Mons. Castellanos dies, bishop who left his diocese for the mission in Bolivia

The Bishop Emeritus of Palencia, Nicolás Castellanos, who abandoned the Spanish diocese in 1991 with the permission of San Juan Pablo II to be a missionary in Bolivia, died this Wednesday in the Andean country.

Born in 1935 in Mansilla del Páramo, (León, Spain), he joined the order of San Agustín being a teenager. At 18 he made his first votes, after studying ecclesiastical studies, he was ordered priest in 1959.

In September 2024, Mons. Spanish He recalled The day he made his first temporary votes 71 years ago, on the day of San Nicolás de Tolentino, also Augustine: “I never regretted. It has been a gift that I summarize in three words: God, friends, the poor. ”

He was elected provincial of the Augustinians in 1973 and five years later his appointment as a bishop of Palencia was known. In September 1978 he received the episcopal ordination from the Apostolic Nuncio Mons. Luigi Dadaglio in the Palencia Cathedral.

At the Spanish Episcopal Conference he was a member of the Episcopal Commission of Seminars and Universities (1981-1990) and the Pastoral Episcopal Commission (1984-1987). It also belonged to the Episcopal Commission of Limits from 1987 to 1991.

In 1991 he presented his resignation to the exercise of the episcopate to Pope John Paul II, which was accepted on September 4.

In conversation with ACI Press in October 2023, Mons. Castellanos explained that “being a missionary is part of the vocation of the baptized” and that he felt that vocation since before receiving the episcopal consecration. “As a bishop I felt God’s call to put into practice what I had preached a lifetime. That is, the option for the poor, ”he argued.

Thus, he initiated a missionary work in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia), a country that he had fallen in love after going to give several talks at the invitation of the Dutch Augustinians present in the country.

Although among its initial intentions was not to build Iglesias, the first approaches to local communities reorder their preferences in the mission: “Principle of the neighborhood, temple. Second need of the neighborhood, temple. Third, temple. ” When he asked for the reasons of so much insistence, they replied: “Because you have to be well with God,” said Aci Press.

In Bolivia, the New Men’s Fraternity project began, today transformed into a foundation with 25 years dedicated to improving the conditions of the inhabitants of humble neighborhoods, with special attention to children.

In 1998 his work was recognized with the Prince of Asturias de la Concordia award, awarded with Vicente Ferrer, Joaquín Sanz Gadea and Muhammad Yunus.