At the same time the Salesian Family in Cuba celebrated in addition to the 100 years since the birth of Fr Vandor, the 150 anniversary of the Salesian Congregation and the 30 years since the death of the Servant of God.
Fr José Vandor, was born in Dorog, Hungary on 29 October 1909. Later he told his parish priest Fr Arturo Pehatsek, that he wanted to become a priest and a missionary. So he introduced him to the Salesian Institute in Peliföldszentkereszt, where Fr Vandor began his Salesian formation and completed his novitiate making his first profession in 1928.
Eight years later on 5 July 1936, he was ordained a priest in Turin and returned to Hungary to celebrate the occasion with his family. The same year he was sent as a missionary to Cuba, and fulfilled a dream he had kept hidden in his heart from when he was a child.
Going good and caring for the salvation of souls will be his sole concern during 40 years working in Cuba. His personality, his spirituality and his pastoral creativity made a deep impression on the diocese of Santa Clara, where Fr Vandor arrived on 9 December 1954, with the purpose of building the “Rosa Pérez Velasco” Arts and Trades Institute, and taking pastoral care of the church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
In honour of the Servant of God, on Saturday 30 October, the Salesian Mount Carmel community put on a special Gala Concert. Among those present for the occasion were: Hános Jorvát, Hungarian Ambassador to Cuba; Odalis Contreras, from the Communist Party and the one in charge of Religious Affairs in Cuba; Fr Víctor Pichardo, Provincial of the Antilles, to which Cuba belongs as a Provincial Delegation. The evening ended with the showing of the documentary “Fr Vandor –the Heart of Peace”, produced by the parish Centre for Creative Communications.
Published 4/11/2009
