St. Rafael Guízar y Valencia
Posted on June 7, 2019 by admin No comments
Born: 26 April 1878 Cotija, Michoacán, Mexico
Died: 6 June 1938 (aged 60) Mexico City, Mexico
Venerated: in Roman Catholic Church
Beatified: 29 January 1995, Saint Peter’s Square, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II
Canonized: 15 October 2006, Saint Peter’s Square, Vatican City by Pope Benedict XVI
Major shrine: Xalapa Cathedral, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico
Feast: 24 October
Patronage: Diocese of Xalapa
Rafael Guízar y Valencia (April 26, 1878 – June 6, 1938) was a Mexican Catholic bishop who cared for the wounded, sick, and dying during the Mexican Revolution. Named Bishop of Xalapa, he was driven out of his diocese and forced to live the remainder of his life in hiding in Mexico City. He was also a Knight of Columbus. He was an uncle of Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legion of Christ (who was later removed from leadership of that group by the Holy See).
Guizar’s body was exhumed in 1950, twelve years after his death, and witnesses have said it had not decayed, except for the left eye, which he was said to have offered up for a sinner during his lifetime.
Pope Benedict XVI canonized Guízar on October 15, 2006.
“We welcome the canonization of our brother Knight, Bishop Guízar y Valencia, and know that his life of courage and legacy of evangelization will be an inspiration to each of our 1.7 million members around the world,” said Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson, who attended Guízar’s canonization in Rome.
Life
Rafael Guízar y Valencia was born in Cotija de la Paz, Michoacán, on April 26, 1878 (his brother, Antonio Guízar y Valencia, served as the Bishop of Chihuahua for 49 years). He was ordained a priest in 1901. With the start of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, persecution of the Catholic Church became severe, and Guízar became a special target because of his outspoken defense of the Church.
He went underground—disguised as a junk dealer—to continue his work as a priest. In 1915, when the government ordered that he be shot on sight, he escaped to the United States, and then went on to serve the Church in Guatemala and Cuba.
While in Cuba, Guizar was consecrated as Bishop of Veracruz. The end of the Revolution enabled him to return to Mexico in January 1920, and he joined Knights of Columbus Council 2311 in Xalapa, Veracruz, on August 16, 1923.
As bishop, he founded a clandestine seminary to train future priests, noting that “A bishop can do without a mitre, a crosier, and even a cathedral, but never without a seminary, because the future of his diocese depends on the seminary.”
Guízar was forced to flee Mexico once again in 1927 during the persecution of the Church under the anti-clerical and the irreligious President Plutarco Elías Calles. He returned in 1929, the year the Church reached an accord with the government after the end of the Cristero War, in part because of successful lobbying by the Knights of Columbus to get the American government to take an active role in solving the crisis.
After his return to Mexico, Guízar continued his ministry, and became known as “the bishop of the poor”. He died on June 6, 1938. His remains are now venerated in the Xalapa Cathedral.
Uncle of Marcial Maciel
Guízar was the uncle of Marcial Maciel, who became a priest and founded the Legion of Christ, committed to obedient service of the pope. According to investigative journalist Jason Berry and former Hartford Courant religion writer Gerald Renner:
The day before Bishop Guizar died, he had been heard shouting angrily at his eighteen-year-old nephew, Marcial Maciel. He was giving Maciel a dressing-down after two women had come to the bishop’s house to complain about Maciel, who was their neighbor. Father Orozco, who was among the original group of boys to found the Legion of Christ in 1941, said he heard the women had complained about the “noise” Maciel was making with children he had brought into his home to teach religion. He said that the seminary officials blamed Maciel for his uncle’s heart attack and subsequent death.
The incident would take on new significance decades after Guízar’s death, when Pope Benedict XVI ordered Maciel to retire to a life of prayer and penance after a papal commission completed its investigation into his sexual misconduct with Legion seminarians who were minors at the time. Suspended from priestly faculties by Pope Benedict, Maciel did not attend his uncle’s canonization. Maciel was also discovered, in 2009, to have fathered possibly as many as six children while under the vow of chastity.
Veneration
Guízar was beatified by Pope John Paul II on January 29, 1995. He was canonized on October 15, 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI.
Novena to St. Rafael Guízar y Valencia
In the Name of the Father…R. Amen.
Make an Act of Contrition
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because I have offended Thee, my God, Who are all good, and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace to confess my sins, do my penance, and amend my life. Amen.
Daily Prayer Intention of the Novena
O mighty Bishop and Confessor!
R.Thou who so loved the children, the sick and the poor; thou who so loved the one holy Catholic Church and the only True Faith, grant us the grace we ask of thee today. (Pause and state your intentions)V.So may it be.R. Amen.
(Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be)
Saint Monsignor Guízar y Valencia, R. Pray for us, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
First Day – Daily Prayer
O Glorious San Rafael Guízar y Valencia!
R. Since thy childhood thou heard the voice of God calling thee to the highest holiness, have mercy on my soul that lives in the midst of the dangers of this world. Grant that in imitating thy example, we may have fervent faith and love for the Holy Eucharist and that we may have a tender and filial devotion, full of trusting confidence, for our Blessed Mother. Help us live as true Christians and thus attain eternal happiness with thee before the heavenly altar of God.
First Day – Concluding Prayer
Let us pray. O God, Thou hast filled the saintly Bishop Rafael Guízar with Thy love, to make of him a living image of Thy Son, Our Lord. Grant that by following his example, we may be transformed into the Divine Model. Through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with Thee for ever and ever. Amen.
Second Day – Daily Prayer
O Glorious San Rafael Guízar y Valencia!
R. Thou always remained detached from the world, for from thy childhood thou gave no import to the wisdom, values and things of the world. Come to my aid and help me place my trust in Christ alone, my only Treasure, as only He can make me happy in this life and unto eternity.
Second Day – Concluding Prayer
Let us pray. Almighty Father, Thou gave Thy holy Bishop the grace to be detached from this world. Grant to Thy humble servants, in imitation of Saint Rafael, to love Thee above all. Through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with Thee for ever and ever. Amen.
Third Day – Daily Prayer
O Glorious San Rafael Guízar y Valencia!
R. Thou despised all earthly and vain goods. Thou consecrated thy life to God, embracing poverty, celibacy and obedience. In thy humble condition, thou promoted the glory of God and the salvation of souls in all things. Help me always grow in the grace of loving God and neighbor, that I may be worthy to live in union with Him in eternal blessedness.
Third Day – Concluding Prayer
Let us pray. My Lord and my God, Thou wast the very model for Thy holy Bishop. Grant that by his intercession we may attain the Christian virtues that adorned his soul: charity, purity, humility, poverty and a spirit of mortification. Through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with Thee for ever and ever. Amen.
Fourth Day – Daily Prayer
O Glorious San Rafael Guízar y Valencia!
R. Thou attained holiness through the most tender and difficult tests of charity granted thee by Our Lord and His Immaculate Mother. Grant me the grace to strive every day to overcome all human respect and the temptations that assail me. Assist me in conquering the battle against the enemies of my soul, that I may attain the crown promised to those who persevere.
Fourth Day – Concluding Prayer
Let us pray. Hear the pleadings of thy sons, O Heavenly Father, as we invoke the intercession of Thy Holy Bishop Guízar y Valencia and from Thy celestial throne, send upon us the graces which crown Thy saints in holiness. Through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with Thee for ever and ever. Amen.
Fifth Day – Daily Prayer
O Glorious San Rafael Guízar y Valencia!
R. Model of obedience, thou heroically submitted to those who represent Christ on earth, so that by thy humble actions thou attained sanctification. Grant us that same spirit, that we may joyfully submit in perfect obedience to the Divine Will and follow our Savior, who was obedient unto the Cross.
Fifth Day – Concluding Prayer
Let us pray. O Sovereign and Eternal Triune God, in whom Thy holy Bishop Guízar y Valencia is eternally united, grant that despite our weakness we may live in the unity of thy Truth and obey those who hold Thy authority on earth. Through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with Thee for ever and ever. Amen.
Sixth Day – Daily Prayer
O Glorious San Rafael Guízar y Valencia!
R. Ardent and true lover of the Holy Eucharist. Thou spent long hours prostrate before the Holy Tabernacle, savoring the joys of eternal promise. Grant unto me a spirit of prayer and love for the Blessed Sacrament, that receiving frequently and devotedly the Body and Blood of Christ, I may always honor and adore Christ my King.
Sixth Day – Concluding Prayer
Let us pray. O Mighty King of Heaven and Earth, grant us the grace to imitate Thy holy Bishop Guízar y Valencia, so that nourished by the Body and Blood of our Savior, we may have his same love for the Blessed Sacrament and his same spirit of unfailing prayer. Amen.
Seventh Day – Daily Prayer
O Glorious San Rafael Guízar y Valencia!
R. Most heroic and patient in suffering, thou enjoyed the throes of disease and endured slander and scorn with joy. Grant that we too may embrace our cross with humble joy and love.
Seventh Day – Concluding Prayer
Let us pray. Eternal Father, in pain, suffering and diseases, Thou always strengthened Thy Holy Bishop Guízar y Valencia. Grant unto us health of soul and body, and through his intercession, be Thou our Strength in every physical and spiritual affliction, that we may always praise Thee in this life and eternally hereafter. Through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with Thee for ever and ever. Amen.
Eighth Day – Daily Prayer
O Glorious San Rafael Guízar y Valencia!
R. Thou was always a faithful follower of Christ the King, never placing thy heart in material goods nor thy trust in earthly lords. Grant us the grace to imitate thy example in being detached from earthly joys and savoring the sweet yoke of Christ our Redeemer.
Eighth Day – Concluding Prayer
Let us pray. O God, Thou hast crowned Thy Holy Bishop Guízar y Valencia. Grant that through his intercession we may faithfully imitate Thy only- begotten Son and attain the holiness and sanctifying grace which only comes from Thee, the one True God. Through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with Thee for ever and ever. Amen.
Ninth Day – Daily Prayer
O Glorious San Rafael Guízar y Valencia!
R. Thou received consolations from the Holy Virgin Mary for thy great devotion to her. Grant me the grace to love and serve Jesus as a worthy son of Mary. And may Our Lady be my comfort in this vale of tears.
Ninth Day – Concluding Prayer
Let us pray. O God, grant me the grace to render fitting praise and love with a tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, imitating the example of Thy Holy Bishop Guízar y Valencia. Through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with Thee for ever and ever. Amen.