In 1870, he arrived in the Philippines as a Spanish Augustinian Recollect. Two years later, he was sent to Palawan as a missionary and military chaplain. He served at the penal colony in Puerto Princesa and helped lay the foundations of Inagawan and Aborlan. During a missionary trip to Inagawan, he contracted malaria and nearly died.
In June 1876, he was assigned to Las Piñas as parish priest of Saint Joseph Parish, home of the famous Bamboo Organ, completed in 1824.
During his three years there, Las Piñas faced droughts in 1876 and 1878, a smallpox outbreak that killed 126 children, and a major fire in 1879. He frequently visited the sick, preached on Sundays and holy days, taught children Christian doctrine, and helped fire victims.
Then, in June 1879, he was told he would be transferred to Santo Tomas, Batangas.
41 town leaders signed a petition asking that their parish priest remain. They described his visits to sick people in their homes, care for the poor, preaching, religious instruction for children, and assistance to fire victims.
About 250 parishioners reportedly traveled to Intramuros and personally delivered the petition to the Augustinian Recollect provincial.
The priest they were asking to keep was Ezekiel Moreno.
He later became a bishop in Colombia and died in Spain in 1906. Pope John Paul II canonized him in 1992. He is remembered as the patron saint of people with cancer.
But perhaps one of the simplest ways to understand the man is to remember what happened in Las Piñas: when their priest was being transferred, the people did not simply say goodbye.
They went looking for a way to keep him. Their petition became a different kind of music, one that said more than the Bamboo Organ could.
Let’s keep learning the saints’ way—day by day.
⌨ ᴛʸᵖⁱⁿᵍ ᴏᵘᵗ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ʙˡᵘᵉ ᵈᵃʳᵉᵐ ᵐᵘˢⁱᶜ ᵇˡᵒᵍ
