José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero was born on March 16, 1840, in the Carreta Quemada area, near Santa Rosa de Río Primero, in the north of Córdoba (Argentina). He was ordained a priest on November 4, 1866.
After carrying out his priestly ministry in the cathedral of Córdoba and being prefect of studies at the Colegio Seminario Nuestra Señora de Loreto, on November 19, 1869 he was elected vicar of the department of San Alberto, a territory of about 10 thousand inhabitants, and of all of Traslasierra ( Argentine geographical region previously known as ‘Curato de San Alberto’). The priest then settled in Villa del Tránsito (2000 meters above sea level), a town that has been named after him since 1916: Villa Cura Brochero. To get there he traveled three days through the mountains on the back of his mule, his faithful travel companion, ‘Malacara’.
Later, San José Gabriel played a decisive role in assisting the population during the cholera epidemic that broke out in Córdoba (1867). “He could be seen running from sick person to sick person, offering religious consolation to the dying, receiving his last word and covering the miseries of his relatives. This has been one of the most exemplary, most dangerous, most tiring and heroic periods of his life,” said one of his friends, Ramón J. Cárcano, as part of one of the testimonies collected for the canonization process. .
The gaucho priest died blind, infected with leprosy, by the very patients he cared for. Father Guido Ricotti, current parish priest of Villa Cura Brochero (Córdoba) stated: “(The father) died the way he lived, with great humility and simplicity.”