Today we celebrate the memorial of Saint Pedro de San José Betancur.
Despite Pedro’s sincere desire to become a priest, God had other plans for his future. Pedro grew up in an impoverished household on the Canary Island of Tenerife. Pedro worked as a shepherd until the age of 24 when he began heading to Guatemala to contact a relative who worked for the government there. By the time Pedro arrived at Thavana, Pedro had spent all his money. Then went to Guatemala after a year of laboring to save enough money. He joined the Franciscans’ organized breadline since he was impoverished when he arrived.
Pedro soon enrolled in a nearby Jesuit college to seek a profession as a priest. Despite his best efforts, he was unable to learn the subject matter, and because of this, he dropped out of school. Pedro enrolled in the Secular Franciscan Order in 1655. Several years later, he built a hospital for the less fortunate and those suffering from sickness. A homeless shelter and a poor children’s school soon after. Pedro started to stroll through the well-off neighborhood of Guatemala City while ringing a bell and pleading with people to repent because he did not want to ignore them.
To help Pedro with his labor, several men arrived. This group gave rise to the Bethlehemite Congregation after Pedro’s passing received papal permission. Pedro’s example of a life of prayer and service to others became a model for a community of Bethlehemite nuns that grew similarly after his passing.
He is frequently given credit for creating the Christmas Eve posadas procession, in which people dressed as Mary and Joseph ask their neighbors for a place to stay the night. The practice quickly became the norm in Mexico and other Central American nations.
In Guatemala City on July 30, 2002, Pope John Paul II proclaimed Pedro, who died in 1667, as a saint. He called the new saint an “outstanding example” of Christian mercy and noted that Saint Pedro practiced compassion “heroically with the lowest and the most deprived.”
Source: franciscanmedia.org