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In Pace Christi
Lizalde Zueco José Luis
Date of birth :
06/10/1946
Place of birth :
Sádaba
Temporary Vows :
15/08/1968
Perpetual Vows :
08/12/1970
Date of ordination :
18/12/1970
Date of death :
30/10/2003
Place of death :
Asmara/ER
Fr. José Luis Lizalde Zueco was born on 6 October 1946 at Sádaba, province of Saragozza, Spain. In 1966 he entered the novitiate at Moncada, coming from the diocesan seminary, and took his first vows on 15 August 1968. He was ordained priest on 18 December 1970.
After his ordination and a brief stay in Spain, he went to England to study English. He arrived in Asmara, Eritrea, in October 1971 and was assigned to the Comboni seminary of Decameré. He learnt to speak fluently the Tigrina language and this allowed him to communicate with ease with the seminarians and their families whom he visited in their villages.
Due to the difficult situation prevailing at the time, he met with a lot of hostility from the army and once he was threatened with execution.
He studied also Ghe’ez, the liturgical language of the place, and he learnt it so well that he was able to celebrate the solemn Mass in Ziema (the liturgical chant of the Ghe’ez rite).
In 1978 he was transferred to Asmara and placed in charge of the seminarians attending the Comboni College. He held this assignment until the nationalisation of the Comboni College in July 1982. He left Asmara and Eritrea in 1983 and was assigned to Sidamo, Ethiopia. There as well he studied intensely both the Amaric and the Sidamo language and, in a short time, he mastered them sufficiently enough to use them in his pastoral work. In the vicariate of Awasa Fr. Luis worked in the missions of Fullasa, Shafinna and Teticha. He devoted much time to pastoral work, especially in the schools of which he was made responsible.
In 1992 the superiors called him back to Spain, but after just one year he was allowed to return to Ethiopia. He did not remain there too long, because in 1996 the superiors called him again back to Spain to work in mission and vocation promotion.
Fr. Luis showed his attachment to the missionary life by the articles he wrote on Ethiopia and Eritrea that were published in the Comboni publications in Spain. At the same time he kept alive his desire to return to the missions. He always said openly that the European environment, so immersed in materialism, did not give him the satisfactions that he derived from the deep religiosity of the people of Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Finally, in 2001, his superiors allowed him to return to Eritrea, where he had enjoyed his first missionary experience. Immediately following his return and having refreshed his knowledge of the Tigrina language, he started studying Cunama, in order to be able to communicate with the people of his new mission. Within a few months, notwithstanding the fact that he was then 55, he could speak this new language with ease.
He was then assigned to the mission of Fode, in the Eparchy of Barentu, Cunama, a place only recently assigned to the Comboni Missionaries. His first task was to get to know and register the Catholic families of this new mission, which, for various motives, had been abandoned. After that he started a serious catechetical programme to give new life to the local Christian community. It was the beginning of a promising new mission.
All this work came to an abrupt end when Fr. Luis was suddenly struck down by cerebral malaria, which, in a week’s time, brought him to his death. He was 57 years old.
Let us pray that the Lord may give him peace and eternal rest and send other missionaries to carry on the work that Fr. Luis has began among the Christians of Fode.
After his ordination and a brief stay in Spain, he went to England to study English. He arrived in Asmara, Eritrea, in October 1971 and was assigned to the Comboni seminary of Decameré. He learnt to speak fluently the Tigrina language and this allowed him to communicate with ease with the seminarians and their families whom he visited in their villages.
Due to the difficult situation prevailing at the time, he met with a lot of hostility from the army and once he was threatened with execution.
He studied also Ghe’ez, the liturgical language of the place, and he learnt it so well that he was able to celebrate the solemn Mass in Ziema (the liturgical chant of the Ghe’ez rite).
In 1978 he was transferred to Asmara and placed in charge of the seminarians attending the Comboni College. He held this assignment until the nationalisation of the Comboni College in July 1982. He left Asmara and Eritrea in 1983 and was assigned to Sidamo, Ethiopia. There as well he studied intensely both the Amaric and the Sidamo language and, in a short time, he mastered them sufficiently enough to use them in his pastoral work. In the vicariate of Awasa Fr. Luis worked in the missions of Fullasa, Shafinna and Teticha. He devoted much time to pastoral work, especially in the schools of which he was made responsible.
In 1992 the superiors called him back to Spain, but after just one year he was allowed to return to Ethiopia. He did not remain there too long, because in 1996 the superiors called him again back to Spain to work in mission and vocation promotion.
Fr. Luis showed his attachment to the missionary life by the articles he wrote on Ethiopia and Eritrea that were published in the Comboni publications in Spain. At the same time he kept alive his desire to return to the missions. He always said openly that the European environment, so immersed in materialism, did not give him the satisfactions that he derived from the deep religiosity of the people of Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Finally, in 2001, his superiors allowed him to return to Eritrea, where he had enjoyed his first missionary experience. Immediately following his return and having refreshed his knowledge of the Tigrina language, he started studying Cunama, in order to be able to communicate with the people of his new mission. Within a few months, notwithstanding the fact that he was then 55, he could speak this new language with ease.
He was then assigned to the mission of Fode, in the Eparchy of Barentu, Cunama, a place only recently assigned to the Comboni Missionaries. His first task was to get to know and register the Catholic families of this new mission, which, for various motives, had been abandoned. After that he started a serious catechetical programme to give new life to the local Christian community. It was the beginning of a promising new mission.
All this work came to an abrupt end when Fr. Luis was suddenly struck down by cerebral malaria, which, in a week’s time, brought him to his death. He was 57 years old.
Let us pray that the Lord may give him peace and eternal rest and send other missionaries to carry on the work that Fr. Luis has began among the Christians of Fode.