Venerable Ismael Perdomo Borrero

Ismael Perdomo Borrero (22 February 1872 - 3 June 1950) was a Colombian Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Archbishop of Bogotá from 1928 until his death. Borrero studied in both Rome and Paris before returning to his homeland to serve as a bishop not long after he was ordained as a priest; he served in the national episcopal conference and was in 1923 made the coadjutor for the Bogotá archdiocese. But the national government frowned upon his succession to the archbishopric in 1928 and more so after his involvement in the 1930 presidential election seeing his favored candidate lose. Borrero was known for his energetic approach to fostering social and charitable initiatives and towards the end of his tenure sought to establish new parishes and reorganize their structure. The late prelate became lauded for his holiness in addition to his virtue allowing his successor to initiate the beatification process. This cause culminated decades later in mid-2017 after Pope Francis confirmed his heroic virtue and titling him as Venerable. Ismael Perdomo Borrero was born on 22 February 1872 in the Huila Department to Gabriel Perdomo Cuenca and María Francisca Borrero Silva. He completed his high school education in Neiva before he commenced his ecclesial studies in Bogotá in 1889 though later transferred his studies to Rome in 1895 in the Pontifical Latin American College. Borrero received his ordination to the priesthood on 19 December 1896 from Lucido Maria Parocchi in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran before remaining in Rome to continue with further studies. He obtained his doctorate in sacred theological studies from the Pontifical Gregorian University on 20 July 1897 and did additional studies at Saint Sulpice college in Paris. Borrero returned to Neiva in his homeland in 1899 before becoming the vice-rector for Garzón in the Huila Department thus seeing him monitor the education of seminarians; he was later made chancellor for the Tolima diocese.