Father Félix Varela

Brief Historical Review

The Father FÉLIX VARELA was born in Havana (Cuba) November 20, 1788. Since he was a boy he felt vocation to the priesthood and he was distinguished for his great intelligence and pity. When he was 23 years old, he was ordered as a priest in the "Cathedral of Havana". Soon it deserved the admiration and the appreciation of all for his exemplary life, his kind character and his dedication to the ministry of the teaching. As professor during ten years in the School-Seminar of San Carlos de la Habana formed an illustrious series of pupils, in which inculcated the love to God, to the Homeland and the neighbor? It also contributed notably to the progress of the sciences and the letters in Cuba.

In 1821 the Father Varela was chosen to represent Cuba in the Courts of Spain, where he pled for the fair causes and it claimed the freedom of the black slaves. In 1823, when recovering the regal absolutism in Spain, he moved to New York from where he proclaimed the right of Cuba to be an independent and sovereign nation. His prophetic voice woke up the conscience of the Cuban people.

Example of a Priest and full with zeal for the salvation of the souls, the Father Varela exercised the priestly ministry in New York during 30 years with admirable self-denial and heroism. It founded schools for children, it built churches and it evangelized the poor. It was, also, a magnificent defender of the Catholic faith in front of the attacks of the Protestant sects.

As Parish priest and General Vicar deserved the admiration and the respect of the faithful ones of New York. He always lived poorly, surrendered entirely to the service of God and of the humble people. His priestly ministry had the grace of to illuminate the consciences and to attract to the souls to God. Those that met him in life considered him a saint. The last three years of his life were marked by the illnesses, the solitude and the poverty; but, without complaining about anything, he undertook the contradictions and the sufferings with love and interior peace. His spiritual strength was in the praying and the Sacrament.

The Father Varela gave his soul to God on February 25, 1853 in San Agustín de la Florida (United States). His mortal remains rest in the enclosure of the University of Havana.

In 1985 the Santa Sede authorized to the Bishopric of Cuba to begin the canonical process about the sanctity of God’s Servant, Father FÉLIX VARELA.