Francisco Gonzalez Cruz
José Gregorio Hernández is a holy man, there is no doubt about that for those who have studied his life and work in depth. Nor for the vast majority of Venezuelans, believers or not, who recognize him as a person full of virtues, who was trained to serve in an admirable combination of science and goodness.
That is why its image is in the universities and in the streets, in scientific institutes and in most family homes, it rolls everywhere in buses and trucks, it is in squares and along the roads and paths throughout the territory. Venezuelan. And he walks hanging on people’s necks, kept in their wallets and in their hearts.
That is Dr. José Gregorio Hernández, the most well-known and loved character in the entire history and geography of our country, and his figure has transcended national boundaries for years. After his formal beatification by the Catholic Church on April 30, 2021, he entered Catholic temples, but he was already scattered everywhere in chapels and little chapels built by people. In an excellent work led by BE Cardinal Baltazar Porras, who is the main promoter of it in recent times, his remains were distributed to all the dioceses of Venezuela and various temples in America and Europe.
The canonization process will be much shorter than the beatification process, since the most important things, which are his heroic virtues and the enormous devotion he inspires, are already clearly proven. Pope Francis has already publicly stated that he is going to be canonized, and his signature has already been stamped on the document authorizing it.
The fact is that the Catholic Church, like any formal organization, has its procedures, and this one, which is two thousand years old, has become a difficult and complex bureaucratic framework that even the efforts of several pontiffs have not managed to alleviate. Pope Francis began his pontificate with the creation of a group of 9 cardinals representing all continents, the (C9), to advance the transformation needed by the people who serve in the Roman Curia, and the reform of its structures, including the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.
The important thing in all this is that we have a person who can serve as a model for the Possible Venezuela, which the vast majority of Venezuelans want. A person who unites us all because he served everyone with love and science. He served the rich and with preference the poor, believers or non-believers, even two of his best friends were atheists. This kindness extended to every human person and to the entire society, which he served with honesty and demonstrated competence.
A humble man born into a family of hardworking people, arrived as immigrants to the small town of Isnotú, Trujillo state, Benigno from Boconó and Josefa Antonia from the town of Pedraza in the Barine plains. There they prospered thanks to their work and the love they earned from all their neighbors. They had a grocery store and an inn that was a meeting place for the community, and some coffee plantations. There the child was formed in his personality and his religiosity.
Then in Caracas he obtained his high school diploma and became the best student at the Central University of Venezuela, to return to his town of Isnotú to cure the sick and put himself at the service of his community, in the construction of the aqueduct, road repairs and other jobs. of local improvement. He goes to Caracas to study at the Pasteur Institute in Paris financed by the government based on a consultation with the doctors of Caracas, who did not doubt that the right candidate was this man from the countryside.
He returned to the capital to serve the creation of experimental medicine at the Vargas Hospital and the modernization of the classes and laboratories at his University, and his main mission, which was to cure the sick, an activity to which he was dedicated. He also took care of his spirit with an admirable religious praxis. He combined with high quality his wisdom, culture, his scientific training, his humility and his elegance, his polite treatment of everyone, his power to listen and converse, play the piano and violin, dance, and walk through his city and attend the retreats in Plaza Bolívar. He was a person of integrity and integrity.
For all that and much more, José Gregorio Hernández is a saint.
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