Saint José Gabriel Brochero

José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero was born on March 16, 1840, near Santa Rosa de Río Primero, in the province of Córdoba, Argentina, into a large rural family. Ordained a priest in 1866, he served the sick heroically during the cholera epidemic of 1867. In 1869 he was sent to the vast and isolated parish of San Alberto, beyond the Sierras Grandes, where he spent most of his life.

Riding his mule through the mountains, he visited every family, brought thousands of people to make the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius and built a large retreat house in Villa del Tránsito, today Villa Cura Brochero. He also organized his people to build roads, schools, chapels and water channels, and he pleaded with the government for a railway. In his last years he caught leprosy, it is believed from sharing mate with sick parishioners, and went blind. He died on January 26, 1914. Pope Francis canonized him on October 16, 2016, as the first saint born and raised in Argentina.

Argentines celebrate him on his birthday, March 16, especially in Villa Cura Brochero, where pilgrims visit his shrine and retreat house; some arrive on horseback in gaucho dress. Parishes share mate in his honor and organize retreats and service to the rural poor.