Martin Legarra (1910-1985), Augustinian Recollect.

The Augustinian Recollect Martín Legarra Tellechea (1910-1985) was a direct witness of several great events of the 20th century. He developed his ministerial service with optimism, sympathy and communication skills. His life as a missionary, educator and bishop could have served as a movie script.

The diocese of Santiago de Veraguas has 10,629 km² (like Asturias in Spain or Querétaro in Mexico) and, at that time, had 160,000 inhabitants (today are just under 250,000). It is the only Panamanian province and diocese with a coast in the Atlantic and the Pacific, with a marked rural character.

Martin finds a very heterogeneous clergy (fourteen priests out of eight nationalities, only two Panamanians). The Diocese, very advanced in social ministry and in the incorporation of lay people, it also has the largest center of religiosity country, the Atalaya Sanctuary of the Nazarene.

The first obstacle that Martín must face is loneliness: at the age of 59 (42 of religious life), for the first time he did not live in community with other Recollects. He first year he visits Bocas with some frequency as he is still his Administrator, and the missionaries show him how much they miss him: “I never thought that they appreciated me it so much and that they were going to feel my absence as they say they feel it”.

Repeats the scheme of his beginnings as a prelate and the most immediate thing for him is to visit all the populations of the Diocese and those who cannot meet with him: elderly, sick, orphans and prisoners.

In Veraguas the landowners were opposed to any advance of their workers in political representation, access to education, rights labor or that made them less dependent on the employers, who held the political, financial and public order power.

In this climate the Church supports the most vulnerable. They were not uncommon arrests of clergy and lay leaders, volunteers and peasants, crossed out of “revolutionaries”. The problems for the bishop were constant.

With the Prelature of Bocas del Toro in the hands of the Augustinian Recollect José Agustín Ganuza (Artajona, Navarra, 1931), continues the task only in Veraguas: “So many crisis, so much conflict, so much lack of means, so much to do, so many limitations… But those same difficulties bring me closer to God, they make me feel my littleness and the need for his help. I just want everyone to know I will fulfill his will”.

Martín celebrates his 60th birthday with a moment of brotherhood, rest and experience of the Augustinian Recollect charism in Mexico, invited by his Province of origin. He visits Mexico City, Querétaro and Veracruz. He feels at home with him, in his family refuge. In addition, he initiates the visits in Mexico —which he will continue for Spain—to the monasteries of contemplative Augustinian Recollects, once the Holy See grants him a dispensation to enter a cloister.

This visit was an oasis, because immediately the most exhausting event took place, sad and tense of the life of Martín: the kidnapping and murder of the priest Héctor Galician. By making the peasants aware of his rights, he earned the rancor of the employers, he went through the police cells and they set his house on fire. Refugee in a ranch, on June 9 he is kidnapped. 47 years later, in 2018, his remains were finally found, in the old Cuartel de Los Pumas de Tocumen.

The ruling party presented Gallego as a rebellious immoral subject and the Government hand over investigations to the Attorney General’s Office, a legal anomaly to avoid the normal processing of the case.

At that moment, Legarra became “Laguerra”, “War”. He mobilizes all his resources and involves Rome, denies attorney general, tries to get detectives to investigate Mexicans, demand justice. Paul VI, the Episcopal Conference, the clergy, the consecrated, the Panamanian people and foreign institutions support Martín without Bookings.

In the Galician case, Fray Martín acted with courage, tenacity and spiritual elegance, as a good follower of Saint Augustine: firmness in principles, esteem for the people. Said a union leader: “With a silk glove, his blow is harder than that of a box fighter; He can disagree with you, but he is incapable of hating anyone.

In 1972 he allowed himself to be loved for two weeks and, taking advantage of a meeting of the CELAM, he visits the Recollect communities of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. Central America boils and the Church suffers a lot: the two bishops Recollects in Panama (Legarra and Ganuza) avoid the expulsion of five foreign priests.

In May he suffered a fall from a horse in the Altos de Santa Fe and fractured the first lumbar vertebra. He calls this event his “requiem for youth.” He defines himself as “The stiffest bishop in Panama” for the orthopedic belt he has been wearing ever since. He is also prohibited from moving with sudden movements.

In March he offers conferences, press conferences, interviews and talks in Düsseldorf, Essen, Aachen and Frankfurt. The tour promoter, Adveniat, decides do not make many statements public to avoid reprisals. From Germany he goes on to Italy for the International Ecumenical Meeting. He continues to Spain for visit, as always, secluded seminaries and contemplative monasteries.

The next two big crises he faces are the situation of Radio Veraguas, that he places in the hands of the Jesuits and begins a new semi-commercial stage; and the conflict at the Center for Studies, Promotion and Social Assistance (CEPAS), a hornet’s nest that involves peasants, indigenous people, paramilitaries, political parties and the diocese, owner of the Center. After months of contacts and fine diplomacy, on the 5th of January 1974 he gets the agreement of all parties.

The spinal injury, the loneliness he never got used to, the need to unlock entrenched issues… After weighing everything, on June 6, 1972 he sent his resignation, accepted in January 1975 and announced on February 22 together with the name of his successor, José Dimas Cedeño (Peña Blanca, Panama, 1933).

To avoid any speculation, he posts: “I have freely resigned; my work as the spiritual guide of Veraguas has always been inspired by a desire to service; My pastoral promotion efforts have been positive; Hector has fertilized this land with his sacrifice; and my option for the future is to continue serving the Panamanian people”.

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