Thousands attend beatification of Spanish priest

Valladolid, Spain: April 21, 2010, (PCTV Newsdesk)

Thousands of Catholics from around the world attended the beatification ceremony for Fr. Bernardo Francisco de Hoyos, which was held in Valladolid, Spain on Monday.

The Mass, which began at 10:30 a.m. in the Valladolid Cathedral, was celebrated by Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, the Archbishop of Madrid. Also present were the Archbishop Braulio Rodríguez of Toledo and Archbishop Ricardo Blázquez of Valladolid.

Archbishop Blázquez began the ceremony with a brief biography of Fr. Hoyos in which he described the influence of the Jesuit novices on the young blessed. It was an influence that eventually led him to join the Society of Jesus.

Bernardo de Hoyos was born on August 20, 1711 in Valladolid, Spain. When he was 14 years old, he was admitted to the Jesuit novitiate. He was ordained a priest nine years later.

When he was introduced the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he immediately desired to share it with the world. He asked his spiritual director to help him write a booklet called, "The Hidden Treasure of the Sacred Heart of Jesus." Bernardo was put in charge of obtaining the necessary funding for the publication of the booklets so he sent samples to the royal household and members of the clergy. Within a few years, the book was on its eighth publication, and many bishops granted indulgences to those who read it.

Only one year after his ordination, Fr. Bernardo contracted Typhus. He died in 1735 at the age of 24.

He was declared venerable by Pope John Paul II on January 12, 1996.

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