Today, in Valladolid, Spain, Father Bernardo de Hoyos
(1711-1735) was beatified. I previously mentioned Father de Hoyos on this blog. Here is a précis of Father Adolfo Nicolás'
letter to the Jesuits. The full text of the letter can be read here Bernard de Hoyos letter.pdf
"He is considered the first apostle of the Sacred Heart
in Spain. To recapture who he was and what he contributed, I offer some
biographical information that should be understood in the religious and
cultural context of the 18th century." Thus begins Nicolás' for this occasion. More than a century ago, in 1895, the cause
for Father De Hoyos was introduced; due to many ecclesiastical vicissitudes and
the political history of Spain, it was repeatedly postponed. Father Nicolás, in
his letter, traces the major events in the very short life of the newly
beatified who died on the 29th of November 1735 at the age of 24. Near to the
time of his death, de Hoyos was ordained a priest and in Tertianship.
"His
reputation for holiness," the letter continues. "spread immediately after his
death. However, because of the difficult situation in which the Society
found itself opposed by the Jansenists, the cause for beatification was not
introduced at that time. Later the suppression of the Society would leave
many projects unfinished. When the Society was restored in 1814 by Pope Pius
VII, a strong devotion to the Sacred Heart emerged in the whole Church. In accord
with the religious sensibilities of the time, the reborn Society dedicated
itself to the spread and propagation of this devotion with significant
results." The letter outlines the steps of this recovery of the devotion
to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, beginning with Jesuits' General Congregation 31st in
1965, through the generalate of Father Pedro Arrupe and then with generalate of Father Peter Hans Kolvenbach.
Then Father Nicolás goes on: "Bernardo de Hoyos's passion for
the Heart of Jesus faithfully corresponds to the devotion that Saint Ignatius
felt for Jesus poor and humble, before whom he asks that our affections be
moved in order to accompany Him in each step of His life: As companions with
him on mission, his way is our way (GC35, D. 2, nº 14), so that in what we do
in the world there must always be a transparency to God (GC35, D. 2, nº 10). On
the occasion of this beatification, I invite the whole Society, together with
our collaborators, to renew our personal love of Jesus Christ and to open
ourselves to the grace of identifying ourselves with Him, so that in Nadal's
words, we might understand with His understanding; will with His will; remember
with His memory; and that our entire being, living, and doing be not centered
in us, but in Christ (MHSI vol 90. p.122; GC35, D. 2, nº14), as the
cornerstone of the particular vocation to which each of us has been
called."
Father Nicolás concludes his letter: "May the Father who has
hidden these things from the wise and the learned and has revealed them to the
childlike (Mt 11, 25) through the intercession of Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos,
grant the Society the grace of accomplishing its mission of being in the Church
a loving response to Him who was pierced by the pain and the aggressive
injustice of a world in need of forgiveness and reconciliation."
May Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos show us the way to the Heart of Jesus!
