The Final Years
In 1955, I did not know that my grand-uncle, 67 years old, was under “house arrest,” with strict orders not to leave the church building at any time. This strict limitation on his movements had been imposed on a holy priest who had served several Archbishops of Guadalajara, had endured during the Cristero War three years of war-time hiding from Mexican Army troops trying to kill Mexican priests, bishops, and any religious men and women. As pastor of many parishes throughout southern Jalisco, he had guided the spiritual lives of thousands of parishioners.
Yet, this tall, broad-shouldered, strong-willed, highly intelligent and progressive veteran priest with a proven record of finding new, better and approved ways of fulfill
ing the Church’s Social Doctrine, was under strict orders not to leave the small church in Zapotiltic. In 1955, when I met him, he was pastor in name only, because the Archbishop of Guadalajara had assigned a coadjutor pastor to administer the parish’s affairs, effectively removing my grand-uncle from control of the parish.
I have been unable to learn the complete details about what led to his confinement, but I will share in the sketchy information I learned from interviews, reading published reports and the limited archival materials that I have been able to review
After more than 10 years the new magnificent church building slowly took shape. However, it appears that as early as 1953 or 1954, a few influential parishioners who had either donated or pledged, or “invested” funds began to complain to the Archbishop of Guadalajara, heaping calumny upon calumny upon their pastor. They alleged mismanagement of the construction funds. They said they had “invested” in the project and that they now wanted their money returned. Fr. Francisco had said he could not re-pay, asking them to have patience, that if they wanted their money returned – money which perhaps may have been “donated” rather than “invested” – they would get their money eventually. Father Francisco had already spent the large sums of money to buy the hundreds of tons of steel and cement to build the church and to obtain tools and other construction materials. Older residents of Zapotiltic still remember seeing railroad cars arriving daily, during those years, carrying tons of cement, steel rods, huge steel beams, materials, and equipment obviously required for such a large construction project. Fr. Francisco had faithfully paid the vendors in full for the materials.
The lack of cash flow at this time was by an unfortunate confluence of political and historical events in the years following the end of the Second World War. But the rich folks would not accept his explanations and did not want to consider the obvious mitigating conditions. They – really, it may have been only two persons – complained so much and threatened legal action, that in order to appease the complainants, the Archbishop named a coadjutor Pastor to review the parish administrative matters while Fr. Francisco was kept from any further connection with the church project or financial resources.
At the insistence of these two persons, the Archbishop imposed an additional condition that seemed to please the frustrated investors. Fr. Francisco became a virtual prisoner, never to leave his house, pending satisfaction of the “debt.” He was forbidden to
leave the Santuario. So this chapel became Fr. Francisco’s “sanctuary“ in-fact as well as in-name. Today, far removed from those events, I consider the happenstance that while being shut-in 24-hours a day, Fr. Francisco couldn’t have been in a better place – along with the sacramental presence of the Our Lord, he also was able to gaze upon the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, mother of God. Mary, who also suffered so much during her lifetime. During the long hours alone in the chapel, having to endure what would, under other circumstances appear to be his desolation, he must have remembered the words the “lady on Tepeyac Hill spoke to St. Juan Diego:
“Am I not here, I who am your mother? Do you need anything more? Let nothing else worry you, or disturb you.”
I am told that finally a large group of parishioners eventually appealed to the Archbishop to show more compassion to my grand uncle than the two rich people were showing. Eventually strict confinement was no longer required. Nevertheless Fr. Francisco was told not to leave Zapotiltic.Another fact I learned during my research.
During the 1950’s the always enthusiastic Fr. Francisco, already showing signs of long years of hard work under seemingly insurmountable problems took on yet another project. Following Mexican laws, he encouraged the formation of a small board to begin a public works project to bring fresh water from nearby snow-covered mountains and thus improve the unhealthy state of municipal drinking water in Zapotiltic. With the help of hydraulic engineers and more volunteer laborers from his parish, Fr. Francisco began the project to provide year-round supplies of badly needed clean drinking water. While making one of his regular inspection visits into the mountains, his driver had to maneuver along steep and narrow construction roads. The four-wheel vehicle overturned and slid down a cliff. Fr. Francisco never fully recovered from severe injuries sustained in that accident.
This injury added one more ailment for Fr. Francisco to endure. Healthcare was spotty at best in those years, and even harder to obtain while living as a priest in rural mountain villages of southern Jalisco, almost a full day’s trip away from the modern hospitals in Guadalajara. While reviewing the few records I was given permission to read in the Archdiocesan Archives of Guadalajara I learned that throughout his life he also was treated for other health problems.
In 1958, Fr. Francisco was rushed to a Guadalajara hospital, seriously ill. On All Saints Day, November 1, 1958 my grand-uncle died. He was 70 years old. He was buried in the municipal Zapotiltic cemetery. In 1964 his remains were removed from the cemetery and interred inside the magnificent church that he conceived and on which he worked for so long. Today a monument with a larger-than-life bust of this inspiring, dedicated, hard-working priest has been erected in the courtyard at the entrance to the church by grateful parishioners and townspeople.
He fortunately was able to concelebrate at the High Mass, in 1956, at the dedication of the magnificent, substantially complete church that he had envisioned and begun to design and build twelve years earlier, in 1944.
Are there any mitigating facts that no one knew, or cared to consider before removing my grand-uncle from control of the project toward the end? Certainly after reading the letters I found, Archbishop Garibi y Rivera always held Fr. Francisco in high esteem, as attested by the Archbishops’ official letters appointing Fr. Francisco to important Diocesan-wide positions. Some examples of the confidence the Archbishop had in my grand-uncle are listed here. These are letters I read the day I was allowed to view a file folder containing Fr. Francisco’s personal letters at the Archivos Históricos Ave María del Arquidiócesis de Guadalajara in July 2016.
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Below is a short index of letters that I found in the Historical Archives of the Archdiocese of Guadalajara, regarding Fr. Francisco’s health issues.
- Undated Letter [1903? or 1904?] from Francisco Vizcarra Ruiz, asking Guadalajara Archbishop Don Jose de Jesus Ortiz to be allowed to re-enter seminary following his illness. [No mention of medical condition involved]
- January 1950 Letter – B.134/50 – JGR.cpj Letter from Archbishop José Garibi y Rivera grants permission to Francisco Vizcarra Ruiz to leave Zapotiltic to go to Mexico for a surgical operation on the left eye.
- March 1950 Letter –Fr. Francisco reports to the Archbishop that he is now well and that the cataract operation went well.
- October 1950 Telegram – Fr. Francisco is in Mexico City and urgently requests permission to remain for a few more days. Reason not clearly stated.
- January 1952 Letter – Archbishop permits Fr. Francisco to travel to Mexico City for medical reasons, including problems with his eyes. This time there may have been for a surgical operation on his right eye.
- March 1955 – Letter – Archbishop confirms that Fr. Jaime Pelayo will be in charge of Zapotiltic parish but that Fr. Francisco must continue to take his rest according to doctor’s orders. [No mention of medical condition involved]
- July 1955 – Letter – Fr. Francisco asks the Archbishop for permission to take more rest, at least one more month following another operation. [No mention of medical condition involved]
Please see my blog post about Fr. Francisco’s funeral in November 1958.