Saint Ezequiel Moreno

Ezequiél Moreno y Díaz OAR was a Spanish Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Pasto from 1895 to 1906. He was a member of the Order of Augustinian Recollects and previously served as a missionary to the Philippines and as Vicar Apostolic of Casanare in Colombia. Moreno was canonized in 1992 and is popularly invoked as the patron saint of cancer patients. Born April 9, 1848 in the city of Alfaro, La Rioja, Spain to Félix Moreno and María Josefa Díaz, he was the third of six children. His father was a tailor. His nephew Julián Moreno is venerated as a Blessed because of his martyrdom in Motril. Ezequiel served as an altar boy for the Dominican nuns and developed a devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary. Following the example of his older brother, Moreno entered the Recoletos in Monteagudo, Navarra, Spain on September 21, 1864 taking the name Fray Ezequiel Moreno de la Virgen del Rosario. Later, he made his solemn vow in Marcialla (also in Navarra) on September 22, 1865. The monastery in Monteagudo was known for dispatching missionaries to both the Americas and the Philippines. On October 14, 1869 he embarked from Cádiz arriving in Manila on February 10, 1870. In the middle that year, Moreno sailed on to the Visayan town of Jaro, Iloilo where he received and finished his minor orders. A year later, he returned to Manila to receive his sacerdotal orders from the Archbishop of Manila, Gregorio Melitón Martínez (The same prelate who defended the martyred priests Gomburza by siding with them over the Spanish Governor-General). He was ordained a priest on June 3, 1871. Today, the letter of the archbishop informing him of his sacerdotal ordination is one of the best-preserved manuscripts from the period. After ordination, he was immediately sent to his first mission in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro.