With 103 years, the Mexican bishop Mons. José de Jesús Sahagún de la Parra is a living witness of the history of the Catholic Church. He is the longest bishop in the world, continues to celebrate the Eucharist and is one of the four that still survive among those who participated in the Second Vatican Council.
He was born in Cotija, in a small and humble municipality of the state of Michoacán, in 1922. He was ordained a priest on May 26, 1946. His episcopate, although he was not marked by large positions, was intense and committed.
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Fifteen years after his priestly ordination, Pope San Juan XXIII appointed him the first bishop of the newly created Diocese of Tula, in the state of Hidalgo.
For 24 years his figure was a pillar for the diocese, until in 1985 San John Paul II called him to a new challenge: to be the first bishop of the diocese of Lázaro Cárdenas.
With the same installment with which he had served in Hidalgo, he returned to his Michoacan land to graze an emerging community, where he remained until 1993, the year in which his retirement was granted.
Since then, his life has elapsed in the stillness of a house of religious in Michoacán.
The “Great Builder”
For Mons. José Antonio Fernández Hurtado, current archbishop of Tlalnepantla, Mons. Jesús Sahagún de la Parra, who ordered him priest in Tula, was undoubtedly a “great builder”. Beyond the priestly bond, between them a deep friendship was forged over the years.
Mons. Sahagún de la Parra arrived in Tula on February 27, 1961. The newly erected diocese was in its early stages, in which, according to Mons. Fernández Hurtado “there was no evangelization and, therefore, there were no native vocations.”
However, their vision and effort transformed the region, being responsible for the construction of the Major Seminary “El Huerto”, which began to teach in 1964. This center also welcomed the students of the historic Seminar of Montezuma, in New Mexico, when it closed its doors in 1972.
In addition to his educational work, Mons. Sahagún de la Parra dedicated himself to several social projects that he himself financed, making clear his deep commitment to social justice. Mons. Fernández Hurtado recalls that in the region of the Mezquital Valley, where people lived “precariously in Jacales (humble huts),” promoted the construction of small houses so they could live dignity.
He also encouraged the seminarians to get involved in these works. “We were going to help the masons (…) and in the afternoon we gave catechism,” he recalls.
On October 11, 1985, San John Paul II erected the diocese of Lázaro Cárdenas and, due to the extensive experience of Mons. Sahagún de la Parra, in Hidalgo, he chose him as the bishop for this new jurisdiction that detached himself from the Archdiocese of Morelia and the Diocese of Apatzingán.
Mons. Sahagún de la Parra assumed as the first bishop of Lázaro Cárdenas on December 12, 1985, a new challenge in its tireless service to the Catholic Church.
Your deal with others
Mons. Fernández Hurtado remembers with admiration that, in addition to being a great structure builder, Mons. Jesús Sahagún de la Parra was a more human and decent communities builder.
He recognizes him as a “kind, generous and very practical” person. Something that stands out from the bishop is his “great respect for the natives, that is, always thinking about human dignity,” he adds.
As a pastoral leader, Mons. Sahagún de la Parra showed his priests “the closeness, trust”, deeply worrying about his personal training. In addition, he promoted the good relationship between priests and laity, involving the latter actively in the organizational life of the Church.
When Mons. Flores Hurtado was appointed bishop of Tuxtepec, then Archbishop of Durango and later of Tlalnepantla, always sought the advice of Mons. Jesús Sahagún de la Parra, who reiterated the same recommendation to maintain “near the priests, treat them with goodness, drive them and, as a consequence, also to the laity”.
Council stage
In 1962, Pope San Juan XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council with the purpose of updating the Church to changes in the modern world. Despite having only one year as bishop, Mons. Jesús Sahagún de la Parra was called to participate in this ecclesial event. He attended three of the four sessions of the Council, opened on October 11, 1962 in the Basilica of San Pedro before more than two thousand conciliar parents around the world.
According to a Published article For Mexican researcher and historian P. Juan Carlos Casas, just over 40 Mexican bishops attended the reconcile classroom between 1962 and 1965, taking the floor 26 times.
He describes that at that time, Mexico had approximately 35 million inhabitants, of which 98% declared Catholic. The priority concerns of Mexican bishops in the council included “the increase in vocations, the construction of temples and seminars, the moralization of a permissive and secularized society, the communist threat.”
There are few records on the participation of Mons. Sahagún de la Parra. However, in his book Diocese of Tula: Notes on its first 25 years Briefly recounts his experience in the council, describing him as “an accumulation of vital experiences.”
In his story, he mentions that he witnessed the joint work of the bishops of the world “united by the same ideals: that the Church authenticly fulfilled the mission of making Christ present at this stage of humanity.”
Currently, only four conciliar parents are still alive, in addition to Mons. Sahagún de la Parra. This is Mons. Victorinus Young Kong-Hi, Archbishop Emeritus of Gwangju (South Korea); Mons. Daniel Versteteetee, Bishop Emeritus of Klerksdorp (South Africa), both with 100 years; and Nigerian Cardinal Mons. Francis Arinze, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, with 92 years.
The Eucharist, the center of his life
At 103, Mons. José de Jesús Sahagún de la Parra remains a living testimony of faith and delivery. For Mons. Fernández Hurtado, his longevity is no accident, but the fruit of two essential pillars in his life: the Eucharist and contact with people.
When Mons. Fernández Hurtado had the opportunity to visit him to celebrate his centenary, he was surprised to see that his “great reception capacity” remained intact and that despite the passage of time “he received many people and with all, because lay people went to visit him and always the doors were open for all of them”.
The daily life of Mons. Sahagún de la Parra takes place in the serenity of his home, attended with care by the diocesan sisters of Our Lady of Los Angeles in Michoacán.
Consulted by ACI Press – to specify that for now the bishop does not grant interviews or receives visits – the religious share that the prelate “celebrates the Eucharist daily. It is one of the reasons that has kept it strong, cheerful.”
Some of the things that the religious have learned from the bishop is that “we have invited us to live happy, to be generous in our life, to live with peace, always ask God to give us their strength.”
“It has been a very generous person, which easily emerges from material goods to help others,” said the sisters.
Diego López Colín
I am a graduate of journalism at the Carlos Septién García school with experience of religious institutional communication. Since 2016 I write for digital media and, since 2018, I report the most important news about the Catholic event in Mexico for the Ewtn news channel. ACI Press correspondent in Mexico since 2023.