The former president of the Government of Navarra, Juan Cruz Alli, has written a nice obituary about the Augustinian Recollect Antonio Palacios, friend since childhood and with whom he encouraged the collaboration of Navarrese institutions with the Handumanan project in the Philippines.
Juan Cruz Alli Aranguren (Pamplona, Navarra, 1942) is a lawyer, politician and professor. He was president of the Foral Government of Navarra from 1991 to 1995 and, in office, between June and September 1996. Doctor of Law and urban planning technician, he was a professor at the Faculty of Law in Burgos at the University of Valladolid and professor of Law Administrative of the Public University of Navarra. He was previously a lawyer for Pamplona City Council and lawyer.
After the death of the Augustinian Recollect Antonio Palacios (1947-2023), Alli has written in the (Newspaper) Diario de Navarra an obituary full of friendship, affection, memories and tribute to the life of this religious, which due to his interest we reproduce on our page.
On September 16, Antonio Ramón Palacios died at the age of 76 in Valladolid. Alzórriz, youngest son of Segundo and Begoña, brother of Pablo, Tomás and Pili, a family that, like his neighbors on [street] Paulino Caballero 1, the Antón-Alli, were closely linked to the Escolanía de San Antonio de los Capuchinos de [Avenida de] Carlos III [de Pamplona].
There arose the religious vocation of Antonio carried out with the Augustinian Recollects of the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine, forming in Lodosa, Marcilla and Monteagudo (Navarra), ordained a priest in 1971. For three years he lived in England in a “total immersion” to learn the language and be assigned to the Philippines.
At all times and places Antonio demonstrated that his vocation was not that of a “contemplative”, but that of an “worker” of the Lord, understanding his vocation as that of a religious at the service of others and an executor of works that benefit those most in need.
His active, hard-working and tenacious character led him to contribute his initiative and work in places and entrustments made to him by his superiors, in total harmony with his prior general Javier Pipaón and the prior provincial Carlos Imas, both as Navarrese and courageous as him.
The Philippines were the setting for his vocation and work, both in internal responsibilities of the Order as in social projects. The Augustinian strength in the islands was fertile ground for religious vocations, formation, organization and the intense social work of the Recollects: schools, universities, social works, health centers. He was involved in all of them when new projects were underway or started.
He helped the expansion of the contemplative part, the Augustinian Recollects, with the creation of a monastery in Bacolod with several Spanish nuns, who immediately received postulants and
Filipino novices; some of them came to Spain to the monasteries with more elderly women and
fewer vocations. In this aspect they completed the community dedicated to active life, founded by a nun of Navarrese origin, María Josefa Borces Mina.
Among his social works there was one to which he dedicated himself and for which he achieved direct collaboration of the Government of Navarra, the Saint Ezekiel Moreno Health Center of the Handumanan Project in Bacolod.
Each trip meant improving his equipment with discarded elements from the Hospital of Navarra, who were very useful, from X-ray machines to beds: “everything is good for the convent,” he said, organizing a container and freight; In addition to direct aid for investments and maintenance.
Missionary Work
With the support of his brother Tomás, he became a developer and builder of houses made of concrete blocks in Bacolod. When the university professors saw them they asked that they also be built for them, and so he did.
On each visit to Spain he made rounds of contacts with institutions, companies and people to obtain financial and material support for his works. As all projects had the name of the most recent Augustinian Recollect saint, the Riojan Ezekiel Moreno, extended his work to raise resources from the neighboring Community.
Contrary to what was thought here, neither for Antonio nor his superiors was there any difficulty in maintaining and support the Augustinian-Recollect missions maintained in China, their churches and social works, such as the school for orphans at the Shangqiu mission in Henan.
In 1998 the Provincial Chapter decided to segregate the Vicariate of the Philippines and convert it into a new Province of Saint Ezekiel Moreno. His integration with the people and the country made him one of the Spaniards who remained there, as one of the “last of the Philippines”, until in 2001, he reintegrated into the Province of his origin, joining the Parish of Saint Anselm in the Bronx,New York, where he served as parish priest for fifteen years, collaborating at the school attached, being known in the popular neighborhood as “Father Tony Palace.”
He returned to Spain in 2016 residing in the provincial curia until he moved to the residence of Valladolid when his signs of Alzheimer’s worsened. The same day and place of his death occurred the death of another of the “Filipinos”, the historian and professor from Rioja, trained in the Augustinian centers of Navarra, Germán Chicote, who practiced in Manila, San Carlos, Cavite, Cebu and Mira Nila.
Some time before, the Navarrese Clemente Jubera, a friend and fellow student, had died in an accident frind and disciple of my father, who lived his entire life on the islands and suffered the Japanese invasion, the war and the persecution.
Both in the Philippines and among the diverse population of the Bronx, his open nature made him interact with all types of people, help them as much as possible and be a reference Spanish and Navarrese.
I was able to verify his relationship and friendship with the authorities, with Cardinal Sin of Manila, the Spanish ambassador Morales and consul Gómez Acebo. From among the Spanish community he maintained a wide relationship with everyone, particularly with Navarrese people like Isabel Hualde de Pamplona, José Galdeano de Aberin, Urdaneta and Valmayor families with ancient roots in the islands.
His life has been fruitful and an example of the dedication of a Navarrese religious to the most humble and people in need. After his death we remember the words of his father Saint Augustine, that Antony always had in mind:
“Death is nothing. I just went to the next room. I am me, you are you. What were to each other, we still are. […] Life is what it has always been. The thread is not cut. Why would I be out of your mind, simply because I’m out of your sight?”.
