This Saturday, May 6, the metropolitan archbishop of Brasilia, Cardinal Paulo Cezar Costa, presided over the holy mass with the rite of beatification of Monsignor Jacinto Vera, the first Bishop of Uruguay, at the Centenario Stadium in Montevideo.
Among the many concelebrants were Cardinal Daniel Sturla, Archbishop of Montevideo; Cardinal Mario Aurelio Poli, Archbishop of Buenos Aires and Primate of Argentina; Monsignor Gianfranco Gallone, Apostolic Nuncio in Uruguay.
The ceremony was also attended by the President of the Republic Luis Lacalle Pou, Vice President Beatriz Argimón, José Mujica, Lucía Topolansky, Pedro Bordaberry, Guido Manini Ríos, Álvaro Delgado, and other government authorities.
The rainy day did not prevent the Olympic Tribune from hosting more than 15,000 people for holy mass, arriving at the meeting point early in the morning, where an artistic preview was held with songs, performances and other performances.
Don Jacinto Vera was born on July 3, 1813 on a ship, in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Brazil, when his family was heading to Uruguay from the Canary Islands. As a young man he worked in the fields with his family, in Maldonado and Toledo. He discovered his vocation at the age of 19. Incorporated into the army, he was discharged by General Oribe so that he could continue his priestly studies. In the absence of training in Uruguay, he moved to Buenos Aires to study. He celebrated his first mass there, on June 6, 1841.
Lieutenant priest and then parish priest of the Villa de Guadalupe de Canelones for 17 years. He was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Uruguay on October 4, 1859; consecrated bishop in the Iglesia Matriz of Montevideo on July 16, 1865. He participated in the First Vatican Council in 1870. First bishop of Montevideo since July 13, 1878. He died during a mission he was carrying out in Pan de Azúcar, on May 6 of 1881.
