The last day of the month of April this year turned out to be a joy-filled day all over Venezuela. On that day the people of Venezuela forgot their many problems and pain and celebrated the honour accorded to a person whom they had loved and revered for years – Dr. José Gregorio Hernández. He was beatified that day by the Catholic Church.
But long before the Church decided to officially declare him a ‘Blessed,’ Venezuelans had been praying to this ‘Doctor of the Poor.’ Writing in America magazine (07 May 2021), Luz Marine Diaz, a Venezuelan herself, says, “When Venezuelans get sick, it is typical for us to ask José Gregorio Hernández to intercede for us. From our youngest days, we are told about how this good and generous doctor showed special care for the poorest in our society.”
Hernández was born on 26 October 1864 in a village in the state of Trujillo in Venezuela. When he was just 12 years old, he came up with a booklet titled, Short and Easy Way to Hear Mass with Devotion. His favorite books included Thomas of Kempis’s The Imitation of Christ and a biography of Saint Teresa of Ávila. Although he nursed a desire to become a monk, he studied medicine at the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas, the country’s capital. After completing his studies, he went back to Trujillo to work as a physician. A government grant enabled him to go to Paris for further studies in medicine. He travelled also to Berlin, Madrid and New York to study other fields of medicine, such as experimental physiology and bacteriology.
Fr M A Joe Antony SJ
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