Francisco Valdés Subercaseaux

Francisco Valdés Subercaseaux, O.F.M. Cap. (23 September 1908 – 4 January 1982), was a Chilean Capuchin friar and Roman Catholic bishop, who served as the first Bishop of Osorno from 1956 until his death.

Pope Francis declared Valdés to be Venerable on 7 November 2014 after recognizing his life of heroic virtue. A miracle attributed to his intercession needed for his beatification is now under investigation.^[1]

Life

Early life

He was born Maximiano María Antonio Miguel Valdés Subercaseaux, on 23 September 1908 in the town of San Miguel, in the Province of Santiago. He was the son of Horacio Valdés Ortúzar and Blanca Subercaseaux Errázuriz.

In 1930 Valdés became the first native of his country to join the Capuchin Order when he was received into their novitiate, and was given the religious name of Francisco of San Miguel de Santiago. He was then sent to Italy to do his seminary studies. He completed his studies at the Pontifical Latin American Seminary and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and was ordained to the priesthood on 17 March 1934 in Venice.<ref name=FAG /^[2]

In 1935 Valdés was assigned to the Apostolic Vicariate of Araucanía, a remote region of the country, and served as a professor of philosophy at the Major Seminary of San Fidel in San José de la Mariquina. He served as the parish priest of Pucón between 1943 and 1956. During that period, he helped to establish a monastery of Capuchin Poor Clares in his parish.

Bishop

Pope Pius XII appointed Valdés as the first Bishop of Osorno on 20 June 1956, and Archbishop (later cardinal) Sebastiano Baggio conferred upon him episcopal consecration on 16 September of that same year.^[3]

Valdés attended all sessions of the Second Vatican Council from 11 October 1962 to 8 December 1965 as a Council Father.^[1]

Valdés was diagnosed in 1981 with gastric cancer. He spent his last months with the Capuchin Friars of Araucanía, dying the following year at the San Francisco Hospital in Pucón, at the age of 73. His last words were: "I offer my life to the pope, to the church, to the Diocese of Osorno, to the poor, to the peace between Chile and Argentina, and to the triumph of love".^[4]

Veneration

The cause for the beatification of Valdés commenced in Osorno on 25 September 1998. The local process was ratified on 7 June 2002 in order for the positio to be submitted to the Holy See. A miracle attributed to his intercession was investigated and was ratified on 16 November 2007.

Pope Francis approved the decision of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to recognize his life of heroic virtue and thereby declared him to be Venerable on 7 November 2014. A decision on the possible miracle is pending.

References

External links

• Hagiography Circle
• Saints SQPN