December 01, 2008

Blessed in Camaguey

As Cigar Mike indicated was to happen, Friar Jose Olallo Valdes was beatified in Camaguey on Saturday at an open air, heavily attended event. Present was none other than raul. No, the skies did not rain down fire on him, alas. Perhaps, he felt at home with the rhetoric, if not the reality, as the Vatican representative had this to say:

"In the face of a materialist culture that we see imposing itself everywhere and that pushes aside the weak and the poor, we learn from Olallo the virtues of the wisdom of God and how to love thy neighbor universally,"

The AP article makes mention of another recently beatified Cuban, Jose Lopez Piteira. It omits, however, perhaps the most well known blessed one, Father Felix Varela. Father Varela, closely tied to the cause of Cuban independence, awaits a miracle or two in order to be canonized. As do we all- await a miracle, that is.

*Interesting comment about Father Varela here. Of course, we all know what happened there.

Posted by rsnlk at December 1, 2008 12:01 PM

Comments

The Cuban Catholic Church appears to be making a far bigger deal out of Olallo than Lopez Piteira, who was apparently distinctly inconvenient. He was martyred by Spanish communists, and Raul could hardly come to THAT party, now could he?

Posted by: asombra [TypeKey Profile Page] at December 1, 2008 12:41 PM

Nothing at all resembling this sort of public event was done for Lopez Piteira, who was quietly beatified in Rome earlier this year. Presumably, both men are equally or comparably holy or blessed, yet they are clearly not being given the same sort of acknowledgment or recognition.

The official explanation is probably something along the lines that Lopez Piteira, though Cuban-born, spent much of his life in Spain and not Cuba. I do NOT believe that's the reason, certainly not the whole reason. If he hadn't been murdered by the communists during the Spanish Civil War, I'm fairly sure a lot more of a fuss would have made over him in Cuba. He may be blessed, but he's just too inconvenient.

Posted by: asombra [TypeKey Profile Page] at December 1, 2008 03:05 PM


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