First beatification in Cuba: Brother Jose Olallo Valdez

Havana, Cuba, Nov 20, 2008 / 13:13 pm

The prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, will preside at the Mass of Beatification of Brother Jose Olallo Valdez on November 29 in Camaguey, in the first such ceremony ever to take place on Cuban soil.

 

In an interview with the magazine Palabra Nueva of the Archdiocese of Havana, Father Felix Lizaso Barruete, the general postulator of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God, pointed out that while Father Olallo will not be the first Cuban blessed, “He deserves to be recognized because Cuba needs him.  Cuba deserves to have a saint.”

 

“I think he will be canonized soon because the people have a lot of devotion to him and that devotion will only grow. Olallo is today God’s blessing for Cuba,” he added. 

 

The press office of the Archdiocese of Camaguey announced the “Mass of Beatification will take place on November 29, 2008, at 8 a.m. at Charity Square” in Camaguey.

 

The Mass will be celebrated by Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins and concelebrated by all the Cuban bishops, including Archbishop Juan de la Caridad Garcia Rodriguez of Camaguey, president of the Bishops’ Conference of Cuba.