Tej Francis
(CNS) A Venezuelan doctor who treated patients during the Spanish flu pandemic and was one of the first to introduce microscopes to his nation’s hospitals was beatified April 30 in an austere ceremony held in Caracas, the city where he spent much of his life tending to the sick.
Blessed José Gregorio Hernández led a pious life marked by science, faith and public service. He was a founding member of Venezuela’s academy of medicine and tried unsuccessfully to become a priest.
But Blessed Hernández was known most of all for being a kind doctor who refused to charge his poorest patients for his services and served people from all walks of life. He died in 1919 after being hit by a car while on his way to taking free medicine to an elderly patient.
“In his person you can find a great doctor, a scientist, a professor. And at the same time, humility, the rejection of arrogance and dedication to the poor,” said Archbishop Aldo Giordano, Vatican ambassador to Venezuela, during his homily at the beatification Mass.
The beatification Mass was held at a church in a Catholic school and, due to COVID-19 restrictions, was attended by fewer than 200 people; it was broadcast on national television in Venezuela. Earlier, churches around the country rang their bells in unison to celebrate Blessed Hernández’s life as he took one step closer to sainthood.
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