Farewell to a true son of the Father and Founder

One of the Schoenstatt founders in Ecuador, Father Hugo Vásquez Almazán, died

ECUADOR, Father Eduardo Auza. Tuesday, May 6^th, Father Hugo Vásquez Almazán died at the age of 73. Father Hugo belonged to the Schoenstatt Institute of Diocesan Priests. He also belonged to the select and very small group of Ecuadorians who knew and had personal contact with Father Joseph Kentenich. Surely, the first news that the Founder received about Ecuador came directly from him.

Father Hugo was also a very good priest. He was a remarkable, simple, and multi-faceted man. He was the author of several books, articles, and magazines through which he made the Father and Founder’s thinking and the spirituality of the Covenant of Love known. These writings made him a very well known priest among the clergy in Guayaquil and Ecuador, and he became a point of reference for others. He was untiring in doing research, and he contributed in shaping the identity of the people and the Church in Ecuador through his studies. One of his works, Our Contribution to Heaven, is very well known; in it he relates about the lives of many Ecuadorian Catholic personalities who died in the odor of sanctity. Among them, he wrote several accounts about Narcisita of Jesus, the next Ecuadorian saint who will be canonized in Rome by Benedict XVI on October 12, 2008.

He faithfully and selflessly served the Ecuadorian Schoenstatt Family

Father Hugo was also the founder of a secular institute: the Community of Guadalupanas, whose main devotion was to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the American continent. Furthermore he encouraged many parish groups in his task as a pastor. In Guayaquil he was Pastor of Our Lady of Elevation, of Saint Edward, and of Saint Anthony Mary Claret. His last work within a parish was in the well-known area of Bellavista in the city of Guayaquil, at the Parish of Our Lady of Altoetting and of Unity, a Marian devotion of German origin.

He faithfully and selflessly served the Ecuadorian Schoenstatt Family. In Guayaquil he celebrated the Covenant Mass every month in the Shrine, and he was the author of many poems and cantatas in which he manifested his affectionate love of Mary. At the consecration of the Quito City Shrine, he presented a beautiful cantata, which will remain as a source of inspiration for prayer, meditation, and will keep the mission of Marian instrument consciousness alive. His testimonies about the Founding Father helped the newly formed Ecuadorian family during the 1960’s-1970’s to fall in love with prophetic charism of Father Kentenich.

Many more things could be said about Father Hugo. For now we will only express gratitude to God and the Blessed Mother for his forty years of priestly life, and for all that he gave through his priesthood. May he continue to give his priestly blessing to the Schoenstatt Family from the Eternal Schoenstatt so that it will love the entire Church more, like he did. Thank you, Father Hugo.

Some testimonies

Sister M. Virginia Álvarez writes: "Our beloved Father Hugo Vásquez Almazán was one of the privileged few Ecuadorians who knew Father Kentenich personally around the year 1965. He visited him in Milwaukee (USA) on July 7^th, coming from Regina Cleri at Ponce, Puerto Rico where he was studying.

He forged his priestly ideal through the wise and paternal guidance of Father Kentenich, who personally introduced him to the Covenant of Love with the Blessed Mother in the Schoenstatt Shrine, and later he accepted him into the Schoenstatt Institute of Diocesan Priests. He was the first Latin American priest who entered the Institute. This made the Priestly Community of the Work international (August 4, 1962); since up to that time there were only German members.

Precisely on May 3^rd, four days ago, he brought his last poetic legacy to the Schoenstatt Shrine of Guayaquil. It is a poetic hymn dedicated to the future saint, Narcisa of Jesus. She was a lay woman of our country and a seamstress by profession. She was a dedicated catechist who dedicated herself to children and the lowly.

Angie Santos relates an anecdote about Father Hugo: "Having known Father Kentenich in Milwaukee marked his life. He was always willing to give his testimony about this encounter, and recently he published a book about his experience. One of his anecdotes was about one of Father Kentenich’s birthdays; Father Hugo, a seminarian at that time, gave him his last cigarette, which the Founder of Schoenstatt mentioned in one of his homilies."

Translation: Celina Garza, Harlingen, TX, USA/amj