(ANS - Havana) - "It was the eve of 8 October and as I was waiting to fall into the arms of Morpheus, my mind raced to our three candidates for canonization: Fr. Vandor, Brother Olallo and Don Varela - men who were very different, but three reasons for pride and hope for the Cuban people." These words are taken from "Divagaciones en espera del descanso nocturno," written by Fr Bruno Roccaro, SDB.

In Varela I saw the philosopher, the teacher, the patriot, the exile, the avant-garde intellectual, the writer and the pastoral vicar of New York. I remembered the tall robust figure of Olallo, clothed in the habit of the Brothers of St. John of God. I recalled his tireless dedication to the sick and his efforts to alleviate their suffering, the courage in taking the body of Agramonte. In my mind I was conversing with Father Vandor, and spontaneously I was comparing him to them.

I saw Vandor as a simple priest, noble and smiling, the curate and pastor of Carmen. He, too, was an intellectual, like Varela. Varela was the defender of a philosophical system and creator of political awareness of independence. Vandor was a teacher of simple Christian faith. As an educator, Varela taught the young to develop their identity as Cubans. Vandor served the poor children of the area of ​​Villa Clara, to make them good Christians and honest citizens, able to face life with their own resources, in the style of Don Bosco.

I saw Vandor as the poet who is not just pleased with his verses, often in rhyme, but uses them to convey to his young faithful a love for the Blessed Virgin, for Jesus in the Eucharist and for the Cross. Vandor did not send his writings to the major newspapers of the time but published them on simple flyers that he made himself.

At one and the same time I saw Varela forced into exile for his ideas of independence, courageously defended at the Court of Cadiz, and Vandor who left Hungary of his own accord to proclaim the Gospel in Cuba. At the triumph of the Revolution, which claimed to be Marxist-Leninist-Atheist, Vandor was not exiled like many Cuban priests and religious and was not forced to leave like the 134 on the Covadonga ship, because  their attitudes or ideas did not conform to the new regime. He remained in Santa Clara as the guardian angel, a mediator of peace, a pastor who guided and ministered to his flock, sharing hopes, joys, sorrows, sufferings and successes.

The remains of Varela were returned to his homeland to be preserved in an urn at the Aula Magna of the University of Havana, where they are honoured as a symbol of Cuban identity and culture. The remains of Vandor stayed in Cuba, a simple vault in the cemetery of Santa Clara, close to his bishop and parishioners, waiting to find a more dignified home in the city cathedral.

Like Blessed Olallo, Vandor took care of the sick and elderly but they were not the only ones, although they were the privileged recipients of his pastoral care, his visits to the families and the material assistance he gave. He himself suffered severely from a deforming rheumatoid arthritis and he was a model of how to deal with pain and turn it into an instrument of purification for himself and for others.

Gradually I was overcome by sleep. Upon waking, I dared to record my dreams on the computer and share them with everyone.

Published 16/10/2015