest.   It is true that the only saviour of the world is God but this prayer  brings God’s salvation.

Blessed Manuel Gonzalez with his example preached and believed that too much human activity, too, in a disproportionate manner, ends in a sort of Pelagianism.   The activity of man is worth something if it is presented and united to God in prayer and it is imbued in this charity.   From this it also follows, that the priest cannot be a victim because it is Christ, who has united in His person the priesthood and the victim.   In pagan sacrifices, the priest sacrifices to someone else – in Christianity Christ Himself is sacrificed.
 
That is the great warning of our blessed [Manuel] – there is no possibility of priesthood if not through self-sacrifice [and the] immolation that the priest lives in the continuing gift of his own being.

The one thing made very clear from the whole of the writings of St Manuel, is how much we leave Christ alone in the tabernacle of our hearts and our lives, how much we are cheating ourselves of Christ’s presence and gaze.   Saint Manuel González García’s writings are a means of discovering Who we adore, as well as reminding us constantly, why we ought to seek to always be adoring.

St Manuel Gonzalez Garcia (1877–1940)
“Apostle of the Abandoned Tabernacles”
Pray for Us!

Saint of the Day – 4 January – St Manuel Gonzalez Garcia (1877–1940) “Apostle of the Abandoned Tabernacles” – Bishop, Founder of the Eucharistic Missionaries of Nazareth and established both the Disciples of Saint John and the Children of Reparation, Apostle of the Holy Eucharist and of Charity, Marian devotee – born on 25 February 1877 at Seville, Spain and died on 4 January 1940 in Madrid, Spain of natural causes.   Patronages – Diocese of Palencia, the Children of Reparation, the Disciples of Saint John and the Eucharistic Missionaries of Nazareth.

St Manuel was born in Seville on 25 February 1877.   He entered the Minor Seminary of Seville on September of 1889 where he wrote:  “If I would be born a thousand times; a thousand times I would be a priest.”

He was ordained by Blessed Cardinal Spínola, the founder of the newspaper “El Correo de Andalucía”, where he worked when he was still a seminarian.   On 29 September 1901, he celebrated his first Mass at the Church of the Holy Trinity and entrusted himself to the intercession of Mary, Help of Christians.

Blessed Manuel was sent by the Archbishop of Seville to Palomares del Río, a beautiful and secluded village of Aljarafe but upon his arrival no one came out to meet him. he church was abandoned, filled with dust and dirt, cobwebs inside the tabernacle and torn altar cloths.   Upon seeing this situation, he knelt before the altar and thought about the many abandoned tabernacles in the world.   This prompted him to start the Children of Reparation.

At the age of 28, he was sent to Huelva where he was saddened to find many children living on the streets.   He devoted his attention mainly to assisting these children and founded schools, homes and established classes to catechise them with the help of his parishioners.

On 6 December 1915, Pope Benedict XV appointed Blessed Manuel as auxiliary bishop of Málaga.   He celebrated his appointment with a banquet to which he invited, not the authorities but the poorest children of the area.   Three thousand children attended the banquet and accompanied him to the Episcopal Palace.   He remained there until the night of the 11 May 1931, the proclamation of the Republic, where a revolt expelled him and the Palace was burnt, destroying everything.

On 5 August 1935 he was appointed bishop of Palencia by Pope Pius XI.   During a visit to Zaragoza in 1939 he fell seriously ill and had to be transferred to Madrid where he died on the 4 January 1940.   Before he died he asked to be buried at the foot of the tabernacle. Fulfilling his wish, he was buried beside the Tabernacle at the main altar of the Cathedral of Palencia.

His heroic virtues were recognised on the 6 April 1998 and he was Beatified by St Pope John Paul II on 29 April 2001.   The Beatification miracle involved the healing of Sara Ruiz Ortega, then 18 years old, of tuberculosis peritonitis which had left her paralysed. He was Canonised on 16 October 2016 by Pope Francis.   The Canonisation miracle involved the healing of a Galician woman who suffered from aggressive lymphoma.