Padre Francisco Vizcarra Ruiz devoted his life on this earth to loving the faithful as Jesus loves him. The result of his work continues to yield fruit in many ways in the rural town of Zapotiltic, Jalisco, Mexico.
He died in 1958 but his spirit is seen and felt throughout this arid, mountainous area – the parish organizations, annual community events he established, and of course in the amazing 2,000 seat “Church of Our Lord of Forgiveness” (Spanish: El Templo de Nuestro Señor del Perdon) which he and the townspeople erected to replace the earthquake weakened parish church. The parish church was completed and dedicated in the 1950’s. Even today it dominates the town plaza and the city’s skyline. It is said visitors would ask Father Francisco, “isn’t this too big for Zapotiltic?” Father Francisco would answer, “don’t you think it’s still not big enough for Jesus?”
THE TRANSFER OF FR. FRANCISCO’S REMAINS FROM THE CEMETERY TO THE CHURCH SANCTUARY
Following a long illness, Fr. Francisco, 75, died November 1, 1958 – the date the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of All Saints. He was buried in the Zapotiltic cemetery. Soon thereafter townspeople began to observe an oily substance seeping from his crypt. The seepage continued for six years. Some remember the liquid “smelled like roses.” Others were amazed “the seeping liquid did not have a disagreeable odor” even after six years. Individuals would go to the cemetery to gather the liquid into vials and small bottles to keep in their homes.
On May 9, 1968, the Archbishop of Colima ordered Father Francisco’s remains should be transferred from the cemetery to the church’s sanctuary. The pastor, several visiting priests, a Bishop and thousands of parishioners and visitors from nearby communities witnessed the events of that day – the casket’s exhumation, procession to the church and solemn Mass.
Pictures of the church’s construction and Fr. Francisco’s funeral were preserved by Mr. Guillermo Martinez Hernandez, who had assisted Fr. Francisco as one of the key coordinators of the hundreds of laborers and support volunteers who built the church as well as parish choir master. The photographs appearing below are published with the permission of Mr. Martinez’s daughter, Beatriz, of Zapotiltic.
At the funeral in 1958, the townspeople showed the deep affection and love they had for the energetic, dedicated, holy pastor. Throngs of mourners from Zapotiltic and surrounding towns attended the Mass, then accompanied his casket to its resting place in the Zapotiltic community cemetery.
My decision to make a month-long visit to Spain gave birth when I learned that the Texas Prelature of Opus Dei was organizing a nine-day tour of cities important in the life of the Prelature’s founder, St. Josemaria. The nine day pilgrimage was to take place as we made our way to join an expected 100,000 persons at an outdoor Mass in Madrid, to celebrate the recognition of St. Josemaria’s successor, Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, as Blessed. It turns out nearly 200,000 people were at the Mass. This video report is the first of several I will post in the coming weeks regarding our Opus Dei pilgrimage visits to those key cities we hear about in stories of the life of St. Josemaria. It is a privilege to be able to visit these locations, even though some structures where St. Josemaria and/or members of his family resided – as all things of this world – have “passed on.” But the towns, cities, the neighborhoods are still there. Please allow me to explain why it has taken so long to post this video. And why the below report is only the first part of three reports regarding our nine-day pilgrimage. Following the Opus Dei pilgrimage, I stayed on, in Spain. For the past three weeks I have been on my own personal quest to learn how much basis there is to the legend, now widely circulated even on the Internet, that – in the 9th Century – our AGRAZ ancestor saved the life of King Alfonso II, The Chaste, when the Muslim Arabs began to battle their way up the Iberian Peninsula – to battle the same frustrations that Julius Caesar encountered in this land centuries earlier: the cold, the wind, the rain, the mountains and valleys and the people who would just not stop fighting. Unlike the Romans, this time, the Muslim Arabs had to deal with the visigoth, Catholic, “ferocious barbarians” of Asturias and Galicia inhabiting the land in the ninth century. This neophyte researcher has been busy collecting as much documentary data as possible. Some, I learned, is already in digital form. But the “real story” – who exactly was my ancestor – is nowhere to be found in the digital archives. Perhaps it will also not be found in original documents, either. Also, other hurdles: I have been confronted with balky Internet connections, fighting my efforts to upload my reports to this site. And finally, need I mention the “blessing” of today’s digital photography world which allows us to take lots, and lots, and even more, images? Oh, for the former world of just 4 or 5 rolls of KodaChrome slides! But I bravely slog through the thousands of images and video files with my Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Audition, and Adobe Photoshop, and then finally produce these unworthy video report files with my Apple Final Cut Pro. I hope they will at least be a bit entertaining and informative, both about the Opus Dei pilgrimage and about my search, both of which are admittedly probably interesting only to those near to us, such as family and friends. Nevertheless, after too much explanation, here is my first offering regarding the Texas group: Part One – Texas Group Beatification Visit, September 2014.
Of course, I took it easy, too, in Oviedo. The evening I arrived, I was hungry. Despite the rain and cool air, I borrowed an umbrella from the concierge at the Husa Santo Domingo Plaza Hotel (excellent, modern and great staff) and set out walking. Steps, and hills on the way to the Casco Historico – what they call the historic parts of Spanish cities. Oviedo is not a huge touristy city like others in the southern areas. The rain drops kept me company for the 6 minutes it took me to get to the Boulevar de La Sidra.
Boulevar de La SidraVegetables in lieu of patatas.
The food at these restaurants is actually pretty good. Along with the mandatory “bocadillos con patatas” – small, medium or large delicious baguette bread stuffed with Spanish jamon, cheese, Spanish tortilla, or other goodies – they also serve excellent 100% pork meat hamburgers and of course sea food such as squid, octopus, and other very fresh delicacies. I felt in the mood for vegetables and this is what I got. That is thinly sliced zucchini surrounding onions, tomatoes, small asparagus, surrounded by pine nuts. It was as delicious as it looks.
For the drink, I found out the local specialty is Sidra – Spanish for Apple Cider. This Sidra is fermented, 5.9% alcohol. Delicious and refreshing. I just today heard on the Spanish TVE newscast that Madrid government – the Partido Popular – is trying to make it illegal to serve Sidra to minors under 18 years of age. The local Asturias Principalite (state) government officials are upset about this “meddling” in the Asturias traditional cultural heritage. Currently, anybody can buy and drink Sidra. You can’t drink Sidra if it isn’t served by the waiter properly.
Nobody can tell me how the practice started. You do need a steady hand, though!
After immersing myself into the Agraz name research at the Oviedo Cathedral archives, I took a tour of the museum. The Oviedo Cathedral is a Gothic church in the truest sense of Gothic. Nothing “Neo-gothic” or Neo anything about this beautiful church, which was first started in the Ninth century by King Alfonso II when he decided to rule his Kingdom of Asturias from Oviedo and moved his court here.
As I prepared to travel to Spain, several folks asked me to keep them up to date regarding what I found. Today’s report: Oviedo, Asturias, Spain. The problem with asking is that you get answers! Today, in Oviedo, Asturias, I was able to speak with the director of the Archivos del Arzobispado de Oviedo, Don Agustín Nevia Ballina, “Canonigo de la Catedral” and Director of the Archivo Histórico Diocesana – a very helpful man who has spent his entire life studying the history of Asturias. I learned so many things that I will have to write a longer message soon. I am in the process of trying to remember everything he told me. Despite the fact that while in Seville I had coffee in the Cafe Al Grano (jee, jee) *
* NOTE: In Spanish, Ruth keeps telling me to just tell her things, “Al Grano” that is – “Don’t tell me how to build a watch, just tell me the time”…
Still, as you will see, if you continue reading, it will must take a bit of time to tell you what I learned in Oviedo today.
FIRST, THE ONLY GOOD NEWS FROM OVIEDO:
GOOD NEWS – I HAVE FOUND A CREDIBLE PICTURE (PAINTING) OF KING ALFONSO II. On the wall of the Museum gallery within the Catedral de Oviedo – the major cathedral that the King ordered to be built in the Ninth Century, which was then rebuilt several years later. Visitors are awed by the gothic temple it is today, and the impressive examples of gothic stone work and architecture.
NOW, THE NOT SO GOOD NEWS:
Fact Number One: NO MENTION OF FAITHFUL SERVANT “AGRAZ” IN KING ALFONSO II’s LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT LEAVING ALL HIS PROPERTY AND “SIERVOS” TO THE CHURCH
At least here in Oviedo, from where King Alfonso II, The Chaste ruled his kingdom, there is simply NO mention of any Agraz being a “servidor” of the King as far as the Director could find. And you would think that with such a significant event – that someone had saved his life! – King Alfonso would have remembered his valiant servidor in his will, right? Or at least that by the time the King wrote his will the valiant servidor would have been one of the nobles who witnessed the King’s will… Don Agustín showed me a true replica of the Will of King Alfonso II, complete with the holes in the corners of the pages where it had been chained to some pedestal in those times. Don Agustín was the primary translator and publisher of the publication of the Will of King Alfonso II. The will was witnessed by fifty-three (53) bishops, abbots, clerics, and noblemen, all of his court, and further, the King left not only all his property, real and personal, but also all of his siervos to the service of the Church. Well, we found NO MENTION of “Agraz” – such a worthy servant, anywhere within the four corners of the will either as being passed on the Church, or as a witness to the will.
Fact number Two: (still disappointing)
Don Agustín, the director of the Archives and I spent most of the day together examining my simple question. Did the Agraz ancestor truly receive his title, lands, name, and coat of arms in the ninth century. Or, as Don Agustín put the question: Did he take the name of AGRAZ in the Ninth Century? Answer: NO! Don Agustín kindly observed a very obvious fact. That in the ninth century, Kings and literate people in Asturias simply DID NOT SPEAK SPANISH, or CASTILLIAN. Further, remember King Alfonso II was the first KING OF ASTURIAS. Not KING OF CASTILLE. And even if some people in the Kingdom of Castille spoke their ancient version of Castillian in Castille, this ASTURIAN, VISIGOTHIC king spoke in LATIN, and would NOT speak in Castilian. It is doubtful he would have used the Castillian word “Agraz” in any context, in the learned opinion of Don Agustín. So, a collateral question, did the term “AGRAZ” even exist in LATIN, in those days? Well… NO. Agraz in todays’ Spanish means, bitter or immature taste, usually associated with grapes in a vineyard just prior to becoming ripe, ready for harvest. No one would have said “Agraz” in describing the condition of immature grapes in a vineyard, even in Latin. They might have said that the grapes were ‘ACERBUS’ in LATIN, meaning the grapes are sour. The Director pulled out his favorite, well-worn Latin-Spanish dictionary and showed me the definition of the Latin adjective ACERBUS (definition in Spanish).
Definition of Latin adjective, Acerbus
Don Agustín is a published author and world-known translator of ancient Latin manuscripts. He was chief translator of the Will of King Alfonso II. He is: Licenciado en Lenguas Clásicas y en Filología Bíblica Trilingüe, Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca.
HOPE STILL SPRINGS ETERNAL #1: Don Agustín is truly a kind man. He didn’t want me to go away sad. He reminded me that over the centuries names of things and people are corrupted, changed, and modified. And he said because of the way people commonly change/translate/corrupt terms in ordinary usage, then there is a very remote possibility that the descendants or relatives of one of the nobles who witnessed the will, might have become “Agraz” — Here is his thinking:
One of the witnesses of the Will of King Alfonso II was an Abbot named ARGERICO
Don Agustín’s learned opinion is that perhaps, maybe, by chance, “por azar” the name ARGERICO was corrupted into the name AGRAZ by the time of the Reconquista, which everybody knows, ended in 1492, 6 centuries after the alleged valiant event occurred in the Ninth Century involving our alleged ancestor.
HOPE STILL SPRINGS ETERNAL #2: The alleged “legend” of my ancestor’s heroic exploits expressly states the battle where he valiantly fought off the band of Moors occurred in Betanzos, Galicia, which was at that time within the Kingdom of Asturias, but which now is a totally different geographic part of Spain, although adjacent to Asturias. And, this is very mountainous land. Betanzos, Galicia is many, many mountains and valleys away from Oviedo. Tomorrow, I travel – by bus – to Betanzos and A Coruna, Galicia. Let’s see what I find.
During my trip to Crestview, Florida, the first week of May, 2014, I had planned to attend two events: First Holy Communion Liturgy with granddaughter Gabriela Jenkins, 8, and Bob Sikes Elementary School Kindergarten Class “Field Day” with granddaughter Simone Jenkins, 6. Well, after attending Simone’s “Field Day” I just had to stay an extra day to attend Gabriela’s 2nd Grade “Field Day” It was well worth the wait. It took a bit longer to compile, produce, and edit the video memorializing Gabriela’s event, but here it is:
Grandpa Agraz traveled from Houston to Crestview, Florida in May 2014. Two major events transpired. First, Field Day at Bob Sikes Elementary School, where Simone Jenkins (granddaughter) was one of the “star athletes.” These videos give you a flavor of the day.
FIRST VIDEO: THE TUG OF WAR
Simone’s team, with the teal-colored shirts, won first prize.
SECOND VIDEO: THE FISHERMAN’S CHALLENGE
The kindergarten children are the “fish” who get away with the “bait” which is really stringy gummy-bears.
THIRD VIDEO: PICTURES AND MUSIC
Just had some extra pictures and Simon’s sister, Gabriella, suggested the song to use.
These videos are big files and might take a while to download. Hope you enjoy.
Pictures of the church’s construction and Fr. Francisco’s funeral were preserved by Mr. Guillermo Martinez Hernandez, who had assisted Fr. Francisco as one of the key coordinators of the hundreds of laborers and support volunteers who built the church as well as parish choir master. The photographs appearing below are published with the permission of Mr. Martinez’s daughter, Beatriz, of Zapotiltic.
