Pastoral stamps, gallery of Bishops. The Conciliar Seminary. How a Corpus Christi was. Religious temples of the territory region: San Francisco, La Ermita del Cementerio San Vicente, the Churches of San Antonio and San Juan de Dios, and the Parishes of Maria Auxiliadora and Pueblo Nuevo.
Within the political - geographic limits of the country, there are the jurisdiction of the Archbishops and Episcopal See. There are Archbishops in the cities of Bogot, Medellin, Cartagena, Popayn, Manizales, Pamplona and Tunja, and Episcopal See in San Gil, Bucaramanga, Santa Marta, Cucuta, Barranquilla, Ibague, Garzon, Armenia, Pasto, Santa Rosa de Osos, Yarumal, Duitama, Girardot, Sonson and Espinal Our Socorrano neighbors pretended to the elevation of their town to Episcopal See in 1798. That is how the Revolutionary Junta resolved to elect, systematically, the Priest of the Parish of San Gil and Canon of the Metropolitan Cathedral, Andres Rosillo, as Bishop of Socorro. This was crystallized on March 20, 1825, when Socorro was erected Episcopal See by its respective Consistorial Decree. Due to multiple factors, the Holy See transferred, by means of a Bull, The Diocese See from Socorro to San Gil the latter city offered better conditions to carry the miter. On May 25, 1828, the See was transferred according to the Pontical Bull by the Bishop Leonidas Medina. With the Episcopal See, the Conciliar Seminary and the Ecclesiastic Tribunal were installed in San Gil.
Bishop Evaristo Blanco was the first one to occupy the Diocese Seat, who was vigorous in the beginning of this Church and Ecclesiastic Jurisdiction, as an apostle and as a martyr. Through his hands passed the les and canons where the material and judicial foundations, institutes and entities of his Diocese took shape. He was like a Saint Paul. He died of old age kissing his pectoral cross as a relief of his fatal trance. Then, Bishop Francisco Cristobal Toro “who was delicate like an angel in person”, was sad for two years, due to his ailments and physical pains, or the disrespectful drunkards from Socorro. He was a holy and benign pastor called “the transgured”. Monsignor Antonio Vicente Arenas succeeded Bishop Toro. His picture was on the table of the poor of the region. He was modest, kind and put a particular kindness in all his acts from beginning to end. His word was convincing, but he was not a sacred orator. He was a preacher like Astete. Whoever talks with our elders about religion and customs, would always hear the observation with the honest admonition: “We heard that from Mr. Arenas”. He died on his mule, during a pastoral visit on the hot roads of Carare and Opon. “Under a hot sun. modest hands could have easily saved such a preeminent and valuable existence”.
The Bishop Leonidas Medina was the most beloved by the Sangilentildes. His ashes rest at the San Gil Cathedral. He was highly esteemed among social circles for his rigidity and apostolic fervor. His life was consecrated to the service of the Church and the progress of his dear Episcopal See. He was righteous and intelligent. Bishop Medina exercised his sacred ministry with a high sense of social understanding. He was always the target of the highest public admiration. This adopted and dear son of San Gil was and will be the model of the highest Christian virtues, the mirror image of “The Lord of the armies and of beyond”. The Sangilentildea citizenship is late in building a monument to the Archbishop’s ashes of that sublime and great pastor of souls in the park which carries his name. The Bishop Angel Maria Ocampo Berrio succeeded Bishop Medina. He had the best grasp of the social and Catholic problems of the See. He was a teacher of youth, kindly remembered among his students. Before he became a member of the Company of Jesus he lived on the University campus, during a delicate mission in Tunja. This conductor of souls did not have political quarrels. He assumed great responsibilities and overcame them with his privileged intelligence.
The Bishop Anibal Muntildez Duque, followed Bishop Ocampo in the Episcopal Seat of the Diocese. Shortly afterwards, he was destined by the Roman Pontiff to reign in the Bucaramanga Diocese founded in 1952 by the statesman Pedro Nel Rueda Uribe. Bishop Muntildez Duque possesses a strong personality and great affability which has given him great prestige and general admiration in his jurisdiction circles. He manages with great tact the interests of his ofce with a characteristic discretion of his paternal interventions part of his singular condition of vocation and intelligence. Archbishop Muntildez Duque has a solid philosophical and theological preparation which facilitates his great works in his Diocese and the social realizations for the good of his sheep. Today, he is the Apostolic Administrator of the Bogot Archdiocese after the resignation of Cardinal Luis Concha.
Since 1953, Bishop Pedro Jose Rivera Mejia became spiritual director of the Diocese. He has captured the admiration and love of the people. Bishop Rivera is a sacred orator and virtuous father, with a deep influence on the mentality and conscience of his governed ones. Without exception, all claim that he is a true pastor. This is due to his wide comprehension and dynamism. His pastoral letters and works present him as a model of lyric theology writer. His conversation is delightful and his social treat inspire respect and trust. His apostleship is integral and permanent. He dedicates his free time to the reading of universal classics of literature and philosophy. He has done great spiritual deeds in the Diocese. The Diocese General Vicarship is discharged by Monsignor Jose Miguel Pinto, a priest with the highest virtues and canon knowledge. He was the Chairman of the Department of Canonic Law at the Javeriana University. There are very highly distinguished priests who perform high ecclesiastic government positions, such as the Sangilentildes Presbyters Luis Enrique Gomez Rueda, Rodrigo Vesga Arenas and Eriberto Muntildez with whom I have exquisite friendship.
The Episcopal Palace is next to the Cathedral Church. It has three floors of solid modern construction. There functions the Ecclesiastic Tribunal. At one time, in this building, functioned the now extinct “San Gil Club”. The Diocese general limits are the same of the San Gil District Judicial Division. It is limited on the north by the Chicamocha River and the Bucaramanga Diocese and on the sides by the Departments of Boyaca, Norte de Santander, Antioquia and the Apostolic Vicarship of Barrancabermeja. The Diocese is made up of the Vicarships of Socorro, Zapatoca, Velez, Charal and San Gil and the Parishes of San Jeronimo, San Basilio, San Bartolome, San Gregorio, San Judas Tadeo, San Rafael and San Pedro among others.. According to the work of Manuel Zamora (100) the Diocese has fty ve Parishes over an extension of 12,900 square kilometers. A prominent Diocese’s magazine publishes monthly the decisions and Decrees of the Diocese Ecclesiastic Government, and the philosophic and ethical studies from a list of brilliant collaborators.
With the installation of the San Gil Diocese’s See, the Conciliar Seminary functioned in the building of the San Vicente de Paul Society. Later, a modern building was constructed for the Canonic Institute where the future Priests of the Diocese are formed. The Seminary has a panoramic view of the city. There are 250 major seminarists and there is a lesser seminary in Zapatoca called the Apostolic School. These young men are ordained by the Diocese Bishop in splendid ceremonies at the Cathedral Seat. The Priests from the Conciliar Seminary of San Gil march at the forefront of the Colombian Clergy because of their Christian virtues, the highest ethic formation and severe intellectual discipline they receive in the classrooms. The seminary has been directed by the Presbyters Guillermo Gomez Ortiz, Claudio Merle, Enrique Vallejo, Pablo Elias Acevedo, Jose Antonio Quijano, Monsignor Jesus Martinez Vargas, Fathers Jose Naranjo, Carlos Grimaldos and others. The first stone for the construction of the present building was blessed by Bishop Medina in 1937, and it was inaugurated two years later. Presently there is a plan to construct a new building for the Major Seminary and the Apostolic School of San Gil.
The main contributors to the seminary have been Rosalia Rueda with her legacy, Rito A. Caballero with his personal cooperation, and Jose Dolores Rodriguez with his constant obolos. One of the ceremonies and religious festivities in which the Bishop takes part, with all his Pontical splendor, is the Corpus Christi, with a pompous procession. The ceremony is an Eucharistic esta with all its torrid zone fruits which unfortunately have diminished.
Prior to Corpus, on a Wednesday, peasant patrols from the Parish towns, in their best clothes, arrive to the principal plaza. They would arrive proud with the best flowers and fruits of their farms, some of them donated to the hospital by the ton. There were arches of pineapples, avocados and papayas with corn and sugar cane with the healthiest plantain clusters, chickens, armadillos like pagan offerings to the Ceres goddess. The Bishop would be followed by the Clergy and Seminarists. In his hand was the Host.. With great anxiety the people would wait for the Corpus Christi to pass under the fruit arches and then they would try to get the mangos or any fruit not well guarded.

TEMPLES:

Some traditions and wrong hypothesis affirm that at the site where the hospital, the San Juan de Dios Church and the Quinta Guanent Stadium in the “Ensayadero Barrio” are located, there existed the old Cacique straw village with its pagan temple. In reality, the San Juan de Dios Church was erected in honor of the patron saint of the hospital. In 1830 it was constructed and even its lighting rod was colored white. And to enter it, faith would get us closer to God as if entering the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
I do not exaggerate, when someone enters the forgotten chapels of the towns, there is a better spirit of devotion than entering the large luxurious cathedrals. These small, clean churches, paved with red bricks, enhance the spirit when the Sacristy chorus, the pleasant holy odor of the incense aroma and the flowers placed daily by the nuns are perceived. There rest many patrician clergymen and founders of the town bones. It would be annoying to transcribe the legends written on the ne marble plaques of the sarcophaguses of the benefactors of society. There are beautiful and modern images on which daily rites are celebrated by the hospital personnel and the San Juan de Dios Barrio faithful.

SAN VICENTE CHAPEL

The chapel consecration for the Catholic Cult dates from the year 1881. It is in the building built by the pious Society of San Vicente de Paul. It has a beautiful atrium and stone facade. Its style is somewhat different than the other urban temples. Until fteen years ago, the Canonic liturgy of the Conciliar Seminary was celebrated there. It has a wooden altar decorated with exquisite taste. With a wide Sacristy and chorus, The San Vicente Chapel is an appropriate temple for the ordinary cult of the Parish after the Cathedral Church. Its bell tower of diverse colonial style was constructed by the architect Luis E. Gutierrez. Its bells were given by Remigio Navarro. Various artistic images give a severe ambiance to the chapel like the praying vestiges of the middle ages and the walls full of religious allegories and illustrious ossuaries with high stairs. Now the cult is for his founder San Vicente.

SAN FRANCISCO TEMPLE

According to the oldest tradition of San Gil, The San Francisco Temple was the second one built in the town when it was erected “Parish and Royal town” in 1689. It was reconstructed in 1845. The second part was erected over the walls of the Santa Barbara Church partially destroyed in the 1737 earthquake. It stays closed except Holy Week during certain years. At one, time religious ceremonies were celebrated by Julio Enrique Silva. The previous Santa Barbara Church had been built by order and with moneys of Attorney Leonardo Currea Betancur in 1669, on the site where there was an Indian hay temple where the Doctrine Priest offered services. In my opinion, an Episcopal Decree should dedicate it as an art exposition room, museum and ecclesiastic gallery under the “Centro de Historia”, (Center of History).

SAN ANTONIO CHURCH

The beautiful San Antonio Church was constructed in 1874, at the same time of the asylum of the same name run by the Sisters of the Presentation. The church style is similar to the other temples of the city. They all were constructed under the same architectural influence. It is painted all white, and repainted every year before the solemn ceremony of Resurrection. Every day mass is celebrated for the Tour Nuns of the Presentation College and the people of the crowded San Antonio Barrio. Very few changes have been done to the Sacristy and chorus. There are beautiful images on the church altars. Among its walls rest the ashes of the gentlemen clergy who linked their dreams with the denite peace, after serving with merit the interests of the community.

THE CEMETERY ERMITA

It was constructed in 1865 by Father Pedro Salazar. On its main entrance is engraved the funeral sentence: “Sic transit gloriae mundi”. There is a park in front of the cemetery named Leonidas Medina.
At the end of the cemetery is the Ermita among a taciturn avenue of familiar pantheons. They are all constructed in similar manner of bricks, cement and lime. Three rows of fossas were built for three generations of dead. According to Unamuno’s Canto a un Cementerio de Lugar Castellano, (Song to a Cemetery of Castile), “It is a corral of dead, poor walls made of clay, poor corral where the cross in the deserted eld marks its destiny”. But this cemetery is happy by its tropical character, if compared with the insipid and symmetrical giant wasp nests of the big cities. The ossuaries built in 1878, “are far from the worldly noise” as in the classic verse. A constant crowd of faithful pray, or ask for favors or miracles to Christ venerated there among marble gures and candle lamps. The Crucix was made by a Sangilentilde artist 80 years ago. It has an extraordinary anatomic perfection and sad expression which incites to veneration and most intimate fervor. It is as miraculous as the fallen Lord efgy that the Bogotano venerate at the Monserrate Ermita, and pardon me, canonically, for the comparison. According to the last parochial division of San Gil, there are three: The Cathedral, the Maria Auxiliadora Parish downtown and the Pueblo Nuevo Barrio Parish. Volume 4, les 294 to 336 of the year 1737, about the ancient authorities behavior in the fulllment of their religious duties: Miguel Antonio Melendez Valdez, Field Marshal of San Gil, imposed a ne to Francisco Pradilla Ayerbe Mayor, Corregidor and Judge of the town, and the Corregidors Gregorio Rodriguez Durn and Agustin Silva y Velasco for not having attended Palm Sunday. In the same book, les 254 to 513 of the year 1764, there is a lawsuit by Felipe Gonzlez Noriega, Mayor of San Gil, for a place in the churches for ofcers like himself. This was a very serious prerogative. According to Diccionario Razonado de Legislacion and Jurisprudencia, (The Reasoned Dictionary of Legislation and Jurisprudence), Joaquin Escriche, page 403, Ediciones de la Libreria de Rosa Bouret, Paris, 1891, chapels are the small buildings inside or outside a church with a particular altar. The Sanguilentildes temples must have been built like chapels, according to the prescriptions of the ecclesiastic and civil laws, especially, the Papal Bull of Innocent XII, Apostolici Ministerii of May of 1723.
There is nothing in the National Archives of Colombia about the way in which the churches or chapels were constituted. There is no memory about the Santander chapels which were used for other things. The chapels, according to the Escriche Dictionary, “were foundations made by some person with the obligation to celebrate, annually, a certain number of masses at a certain church or chapel altar”. There were mercenary, ltering and gentile chapels, by contract or by last will, with the license of the King. The chapels in the New Kingdom were “Colativas” (ltering), especially, the rural ones. Thus, the ecclesiastic chapels were instituted with the authorization of the Pope or the Bishop. The name of the chapel could be a laic or ecclesiastic, depending on the will of the founder. They could be conferred to presbyters. In the first volume of Capellanias de Santander,(Santander’s Chapels} les 788 to 790, I discovered that there was a chapel founded by Francisco Snchez de Nava for pious works, according to the memorandum from Presbyter Domingo Soriano de Pedraza, to the Archbishop of Santa Fe, asking him to be named chaplain of the chapel, in 1716. In the same volume, Isabel Bustamante y Quijano founded another chapel served by Presbyter Don Francisco Tello de Mayorga in the Hacienda of Guarigua Baja in 1754. In the same book, in 1804, the Presbyter Juan de la Cruz Sarmiento, neighbor of San Gil requested payment for the chapels for the poor founded in “Las Monas”. In this chapel, Presbyter Sarmiento baptized Ignacio Snchez de Tejada. In Volume II, there is a judgment by Andres Silva against Isidro Jose Hidalgo and Manuel Ferreira in 1804, for the sale of a home, where a chapel was founded by Maria de Afanador in San Gil, les 400 to 549. In Volume III, les 171 to 300, there is a lawsuit by Juan Bautista Vergara, Valle’s neighbor, against his brother-in-law Francisco Uribe, Socorro’s neighbor, for a chapel founded by Cristobal de Vergara “Cabuyas del Fonce”. The Presbyter Ignacio Bonafonte is part of the lawsuit. Lastly, In Volume III, of 1793, le 407, Bernardo Rueda y Sarmiento, one of the founders of San Gil, established a chapel over the lands on the banks of the river Fonce and Surez in “Las Juntas”, belonging to several Socorranos proprietors. Such place left the San Gil Jurisdiction after the suit of 1713, as it was mentioned earlier in the chapter about the foundation of San Gil. It is possible that when Leonardo Currea de Betancur constructed the Church of Santa Cruz and San Gil, as a conrmation of the foundation requested by him, it was a chapel for whites, separate from Guane, until it was erected Parish and Royal town. But, I have not found this in any archives.