April 30 Venezuela was
given a new saint. DR. JOSE GREGORIO
HERNANDEZ CISNEROS was described by Pope Francis as “a model of personal goodness and civic and
religious virtues.”
Dr.
Hernández was known as "the doctor of the poor," and through his
studies in Paris, Berlin,
Madrid, and New York, he became a renowned
bacteriologist. He died in 1919 in Caracas at the age of 54, run over by a car at a time
when only a few hundred automobiles traveled the streets of Caracas
In his message,
Pope Francis said the Church was only confirming something that the people of Venezuela
already believed: “that the people's doctor stands by God and that together
with Our Lady of Coromoto he intercedes for his compatriots and for all of us.”
Pope
Francis described Dr. José Gregorio as an example of a believing disciple of
Christ, who made the Gospel the criterion of his life, and was a model of
modesty and humility.
“He is a
model of holiness committed to the defense of life, to the challenges of
history and, in particular, as a paradigm of service to others, like a Good
Samaritan, excluding no one,” said the Pope. “He is a man of universal
service.”
One of the
most relevant and fascinating aspects of his personality, remarked Pope
Francis, was his “service to citizens.” It was a service, he said, “understood
from the example Christ left us during the Last Supper, when he set out to wash
the feet of his disciples... because he loved everyone.”
The Pope
noted that the Beatification of Dr. José Gregorio takes place at a particular
and difficult time for people in Venezuela.
He
highlighted the suffering aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic, and said he was
especially mindful of the many dead who have paid with their lives, to perform
their duties in precarious conditions.
In the
midst of all these current difficulties, Pope Francis invited the people of Venezuela to
follow this physician’s “admirable example of selfless service to others.”
The
beatification of Dr. Hernández is a special blessing from God for Venezuela,” the
Pope underlined, “and it invites us to conversion toward greater solidarity
with one another, to produce all together the response of common good so
necessary for the country to recover, to be reborn after the pandemic in a
spirit of reconciliation.”
“I
sincerely believe that this moment of national unity, around the figure of the
people's doctor, constitutes a special moment for Venezuela and demands of you that
you go further, that you take concrete steps in favor of unity, without letting
yourselves be overcome by discouragement,” he said.
José
Gregorio Hernández was born in the mountains of the Venezuelan Andes in 1864, in Inotú, a small town in the state of Trujillo. His father was Colombian and his
mother a native of the Canary Islands, a very
devout and deeply religious woman who died when José Gregorio was only 8 years
old.
Dr. Hernández spent much of his
life in Caracas,
the capital, where he studied and practiced medicine and became known as “the
doctor of the poor” because he routinely treated needy patients for free.
Early in
his life Bl. Jose longed for the religious life, but the rigors of the life caused
him to leave and he clearly saw that
his vocation was to embrace fully the life of the lay apostolate with his
ministry in the field of medicine.Having
received a scholarship from the president of the republic, he had studied at
the University of
Paris, where he
specialized in microscopy, normal histology, pathology and experimental
physiology. He later continued his histology studies in Berlin and expanded his knowledge of
bacteriology. On his return to Venezuela
from Paris, he
brings new medical equipment to establish a physiological department at Central
University of Venezuela. He is the one who introduces the use and knowledge of
the microscope into Venezuelan scientific circles.
He also taught at the University
of Caracas, as professor
of practical pathology and was the founder of the department of bacteriology.
As an
exemplary layperson, he participated in Franciscan spirituality and was devoted
to the charism of St. Francis. His teaching and professional
activity were the best way to recognize in the sick the suffering Christ, whom
he served with self-denial in his patients, without caring about the hours
devoted to serving, healing and comforting them. Each day, as was his custom, Bl. José Gregorio woke up before five in the morning and after praying the Angelus went to the nearby church of the Divine Shepherdess for the
Mass, where he received daily Communion.
One day. rushing to care for a sick patient, he did not see a speeding car which hit him. The impact
threw him into the air and his head hit the edge of the sidewalk. Before dying,
he was only able to cry out, “Most Blessed Virgin!”
He was so beloved that newspaper accounts at
the time reported that the city was left practically denuded of flowers to make
the floral wreaths and bouquets for his funeral.
Tens of
thousands of people filled the streets outside the cathedral where the ceremony
was conducted, the accounts said, and when the coffin was about to be placed in
a hearse a cry went up: “Dr. Hernández is ours!” In a spontaneous display of
popular mourning, the coffin was carried to the cemetery on the shoulders of
the capital’s citizens.
Over the
years, his legend grew. The sick or the injured prayed to him to be cured, and
many believed he was responsible for miracles.
His life
very much paralleled that of St. Giuseppe Moscati, the Italian doctor who
also gave his life for the poor and was
a scientific researcher, noted for his pioneering work in biochemistry.
His feast will be June 29.
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