This Sunday, music became a very special medium to understand more about the life of the Blessed José Gregorio Hernández, when the celebration of the Great concert tales on the way to holinesswithin the framework of the campaign that promotes the Archdiocese of Caracas to promote the life of the first Saints of Venezuela.
The Blessed José Gregorio Hernández and Mother Carmen Rendiles, a layman and a religious, will be canonized this October 19 by Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican.
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The concert was held in the Aula Magna of the Central University of Venezuela, the alma mater of the Blessed José Gregorio, with the performance of the Simón Díaz Orchestra – belonging to the award -winning national and children’s and children’s orchestral and children’s choirs -, together with various interpreters and folklorists.
In his opening words, the Archbishop of Caracas, Mons. Raúl Biord, recalled that it was at the Central University of Venezuela where José Gregorio graduated as a doctor and then exercised as a professor. “Today we dress in music and faith to celebrate its last graduation: it graduates as a saint,” said the archbishop before the auditorium of more than two thousand people.
Mons. Biord also thanked companies and other public and private entities that make possible social and cultural initiatives around canonization, which he said, has become a country, the country, at the real time to generate hope, favor the encounter and encourage to follow the example of our saints. “
“We want anyone to stay outside this celebration, because it is not just the canonization of Dos Santos, it is also the canonization of a town, from Venezuela. From now on, Venezuela will not be just that Tierra de Gracia which Columbus described for the beauty of his nature, but also – since October 19 – is forever the land of Santos, ”he added.
The concert delved into the historical context of José Gregorio through the music of his time, born in the second half of the nineteenth century in a small rural town of the Venezuelan Andes where he spent most of his childhood, and then move to Caracas to continue his basic studies.
Blessed decided to devote himself to medicine and his academic excellence allowed him to obtain a scholarship from the Venezuelan State to train in Europe, where he was in contact with the most advanced of his field and then he would take back to Venezuela, dedicating himself to modernizing national medicine, while generously attending to the most needy.
The Archdiocese of Caracas has different activities for October 19, being the most relevant thanksgiving Mass that will take place on Saturday, October 25 at the Simón Bolívar Monumental Stadium in Caracas, which will bring together all the bishops of the country, some international guests already more than 30,000 Venezuelan devotees that will celebrate the registration of the names of their compatriots in the book of the saints.
For this Mass, the Archdiocese has arranged A pre -registration record that it is necessary to fill in to be able to enter the Monumental stadium.
Andrés Henríquez
I was born in Caracas in 1996. I am a writer for ACI Press and correspondent of EWTN since 2023. Since then, I cover events of the Catholic Church in Venezuela, Latin America and the world. I have more than 6 years of experience in bilingual media. In addition, in Venezuela I have worked from various fields for freedom and respect for fundamental rights in the country. I am a member of the Regnum Christi Federation since 2014.