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BEATIFY-OLALLO Dec-1-2008 (850 words) With photos. xxxi
Brother who worked with sick is beatified in first Cuban ceremony
By Catholic News Service
CAMAGUEY, Cuba (CNS) -- Brother Jose Olallo Valdes, a member of the Hospitaller Brothers of St. John of God who worked among Cuba's poor and sick in the 19th century, was beatified at an outdoor Mass attended by thousands of joyous people and broadcast nationwide.
Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, former prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Saints' Causes, beatified the Cuban brother during a three-hour Mass Nov. 29 in the Plaza of Our Lady of Charity in Camaguey. It was the first beatification ceremony held in Cuba.
In his homily, Cardinal Saraiva Martins said the event was a milestone and told the people of the Cuban Catholic Church: "You live in a memorable time. Confronted by a prevailing materialistic culture that is imposing and abandons the side of the weak and helpless, we learn from Blessed Olallo the virtue of knowing how to trust in God, of knowing how to love our neighbor in universal form."
All the Cuban bishops, headed by Havana Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino, were joined by dignitaries --including Cuban President Raul Castro -- in the ceremony at an improvised altar in the plaza.
Cardinal Saraiva Martins recalled the words of Pope John Paul II in Camaguey in January 1998 when he said, "The children of the fertile soil of the Caribbean, in their jovial and enterprising spirit, always arrange to embark on grand projects."
Pilgrims from all Cuban dioceses participated in the ceremony, which featured a release of white doves and the ringing of bells in the nearby Church of St. John of God. At the end of the beatification, a procession accompanied the reliquary with Brother Olallo's remains to the church, where they are kept.
Brother Olallo was raised as an orphan after being abandoned by his mother a month after his birth Feb. 12, 1820, in Havana. After joining the Hospitallers as a teen, he moved to Camaguey, where he worked as a nurse at a charity hospital. He became known locally as the "champion of Christian charity" and "father of the poor." He also was held in high regard for his skill as a surgeon, his knowledge of homeopathic medicines and his talent for resolving disputes among townspeople.
During a period of religious repression by Spanish rulers, Brother Olallo remained among the people of Camaguey when other religious fled the country. He died in 1889.
In March, Pope Benedict accepted a miracle attributed to the intercession of Brother Olallo and approved his beatification, a step toward sainthood.
Father Felix Lizaso Barruete, also a member of the Hospitallers of St. John of God, is postulator of Brother Olallo's sainthood cause.
"I am very satisfied, happy, because truly an important step has been taken," he told Catholic News Service. "Cuba now has a blessed at a time of great privilege for the Catholic Church."
The miracle attributed to Brother Olallo was the recovery of Daniela Cabrera Ramos from a form of lymphoma.
She was diagnosed at age 3 and was given little hope for survival due to kidney complications. Her relatives, neighbors and others in the Catholic community united in prayer to Padre Olallo, as he is known locally, for his intercession on Daniela's behalf.
Yamila Ramos, the mother of Daniela, who now is 12, told CNS that her daughter was in renal failure for five days, but that after they prayed for intercession, an ultrasound showed no damage and no cancer.
Daniela herself is sure she was cured because of the intercession of Brother Olallo.
"I am happy and content, because Padre Olallo chose me to make a miracle, and because he is now beatified," she told CNS.
In an interview with Daniela posted on the Web site of the Cuban bishops' conference, she said all she remembers of the time she was so sick was how often she had to have needles stuck in her veins.
She and her parents live on a street in Camaguey named for Brother Olallo, because it is an area where he often worked with the neighborhood's poor. She said that was an unusual coincidence, "but these are the ways of God."
Daniela said she feels like now she has an obligation to give thanks to God for her miracle "because in the hospital waiting room there were many other children, as sick as I was, and they died."
Speaking before the beatification, she said she planned to ask for a cure for her father, who needs a kidney transplant.
"I will ask that God put his hands on all the ill children and that they are healed, since he did it for me and he reigns in peace and love over all the earth," she said.
Jose Lopez Piteira was the first Cuban to be beatified, in a 2007 ceremony in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. At age 23 he was among nearly 500 martyrs killed during the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s. Lopez was an Augustinian deacon, born in Cuba to Spanish parents; he returned to Spain as a child.
END
Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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