Venerable Octavio Ortiz Arrieta

Octavio Ortiz Arrieta (19 April 1879 – 1 March 1958) was a Peruvian Roman Catholic Church prelate and a professed member of the Salesians of Don Bosco who served as the Bishop of Chachapoyas from 1921 until his death. Arrieta first studied to become a carpenter at a Salesian-run school but soon decided to become a priest with the order to which he was professed in 1902. He served at several Salesian houses for over the next decade until Pope Benedict XV appointed him as a bishop in late 1921. He was a prolific shepherd of souls; he underwent eight pastoral visitations to all his parishes and travelled far and wide to meet with his people and to launch a range of pastoral initiatives designed to rekindle the faith of the population. The late bishop's cause for sainthood commenced on 12 November 1990 under Pope John Paul II and he became titled as a Servant of God. The cause culminated in 2017 after Pope Francis confirmed his life of heroic virtue and titled him as Venerable. Octavio Ortiz Arrieta was born on 19 April 1879 in Lima as the eighth of nine children to Manuel Arrieta and Benigna Coya. He studied as a carpenter under the Salesians of Don Bosco since December 1893 but soon decided to become a priest instead; but it was at this stage that his compatriots and superiors realized he possessed those qualities needed for the priesthood while Arrieta decided to become a priest under the Salesians. Father Pane once compiled a list of twelve names for potential Salesian vocations and upon reaching Arrieta's name figured he would make a good bishop sometime in the future. He joined the order for the novitiate on 24 May 1898 at Callao (initial profession followed in 1900) and made his perpetual profession in 1902 into the hands of Paolo Albera which made him the first Peruvian-born Salesian. Arrieta was assigned to found a new vocational school in Piura in 1906 and he was soon ordained to the priesthood at the beginning of 1907.