| CURIA GENERALIZIA MARIANISTI Rome, November 10, 2004 Death Notice No. 32 (To all Unit Administrations) The Province of Madrid recommends to our fraternal prayers our dear Brother, JOSÉ ANTONIO FERNÁNDEZ ZUBIGARAY, priest, who died in the service of the Blessed Virgin Mary on November 7, 2004, in Madrid, Spain, in the 82nd year of his age and the 64th year of his religious profession. José Antonio Fernández Zubigaray was born August 26, 1923, in Vitoria (Alava). He was the last of six children. He was confirmed on June 21, 1924, He began his initial studies at Colegio Santa María in his native city where his contact with the Marianist religious inspired his religious vocation. He made his novitiate in Elorrio and professed his first vows on November 25, 1939. Six years later, on Augst 15, 1945 he made his definitive commitment to God and the Society of Mary. After finishing the scholasticate in Segovia and Carabanchel Alto, he began his mission in education with the students of the First Grade in the schools of Madrid and Zaragoza. After some years in the seminary he was ordained a priest in Fribourg on July 23, 1950. As a priest he continued working as a teacher and chaplain in the schools in Madrid and Cádiz. For two years he traveled to Spanish villages interviewing future postulants and their families. After a renewal period in Rome he began a period of six years as the Director and superior of a house of prayer which had just opened in La Parra (Avila) in the building which a few years before had been the novitiate. From 1982 to 1997 he returned to Cádiz where he did pastoral work in the Oratory of St. Philip Neri and the Gateway to the Sea hospital, the most important health center in the city. When he was 75 he reitred to the community of the Pillar school in Madred and four years later he was moved to the Province infirmary where he died on the morning of Sunday the 7th. A severe blood infection terminated an organism already weak from so many years of illness. Father José Antonio was a dynamic person, whole-heartedly doing his work with an enor-mous desire to do good with all his capabilities, very conscious of his role as a religious and priest, completely dedicated to his ministry. He was a forceful and persuasive preach- er and spoke freely. We remember the Provincial Chapters held in La Parra. He always presided at one of the Eucharists and in his homily told us: you are not the best, nor the smartest, nor the most handsome; and then he would encourage us to continue serving the Province. José Antonio deeply loved the Church, the Society of Mary and every Marian- ist. This love is what enabled him to give himself fully to the mission. His great dynamism made it difficult for him to accept his limitations and value opinions different from his own. Sometimes his forcefulness in preaching was seen by others as a desire to impose rather than propose the truth he was speaking. Now is the time to recall his admirable gifts, to determine to imitate him and give thanks to God for a life so dedicated to the mission of announcing the gospel. His defects, com-mented on with the same freedom he showed when he spoke, are not important now. We know that the love of the Father is above all of his limitations. Many persons in his family of Marianist religious and especially those
he started on the road to the postuate in the city of Cádiz
remember and admire him. Our prayer is one of thanksgiving for his
life, and a petition to the Father to help us imitate his missionary
zeal and dedication to the work. |