In Pace Christi

Fr. Eladio García Camporro died in Madrid in the afternoon of 18 May 2005. His death was due to heart disease from which he had suffered for more than ten years. Born in the Asturias on 11 January 1947, he was accustomed to sorrow from his early years. He lost his parents when he was very young. First his father and then, when he was only seven, his mother. He found a second family in the home of an uncle who received him with great affection. When he had finished primary school, he felt the call of God to the priesthood and joined the diocesan seminary at Oviedo where he felt a growing need to proclaim the Gospel beyond the limits of the diocese. After a few years, in 1967, he applied to enter our Institute to carry on with his missionary vocation which God had planted in his heart.

He was ordained priest on 22 December 1974 and in 1976 was already in Peru to exercise his apostolic ministry in the highlands of Cerro de Pasco, on the summit of the Andes. In 1981 he was recalled to his province of origin to work in the field of mission promotion. In that task he did not limit his activity to the mere diffusion of the magazines, but was open to every opportunity that presented itself to conduct retreats and spiritual exercises, which were requested of him by Institutes and groups of priests and religious.

During this time he spent four years in the community of Saragozza, and it was then that his health began to waver. Stricken by diabetes, he accepted in simplicity the new direction which God was giving to his life. During community prayer, he stated that he would ask God not to cure him but to make him docile to His will. With this disposition and openness, he asked to return to the missions and, in 1988, was sent to Ecuador. After some time his health visibly deteriorated and his heart set the alarm bells ringing. After several heart attacks, he had to return to Spain in 1995.

In the last ten years he underwent several operations. The heart attacks continued, however, until 19 June 2005, when the end came. This date is to be remembered since, at the moment of Eladio’s death, the gates of glory were being opened for the celebration of the feast of Jesus Christ, the High Priest.

It is certain that God is good and bears witness to his own, as he bore witness to his only Son. I say this because, Eladio, in spite of the ups and downs caused by his illness, loved and exercised his priestly ministry far beyond what was really possible. Apart from a regular commitment in a parish and his work as chaplain to the Marist Brothers, he was available for whatever other priestly ministry was requested of the community.

The Madrid community must thank God for allowing the confreres to know in depth this confrere whose priestly identity was so clear. It was an identity, which God adorned with the ability to communicate. Eladio was what today we would call a born communicator. When his heart stopped beating for the last time, Eladio certainly heard from God the Father the same words heard by Christ at the commencement of his preaching: “This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased”.

Da Mccj Bulletin n. 228 suppl. In Memoriam, ottobre 2005, pp. 37-39