Historical and biographical review of some of the main figures of the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine of the Order of Augustinian Recollects from its foundation to the present day.
The irrepressible desire to proclaim Christ guided every step of Ezequiel Moreno’s life. He surrendered himself without reservation, and his faith in God sustained him in his dedication to serving everyone, particularly the underprivileged and the forsaken. He is a model for pastors who wish to respond with new fervour, methods, and expressions to the great challenges that the Church is facing (Saint John Paul II).
Ezequiel was born on April 9, 1848, in Alfaro, La Rioja, Spain, into a modest, hardworking, and respectable family. He was a serene and upright young boy, with a keen and unwavering personality, very generous.
From a young age, he felt called to religious life and in 1864 entered the novitiate of the Augustinian Recollects in Monteagudo, Navarra. During his formation, he developed a special affection for the missions and was sent to the Philippines in October 1869 following the “Glorious Revolution” in Spain. He arrived in Manila on February 10, 1870, and continued his theological formation at Intramuros. In June, he received the minor orders in Jaro, Iloilo, in the Visayas. A year later, on June 2, 1871, he was ordained to the sacred priesthood by Archbishop Gregorio Melitón Martínez of Manila.
At 23, he was sent to his first pastoral assignment in Calapan on Mindoro Island. Only eight months later, he was appointed chief missionary and military chaplain of an expedition to Puerto Princesa in Palawan. Malaria ended his chaplaincy in Puerto Princesa and his evangelization work in the southern mission posts of Inagawan and Aborlan, forcing him to return to Manila. He was then sent to Talisay on Negros Island to undergo hydrotherapeutic treatment under his confrere Fernando Cuenca. After his recovery, he became the parish priest of Calapan, Las Piñas, Santo Tomas in Batangas, and Santa Cruz, Manila. From 1882 to 1885, he served as prior of the conventual community of Hacienda de Imus in Cavite. During the cholera outbreak that began in September 1882, he administered the last rites of the Church to more than three thousand ill and dying persons in the outlying villages of Bacoor and Dasmariñas in Cavite, without fear of death or contagion.
He is remembered for his insistence on community life, long hours spent in prayer at the choir loft and in his room, visits to distant barrios and farm settlements, pastoral dedication, and his love for the most destitute and ill people.
At 37, he was elected prior of Monteagudo, the convent where he had undergone religious formation. During his three-year term, he profoundly influenced the formands. He also took extra care of the ailing confreres and served the people during days of famine.
In 1889, he was sent to lead a new mission: the restoration of the Augustinian Recollection in Colombia. For five years, he carried out intense religious and pastoral activity and reorganized the novitiate at El Desierto de la Candelaria.
In Casanare, located in the northeastern part of Colombia, an isolated territory along the Andes mountain range, Ezequiel accomplished significant work. He denounced the injustices and abandonment of the region. He even persuaded Rome to elevate it to the rank of apostolic vicariate, and he was appointed its vicar apostolic. In 1894, he was consecrated bishop for this new mission territory.
His activity was exemplary: he established religious communities, formulated a combined agenda of evangelization and progress, sought subsidies, trained leaders, and founded orphanages and schools.
In 1896, after his achievements were recognized, he was named bishop of Pasto. Located about 900 kilometres south of Bogotá, bordering Ecuador, this diocese occupied an extensive territory with significant geographical and social disparities.
His greatest challenge was his relationship with authorities involved in extremist, radical, and anticlerical Liberalism. Despite being slandered and insulted, Ezequiel became a leading figure in the country. His diocese was one of the focal points of the Civil War in 1899.
His life of prayer (he customarily slept five hours a day and devoted six to prayer), his austerity, his love for the poor, and his dedication to people on the street drove him to selflessly serve others, without neglecting his spiritual life and his affection for the Augustinian Recollect charism.
In 1905, the cancer in his throat became apparent, forcing him to resign from his episcopal see and return to Spain, eventually leading to his death. Despite bleeding wounds, surgical operations without anesthesia, and a lack of medical treatments, he decided to return to the convent in Monteagudo, where he met his end on August 19, 1906, at the age of 58.
His reputation for sanctity endured, and he was canonized in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on the eve of the Fifth Centenary of the Evangelization of America, on October 11, 1992.
Today, in a vastly different world but with the same spiritual needs, the life of Saint Ezequiel calls for the irrepressible desire to proclaim a world loved by God: a world of peace, joy, and firm hope; a world that upholds the dignity of every human being. This was the teaching of Jesus.
In his memory and to seek his intercession, the Province of Saint Nicholas maintains a Facebook account dedicated to prayer for those suffering from cancer and support for their relatives.
