In Pace Christi

Fr. Miguel Angel was born on 26 April, 1943, at San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato (México). He was the eldest and the only boy in a family of seven children. His mother, now 92 years old, tells how hard it was to persuade her husband to agree when Miguel Angel, then just eleven years old, said he wanted to become a missionary. However, with the support of his mother, he soon left home and entered the Comboni Institute. Even then his determined character was evident. He was exuberant and sociable, loyal and honest, with the habit of speaking his mind, even if some disliked him for it. He was restless and intelligent and could always give the reasons for what he said or wrote. This also explains why he took so seriously his vocation as a journalist, a service for which he spent most of his life for our Institute.

Having finished in the junior seminary, he was sent in 1960 to Tepepan (Mexico City) for the novitiate. He took first vows on 11 February, 1962, at nineteen years of age. He was then sent to San Diego (California, USA) where he spent two years studying philosophy. In 1964 he went to study theology at Venegono (Italy), where he took perpetual vows on 11 February, 1968. He was ordained priest on 14 September, 1969.

After ordination he stayed in Mexico until 1976, serving in various roles. He was formator of the young candidates at San Francisco del Rincón, Gto., and was sent to Mexico City to work on the magazines. There he showed his journalistic abilities. As soon as he had finished his service to the Province, he was sent to the Arab world (Lebanon, Khartoum and Egypt) where he worked for seven years. In 1983, he was again assigned to the province of Mexico and spent a sabbatical in Spain and Mexico.

In 1984 he was again assigned to the USA as formator of the pre-postulants and in mission promotion. He stayed there for thirteen years. In 1997 he was recalled to Mexico where, for ten years, he was in charge of the lay people and was editor of Esquila Misional. In 2007 he was sent to Peru to edit the magazines Misión sin Fronteras and Aguiluchos, a post he held for four years. In 2011, he returned to the USA as superior of Comboni House and director of Comboni Missions (Cincinnati); he also gave conferences on the mission. He worked with the enthusiasm of a younger man, gaining the esteem and friendship of everyone. However, he soon began to have health problems and to feel pains in his bones. Despite this, Fr. Miguel Angel carried out his duties right to the end, always keeping in mind the mission and the Comboni family. He died at 3.30pm on Sunday, 10 November 2013.

These are the words of Bro. Arnaldo Braguti who knew him well: “I worked with him for more than seven years, from the year 2000 until Fr. Miguel Angel was sent to Peru. During those years I came to know him and to appreciate him as a person and as a religious. Our mutual esteem helped us to overcome the inevitable contrasts of community life. He always backed me up when I had any problems as administrator of the CAM. He was loyal. As regards the eternally discussed question of poverty, I learned from him a form of consistency that could be put into practice without much theorising that only makes life difficult: sobriety. Fr. Miguel Angel practised sobriety as a way of life, in the clothes he wore, in administering money and in the way he used things. His well-balanced way of spending was a model and example for me”.
Another aspect to be noted in Fr. Miguel Angel was his love for work; he was persistent and full of initiatives. On 13 October last, a week before he died, he phoned me to ask for some material he needed. He chose to “spend himself” up to the last moment of his life.
(Fr. Rogelio Bustos Juárez, mccj).
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 258 suppl. In Memoriam, gennaio 2014, pp. 131-135.