In Pace Christi

Bro. Hermenegildo was born on 11 April 1938 in the small agricultural fraction of Salitre Santa Rosa, in the state of Michoacán, and the Archdiocese of Morelia. While still very young, as an aspirant Brother, he entered the seminary of the Comboni Missionaries. He was one of the first group of young people who felt called to the mission as Brothers and he always kept this vocation clearly in mind and in it realised all his dreams as a man consecrated to the mission.

In 1956, he was admitted to the Tepepan novitiate in Mexico City and after two years, took first vows on 1 November 1958. Ix years later, on the same date, he took perpetual vows and was given his first appointment to Mexico City for missionary animation. In 1960, he was set to Santiago, in Lower California, to serve as a catechist in the parish. During these same years, he was appointed to collaborate in construction works in La Paz Boys Town and in Mexico City. It was there that he did his building apprenticeship, a trade he would later practise in all the missions he would go to.

From 1973 to 1974, he stayed at the Paris community of Issy les Moulineaux, in France to learn French in preparation for his future mission in Africa. He was then sent to the province of Central Africa which became his second patria, since he spent so many years in those missions. From 1974 to 1983, he worked at the mission of Boda, in charge of the land of the mission and other works in the parish.

After this first experience in Central Africa, he returned to Mexico to serve the province. In 1984, he was assigned to the community of the provincial house to help as bursar and, the following years, he moved to the community of Guadalajara where he stayed until 1987.

He spent the years from 1991-1997 in Central Africa, working in the communities of Zemio, Bangui and Grimari. In 1997, he returned to Mexico, staying there for holidays and a period of service until 2001. In 2002, he again went to Central Africa where he stayed until 2009 for his final period of service to that province.

He spent the years from 2010 to 2021 in the Monterrey community, at the provincial house and finally at the Oasis community in Guadalajara where he died on 29 January 2021.

Bro. Hermenegildo has left us the memory of a Comboni Missionary who was identified with and passionate about his missionary vocation. He was simple and cheerful, sociable and one who enjoyed company. He was respectful and helpful, available for whatever task he was given. He was always a great missionary animator and was happy to do mission appeals, even when they demanded sacrifice ad left him tired. He never missed an opportunity to sharing his gift for singing and enlivening all the celebrations.

The mission of Central Africa was his great passion: he felt identified with the people of the parishes where he served and where he shared his life in closeness and fraternity with the poorest. He always felt he was part of the group of missionaries who continue to spend their lives in those lands and one of his greatest sorrows was not being able to return there to live out his final years with them. Even though he was old and sick, he continued to ask to be appointed to “his mission”. The Lord had other plans for him and he became one of the many victims of the coronavirus that continues to cause so much suffering among us.

Bro. Hermenegildo was a religious who easily assimilated the values of religious life. He loved and enjoyed being in community. He was faithful to his duties and the demands of his personal and community life. His spirit of service made him always attentive to the needs of the community and, as far as he could, he never lost an opportunity to be of assistance.

Humanly speaking, he was an attentive person, lovable and polite, a sure reflection of the upbringing he received in a family that was poor but marked by the values of faith and trust in the Lord. In his relations with others, he showed a great capacity for socialising and, like some of his confreres, he was always inclined to establish very simple contacts with people. We may say he was a missionary who loved to be with people and felt that this was a way to be a missionary.

He lived his Comboni missionary vocation identified with the charism and always kept present the figure of our Founder: Comboni was a presence and a reference point that accompanied and sustained him wherever he went and in all the experiences he had in his life. (Fr. Enrique Sánchez González, mccj)