Marco Carvalho
Under his leadership, Macau and Hong Kong gained center stage in the East Asian evangelization efforts made by the Order of Preachers. He was the first Prior Provincial of the Dominican Province of Our Lady of the Rosary to make a canonical visit to China after the end of the Pacific War. Father Bonifacio Garcia Solis died last Saturday in his native Spain, aged 76.
Father Bonifacio Garcia Solis, who led the Dominican province of Our Lady of the Rosary for more than a decade and a half, died last Saturday in Oviedo, Asturias, the region where he was born.
First elected to the role of Prior Provincial of the Province of Our Lady of the Rosary in 1997, the Spanish priest took on the task of revitalizing the presence of the Dominican Order in East Asia, by fostering the missionary vocation of the Dominicans and strengthening its presence in mission territories.
In 2003, Father Solis became the first Dominican Provincial after the end of the Pacific War to make a canonical visit to the People’s Republic of China, where the Dominican Order had installed a “makeshift novitiate.”
Aware that the priority of the Dominicans in the Province of Our Lady of the Rosary would be the recruitment and formation of new vocations, Father Bonifacio Solis promoted, during his three terms as Prior Provincial, the internationalization of the Dominican mission in East Asia: “He literally opened the doors of the Province to attract new vocations from missions and emerging Christian communities in the region. This option brought one of the most drastic changes in the life of the Province since it was founded in 1587. It was a predominantly Spanish or European Province and became more internationalized, more multicultural and more Asian,” Father Jarvis Sy told O Clarim. “The efforts he developed and his vision helped Asian brothers to rise through the hierarchy of the Province and assume positions of great responsibility. During his three consecutive terms as Prior Provincial, Father Solis oversaw the incorporation of the brothers from Venezuela into the Province, the foundation of missions in Singapore and Myanmar and the restoration of the Dominican missions in China,” the Dominican missionary recalls.
Born in the Asturian village of Santibáñez de Murias-Aller on June 19th, 1945 and ordained a priest on June 27th, 1971, in Madrid, Bonifacio Garcia Solis succeeded his fellow compatriot Pedro Luis Gonzales at the helm of the Dominican Province of Our Lady of the Rosary in 1997, having held the position for three consecutive terms, until 2008. It was during his consulate at the head of the Dominican mission in East Asia that Macau regained a central role in the evangelization strategy devised by the Dominica Order: “The eventual return of the Dominicans to Macau was one of his first projects. This presence would eventually develop to the point of becoming an important legacy in the history of the Order, with the reorganization of the International Student Community in Macau and the establishment of a partnership between the Dominicans and the Macau Inter-University Institute, which would eventually develop until it became the University of Saint Joseph,” Father Jarvis Sy emphasizes.
The re-establishment of the novitiate in Hong Kong and the creation, in Macau, of the International House of Students ended up endowing the two former colonies with a crucial importance for the Province of Our Lady of the Rosary. In 2017, after assuming the role of Master of the Novitiate in Hong Kong and having performed functions as Provincial Syndic, Bonifacio Garcia Solis assumed once again the role of Prior Provincial for a fourth term, a position he held until last Summer, when he passed the testimony to the current provincial Ruben Martinez. Father Bonifacio Solis, Jarvis Sy claims, will always be remembered as someone who always gave much more than what was asked of him: “He will be remembered as a man of vision and a man dedicated to serving his brothers as Provincial Superior. During his long years of service, both as Prior Provincial and in other important functions, he has not only given what was asked of him, but substantially more,” the Dominican missionary says.
Last Tuesday, the chapel of the Priory of Saint Dominic, located on Avenida Sidónio Pais, hosted a Eucharistic celebration in memory of Father Bonifacio Garcia Solis. In the neighboring HKSAR, the former Prior Provincial of the Dominican Province of Our Lady of the Rosary will be honored next Wednesday, in a ceremony presided over by Cardinal John Tong, the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Hong Kong.
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