ST MANUEL GONZALES GARCIA, BISHOP OF PALENCIA

ST MANUEL GONZALES GARCIA, BISHOP OF PALENCIA - 4 JANUARY

SAINT MANUEL GONZALES GARCIA, BISHOP OF PALENCIA

Saint Manuel was born in Seville, on February 25, 1877, into a Catholic family. His childhood unfolded peacefully, close to his pious parents and siblings. While nothing was lacking to the family home, some of his boyhood desires would remain unfulfilled, such as that of having a donkey of his own to ride and play with. With hindsight, he would thank God that some of these childish wishes went unattended, since this taught him to govern his personal preferences, to have a truer vision of life, and to feel compassion for the needy.

In 1889, he enlisted in the seminary of Seville for studies for the priesthood. It was there that he wrote: "If I would be born a thousand times; a thousand times I would be a priest". Saint Manuel excelled in all his studies and was held in high regard by his teachers. He earned his doctorates in both theology and canon law. He also travelled to Rome to commemorate a jubilee of Pope Leo XIII.

Saint Manuel was ordained to the priesthood on September 21, 1901 by the Archbishop of Seville and celebrated his first Mass on September 29, 1901 in the Church of the Holy Trinity. In 1902, Bishop Spinola sent him to preach a mission in one of the parishes, and Saint Manuel found the church to be unclean and abandoned. He knelt before the tabernacle and decided then and there to dedicate himself to Eucharistic works in praise of Jesus Christ. One of his first positions as a new priest was to act as the chaplain of the nursing home of the Sisters of the Poor of Seville. On March 1, 1902 he was appointed as the parish priest of San Pedro de Huelva, where he particularly focused on the disadvantaged people; he promoted schools devoted to assisting them and bringing to them teachings pertaining to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. Saint Manuel also fostered devotion to Mary Help of Christians.

In 1910, Saint Manuel established the Disciples of Saint John, who were to be devoted to the Eucharist and to Saint John; the order soon spread outside of Spain, across Europe. He travelled to Rome in late 1912 and had a private audience with Pope Pius X, who demonstrated a keen interest in his work and his devotion to the Eucharist, including Saint Manuel 's writings, in which he points out 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’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.

Pope Benedict XV appointed Saint Manuel as the Auxiliary Bishop of Malaga and the Titular Bishop of Olympus in December 1915. In 1920, he became Bishop of Malaga in 1920 and held the post until 1935, when Pope Pius XI made him Bishop of Palencia.

While in Palencia, he founded the Eucharistic Missionaries of Nazareth and went on to also found the Children of Reparation, as well as the Disciples of Saint John.

In 1939, during a visit to Zaragoza, he fell ill and remained in hospital until he went to his eternal reward in 1940. Saint Manuel was buried in the Cathedral of Palencia, where he requested to be buried so that he could be close to the tabernacle. His wish was: "I ask to be buried next to a tabernacle, so that my bones, after death, as my tongue and my pen in life, are saying to those who pass: there is Jesus! There it is! Do not leave him abandoned!"

This holy bishop was beatified on April 29, 2001 and canonized on October 16, 2016. His feast day is January 4.

Sources: https://www.ncregister.com/blog/st-manuel-gonzalez-garcia-bishop-of-the-abandoned-tabernacle

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Gonz%C3%A1lez_Garc%C3%ADa_(bishop)

https://catholicmagazine.news/blessed-manuel-gonzalez-garcia-atoner-of-the-abandoned-tabernacles/

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Manuel may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

ST JOHN BERCHMANS, RELIGIOUS - 13 AUGUST

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST Saints celebrated on the 13th of August WELCOME! SAINT JOHN BERCHMANS, RELIGIOUS (Patron Saint of Altar Servers.) The eldest boy of a poor cordwainer, in a small Belgian town, John was ever a dutiful, prayerful, and studious child. Our Lord called him when but young to leave his father and his father’s house, to serve Him in the Society of Jesus. And because he was so good a son, it cost his father much to give him up to God; but he was too good a Christian to refuse outright. HE WAS SENT TO ROME John had hardly taken his religious vows when he was sent to the centre of Christendom, the holy city of Rome. His modesty, his purity, shone out as great virtue always does; and the young laymen who attended the lectures would come to gaze upon his beautiful and holy face, and go away the better for the sight. GREAT VIRTUE Three short years, and his last sickness found him sighing for heaven, and three days before the great feast of Mar...

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