SW News: Spanish priest Diego Hernández González, who belonged to the Diocese of Orihuela, will soon be declared Venerable. The Holy Father Pope Francis recently signed a decree attesting to his heroic sanctity. Fr. González passed away on January 26, 1976, and his cause for canonization was taken up on January 25, 2002, based on the testimonies, miracles, and healings accredited to the priest during his lifetime.

Fr. Diego was born on January 3, 1915, to a poor family in the Murcian town of Javalí Nuevo in Spain. When he was 10 years old, he entered San Fulgencio de Murcia seminary. While he was still pursuing his studies as a seminarian, the Civil War and the anti-religious persecution broke out. Many priests, nuns, and religious people were martyred for their faith.

According to the locals, as the Civil War was raging, a church located near the residence of the priest was set ablaze. Fr. González ran into the burning building to save the ciborium containing the Sacred Species. The ciborium was so hot that it burnt the priest’s chest and shirt as he held it close.

A few days later, he was taken into custody by the military and was imprisoned at the Murcia provincial prison on November 30, 1936. Two months later, a kangaroo court sentenced the priest to three years of forced labor at the Orihuela seminary, which was turned into a Republican prison. He was forced to work in Huéscar, Baza, and Alpujarras, in Granada, Spain. Despite being threatened with death several times, when the war ended, he forgave all those who ill-treated him. He soon returned to the seminary and was ordained a priest in Barcelona in 1940.

The newly ordained priest traveled to several towns in Murcia and Villena and dedicated his life to caring for the poor, needy, and suffering. Remembering his own years of hardship, he made sure that no one was hungry, and therefore, he began cultivating crops on his own land. He served as parish priest in the San Patricio parish, in Lorca, and then in San Mateo. He was appointed as the chaplain of the Catholic Action of the inter-parish center of Villena in 1949. Five years later, he was appointed as the spiritual director of the Diocesan Seminary of Orihuela, where he was incarcerated.