Biography of Jose Gregorio Hernandez
José Gregorio Hernández Cisneros was born on October 26, 1864, in the town of Isnotú, in the State of Trujillo, in what was then known as the United States of Venezuela, this town is in the middle of the Andean mountain range in the west of the country. He was the eldest son of Benigno María Hernández Manzaneda and Josefa Cisneros Mansilla, the Colombian father and Canarian mother. He had an older sister named María Isolina born in 1863 who died at 7 months of age.
Later his five siblings were born: Isolina del Carmen (1866), María Sofía (1867), César Benigno (1869), José Benjamín (1870) and Josefa Antonia (1872). His mother was a family of Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, the confessor of Isabel la Católica and who founded the University of Alcalá and his father was a relative of the holy Brother Miguel, an educator and writer who was part of the Ecuadorian Academy of Language and of the Royal Spanish Academy.
All his childhood he lived in Isnotú, his mother devoted himself to taking care of the family and his father had a store of merchandise and groceries as well as a pharmacy. José Gregorio was baptized on January 30, 1864 in the colonial temple of Escuque, three years later he was confirmed by the Bishop of Mérida Juan Bonet. Unfortunately, his mother, who was always a very Catholic woman, died in 1872, when he was 8 years old, but she had already left her spirit of religiosity in her son.
The first teacher he had in a private school in Isnotú, Pedro Sánchez, saw that the boy had many skills and was very intelligent, so he talked to the pope so that these skills would be used and recommended that he take him to the country's capital. to study. When he was thirteen years old, José Gregorio told his father that he wanted to be a lawyer, but he made him change his mind so that he could study medicine and he, as an obedient son, listened to his father.
He took medicine more than as a career, as a vocation, since in it he could express his way of helping other people. For the year 1878, he leaves his town of Trujillo for Caracas, a long and at the same time dangerous trip for that time, since they had to go down by mule to Maracaibo and there take a boat by sea to Curaçao, to later reach Puerto Cabello and La Guaira, and there take a train to Caracas.
When they arrived in Caracas, he began studying at Colegio Villegas, a well-known educational institution at the time, run by Guillermo Tell Villegas. There, he became friends with the director and his wife, Pepita Perozo de Villegas. According to Dr. Villegas, the young man didn't play much with his classmates and enjoyed reading books. By his age, he had already read several classics and, with great discipline, managed to acquire a good education, such as through encyclopedias.
At school, he earned top grades, many distinctions, awards, and medals for diligence and good behavior. He was so advanced that he sometimes taught arithmetic classes to the first-year students. At this school, he studied preparatory school and philosophy for four years, graduating with a bachelor's degree in philosophy.
He entered the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), to study medicine he was only 17 years old, in his years of study at this university all his grades were outstanding and he was the most outstanding student in the entire Medicine career. But there were times when the family's economic situation was delicate, so he started teaching other people to help himself financially, not only himself but also his younger siblings.
A friend who was a tailor taught him how to make men's clothes, so he made his own clothes. His friends said he was a very honest person, with a self-mortifying spirit, who wanted to serve and was very upright in his conscience.
For them he was an example to follow. José Gregorio Hernández said that in man the duty was the reason for the right, the way in which a man has obligations before having rights. As a university student he was formed of a Christian character and became devout through an internal and self-discipline which he combined with charity for other people.
When he graduated in medicine on June 29, 1888, he was so well-educated, he also spoke several languages, had some knowledge of Hebrew, and was familiar with philosophy, music, and theology. To fulfill a promise to his mother, he went to Isnotú to work as a doctor after graduation, but he left a temporary office, and his reputation as a doctor spread, along with his efforts to help those in need.
That same year, Dr. Dominici, who was rector at the Central University of Venezuela, offered to help him set up a clinic in Caracas, but he rejected the offer, telling him that there were no doctors in his town, and that his mother asked him to be in his people to help humble people, and now that he was a doctor, he knew that his destiny was to be with them.
He goes to Isnotú in August 1888 and in September he writes to a friend telling him that many of his friends who were sick had already been cured, and that although it was difficult due to worries, they also believe in the remedies that are made, since that they were poor people, where dysentery and asthma, rheumatism and tuberculosis predominated, and the pharmacy was in terrible condition. He was in Isnotú until the end of July 1889, but he saw patients in the three Andean states (Táchira, Trujillo and Mérida), to have more experience in his profession.
On his way home, he receives a letter from his teacher, Dr. Calixto González, in which he had been recommended to the President of the country, Dr. Juan Pablo Rojas Paul, to go to Paris to study certain experimental subjects and help modernize Venezuelan medicine, so he had to go back to Caracas to go to Europe.
At the end of 1889 he was studying in the laboratories of Charles Robert Richet, who was Professor of Experimental Physiology, in a well-known medical school in Paris. He then went to Mathias Duval's laboratory to specialize in Microbiology, Normal Histology, Pathology, Bacteriology, Embryology and Experimental Physiology. He received classes from Isidor Strauss, who had received classes from Émile Roux and Charles Camberland who worked with Louis Pasteur, so he goes to Berlin to continue his studies in Histology and Pathological Anatomy, in addition to taking a course in Bacteriology.
After completing his studies, he returned to Venezuela and became a professor at the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas. He brought a wealth of valuable new equipment from Europe to Vargas Hospital with the support of the Venezuelan government. Among these were several microscopes, which were not available at the time. He returned to Venezuela in 1891 and began teaching at the Central University of Venezuela in the fields of Normal and Pathological Histology, Experimental Physiology, and Bacteriology, becoming its founder.
Aside from the microscopes he brought, he also acquired new textbooks on the areas in which he trained, so that the subjects could be covered in the university's medical courses. He taught the use of microscopes, as well as other instruments he brought from France. On September 14, 1909, he was appointed professor in the Pathological Anatomy department, which operated in an annex of the Vargas Hospital. He remained in charge of it until the creation of this department at the Central University of Venezuela, a seat within the Anatomical Institute, which was run by Dr. Felipe Guevara Rojas in 1911.
He also founded the chair of Bacteriology, the first in America, and was the first person to publish a work on this discipline in Venezuela called Elements of Bacteriology in 1906. He did written studies on angina pectoris of malarial origin with Nicanor Guardia, published 11 works in the scientific field and 5 books, left an unfinished work called The true illness of Saint Teresa of Jesus. The others were published by El Cojo Ilustrado: Mr. Nicanor Guardia (1893) art vision (1912) in a wagon (1912) and matins (1912).
He is considered a pioneer in scientific and pedagogical teaching in the country, but based on scientific explanations and observations of life phenomena, systematic experimentation, and dissection practices and laboratory testing. He was the first to perform microscope cultures and taught Virchow's Cell Theory. In his role as a physiologist and biologist, he is also noted for his knowledge of physics, chemistry, and mathematics—basic sciences, which constitute the triangle within which all the dynamics of animal nature are found.
His teaching work was only paralyzed on two occasions, the first of which was when he decided to become a religious and went to the monastery of the order of San Bruno, in La Cartuja de Farneta, where he left in mid-1908 and returned in April. the following year, and he returned to his work at the university again, and the second time was in October 1912 when, during the government of Juan Vicente Gómez, the university was closed, which was against his dictatorial regime.
But in 1916 the Official School of Medicine was founded and began teaching classes again, the Anatomical Institute worked there. In 1917 he traveled to New York and Madrid to study and left Dr. Domingo Luciani in charge.
He returned to the country in 1918 and resumed his teaching activities, but on the afternoon of July 29, 1919, José Gregorio Hernández left the corner of Cardones to care for some low-income patients when he was run over by Fernando Bustamante, a young mechanic who owned Essex.
Dr. José Gregorio Hernández hits his head on the sidewalk and has a skull fracture. They take him to the Vargas Hospital where he dies that same day. He was buried on June 30, 1919 in the South General Cemetery, amidst a host of mourners, friends and loved ones.
Years later a process of beatification begins and by order of the Vatican the exhumation of his body is made, and they are transferred to the Church of the Virgen de la Candelaria, in Caracas, where they are today.
Assessment of your work
Being the author of many scientific essays in various areas, he was recognized by the National Academy of Medicine, which incidentally was also its founder. All his work is of great scientific value since he had the ability to apply the anatomoclinical method that was used in the French school to put them into application in cases such as tuberculosis, pneumonia and yellow fever. He also knew how to manage the resources to perform diagnostic techniques such as pathological histology, bacteriology, parasitology and physiology.
With all this I can make interpretations of each pathological process that was in a patient and created new hypotheses about hematometry in patients who presented a new form of malaria known as angina pectoris.
Relationship with the Catholic Church
Although he was never able to occupy a position within the clergy of the Catholic Church, he was a fervently Catholic man, when in 1907 he decided to devote himself to religious life, he spoke with the Archbishop of Caracas, at that time Monsignor Juan Bautista Castro, who sent a letter to the Order of San Bruno in the city of Cartuja de Farneta in Lucca, Italy, he was admitted there, this was a cloistered monastery and they gave him the name of Brother Marcelo, but nine months after entering he became ill with such so that the prior of the Order decided to send him back to Venezuela so that he could recover.
He arrived in April 1909 and was given permission to enter the Santa Rosa de Lima Seminary, which is currently the Santa Rosa Catholic University, but he always wanted to have a life in a monastery, so in 1912 he tried again to do so in Rome where he found his sister Isolina, he begins with studies in theology at the Pontifical Latin American Pio College, to prepare to return to the monastery, but he falls ill with a lung condition that forces him to return to Venezuela again.
In Venezuela, he belonged to the Secular Franciscan Order, which operates in the fraternity of La Merced de Caracas, at its headquarters in the Church of Our Lady of Mercy of the Capuchin Friars, where he served as a Secular Franciscan.
From there was born the sensitivity and love for those who had the most needs, he wanted his life like the one Saint Francis of Assisi had had, he recognized himself in the figure of the suffering Christ, and with that love he served the poorest, he gave what best of himself, he did not care about the time, the night, the weather, he was always ready to help the poor. He lived his own gospel as Saint Francis of Assisi did his.
Beatification Process
In 1949, the process to request the beatification and canonization of Dr. José Gregorio Hernández began in Venezuela. It was started by the Archbishop of Caracas, Monsignor Lucas Guillermo Castillo, who took the document to the Vatican. Once the first cases had been brought, he was named Venerable. by Pope John Paul II on January 16, 1986, with which the process for his beatification was followed. Once realized he will be the first Venezuelan Saint.
On April 27, 2020, the Archdiocese of Caracas announced that the Vatican Theological Commission had approved the miracle that our venerable needed to continue the process in the case of a 10-year-old girl who had been shot in the head in the year 2017, so his canonization is very close. The miracle that was missing for her canonization was approved in January and was the only requirement that was missing for her process to be approved.
The only two steps remaining for the process to be completed are the approval of the cardinals and that of Pope Francis, and his canonization is expected to take place this summer. It is wonderful that a person so devoutly Catholic and unable to dedicate himself to religious life can receive this honor. José Gregorio Hernández is known as "The Doctor of the Poor," as his work went beyond just a regular schedule to care for people.
Recognized Values
José Gregorio Hernández is recognized for many values, above all said by people who knew him in real life, the most important of which is his sensitivity and love for those people who needed the most, and he never expected anything in return. He was a completely upright and honest man, with a great spirit of service and very correct in his conscience.
It is also noteworthy that he was a devout Christian and that he forged an intense internal discipline for himself. In his studies, he always took the initiative to learn more than he could, not for personal pleasure but to be a more useful person to those who needed him.
Another of his defining traits is that he was always very responsible and punctual in all his duties. As a doctor, he was dedicated, as a professor, he was greatly admired, and as a man, he stood out for his passion for seeking greater knowledge, his unselfish dedication to helping others, and his faithful service to science. Throughout his life, he was a virtuoso of his duties and based his life on three fundamental principles:
- avoid doing wrong
- Always do good
- Always seek perfection.
Interesting Facts about José Gregorio Hernández
We can give you some very interesting facts about José Gregorio Hernández about his life, and that very few people know or know about this exemplary Christian who worked for science, faith and the care of sick people, that's why here they are let's count:
Medicine was not always his passion: At the age of thirteen he wanted to study law but his father made him change his vocation for medicine, and he also did everything possible to bring him to Caracas to study at the Central University of Venezuela, once there he fell in love with this career.
He was the best student of his class: He spent six years studying at the UCV, in the medical career, and in all his subjects his grades were outstanding, when he graduated in 1888 he was the most outstanding student of the entire group of the promotion.
studied in paris: he was studying at the University of Paris in 1889 when he was sent by the president of Venezuela himself, when he was awarded a scholarship to specialize in subjects that were not given or known in this country: Microscopy, Bacteriology, Normal Histology and Pathology and Experimental Physiology.
For 30 years he was a professor at the Central University of Venezuela: In 1891, after returning from Paris where he completed a postgraduate degree, he was admitted as a professor at the Central University of Venezuela to teach the subjects he had learned. This led him to found the chair of Pathological Anatomy, and he never missed a single day of his classes.
He was a man with very deep religious roots.Since the generation of his great-granduncle, his family were always devout Catholics. His ancestors were Saint Brother Manuel, he was a descendant of Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, and his mother always instilled in him the Catholic faith. In 1908, he tried to enter religious life twice, but due to health problems, he was returned to Venezuela, where he continued his vocation as a doctor, professor, and scientist.
spoke several languages: Well, believe it or not, Dr. José Gregorio Hernández knew how to speak Spanish, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and had knowledge of Latin and Hebrew.
Unfortunately, his greatest wish in his time was for the First World War to end, an event that occurred a day after his death when the Treaty of Versailles was signed. With his death, there was the second record of a car accident that was recorded in Caracas at the beginning of the XNUMXth century.
His life has been adapted into films and television series to introduce younger generations to his life. One was produced by RCTV, starring actor Flavio Caballero, and another by Venevisión, starring José Gregorio Hernández, starring actor Mariano Álvarez. More recently, a film titled La médium del venerable was released in 2019.
Prayers to Jose Gregorio Hernandez
Because of her many virtues, her love for the needy, and her gift of helping others, many people have dedicated prayers to her since her death and made many requests for healing.
Prayer for Healing
This remarkable scientist knew how to combine his work as a scientist with that of his religiosity, he is highly sought after not only in Venezuela to ask for miracles of healing in people who are very delicate.
Oh Lord, our God! That you are almighty, that you have given us so many blessings, especially that of your beloved servant José Gregorio Hernández, and that you put the goodness and mercy that you gave him with the power of healing the sick and in his work of helping those who most needed us, we ask you grant me the grace to heal me since you are our spiritual doctor not only of our souls but also of our body, and therefore it must be for your glory.
I ask you Lord that in the name of your beloved son who taught us with his beautiful words that we ask and it would be given to us, since everyone who receives and asks with faith, is granted, we know that everyone who has faith everything is possible to achieve, and that everything we ask the father will be granted to us. Today we ask you to grant us this grace and favor that we need, through the name of Jesus Christ who taught us how to pray, and that is why we pray this Our Father to you. (Pray an Our Father).
Official prayer of the cause
This prayer was written by His Excellency Cardinal José Humberto Quintero just when the cause for canonization began.
Lord Jesus Christ that you put in the servant of God José Gregorio to be constant in his virtues, pure in his actions, a great love and devotion for you, for your Holy Mother and for all his neighbors, we ask you to be worthy to give him glory before all the Church, make me imitate your virtues, and get closer to you through the merits of your passion and death.
We ask you to grant us (make your request here), Virgin of Coromoto, Patron Saint of our Venezuela, we ask you to intercede for the cause of Beatification of your devoted José Gregorio Hernández. Amen.
Pray an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be.
Novena to José Gregorio Hernández
Make this novena to Dr. José Gregorio Hernández with great faith so that he grants you the benefit and favor that you desire, our doctor José Gregorio never abandons anyone and is always the cause of our prayers.
Daily prayer
This prayer is said each day before the request of the novena, before making it begin with the Sign of the Cross.
O Most Holy Trinity, full of kindness! We believe in you, and we hope in you and love you with all our hearts. We ask you to fill our weapons with grace and that you may always keep us as your friends. Almighty Lord, who has your hand in all things, and who always seeks the salvation of your people, so that your will may be fulfilled.
You, who are the master and lord of the entire universe, and no one opposes what you desire, at this moment we ask you to have mercy on all of us, as we face many adversities against us that seek to make us sin and destroy our peace. Do not fail to hear our supplications to us, who are your servants, those you redeemed through the blood of your sacred Son, Jesus Christ.
Show yourself to us with compassion, and keep crying from our lives so that joy can come and we can get the graces we need and that we beg you for at this moment, that's why we praise you in your name and we will never let our lips stop reciting your words. praise. We adore you and bless you for everything you have done for us and for our servant José Gregorio Hernández, the one who knew how to love you above all things and whom you taught to love his neighbor as himself.
In it is immersed everything that you impose in your laws and that your prophets predicted and recommended, for that charity that your beloved servant gave today we ask you to help us in our cause and needs, especially what we ask of you on this day. Divine trinity of mercy, listen to your servant and grant us the favor we are requesting for the good of your glory and our soul. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
First day
We ask God and we praise him, in addition to blessing him and giving thanks for all the virtues he had in José Gregorio Hernández, since his unconditional love towards the weak, sick and needy people was very great, just as God said to help the poor, because in this way we help God and God will later reward us, today we dare to ask you through the intermediation of your servant whom we remember through this novena. (Ask for what you wish in this novena and then pray an Our Father and Hail Mary and Glory Be).
Second day
God, you who became a man only for love and remained within the host of the altars to be our soul's nourishment, we thank you for all the love you gave to your servant José Gregorio so that he could be part of the Eucharist, Communion, and Mass. We want to pray for all of us and that you always remember us in your promises of faith.
Since you said you were the bread of life that comes down from heaven, and that whoever ate of it would live forever, would never die, and that you yourself would resurrect us on the last day, it is through your servant that we confidently ask you for the grace we are requesting. (Ask for what you wish for in this novena, then pray an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be.)
Third day
May the Holy Spirit guide our souls toward a path of virtue and holiness. Just as Jesus said that when you came, you would teach us everything and lead us to the truth, we ask with great faith that each of our hearts be enlightened and that you lead us along that path. Through the mediation of your servant José Gregorio Hernández, you may grant us the favor we ask of you and that we so desperately need. (Ask for what you wish for in this novena, then pray an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be.)
Fourth day
Father who are in heaven and who visited us and redeemed us in the person of a savior of your people, sending your only son, who had been announced by prophets and who would free us from our enemies and with your mercy, that same with which you saved our ancestors, today we will remember your eternal alliance and the oath you made to the patriarch Abraham.
We thank you because through the love of your servant José Gregorio Hernández had towards Jesus Christ our Redeemer and because of those pains of his passion and the teachings of your servant, we ask you to listen to us and grant us the grace we ask through this ninth. (Ask for what you want in this novena and then pray an Our Father and Hail Mary and Glory Be).
Fifth day
Beloved Father and Redeemer, today we remember how your passion was and meditate on the words of the prophet who said that we should consider how our sins had left you, how you were despised, how you became the man of sorrows, your humiliations and wounds, and how you saved us from our sins, that by your wounds we were healed since you carried the whole weight of our sins so that with your punishment we might obtain our salvation.
We thank you as you were the inspiration of your servant José Gregorio Hernández so that he in the same way suffered for all those who suffered and were in need and that through his intercession we humbly ask you for the grace that we do through this ninth. (Ask for what you want in this novena and then pray an Our Father and Hail Mary and Glory Be).
Sixth day
Kind Redeemer who filled us with the virtue of having among us your servant of God, José Gregorio Hernández, we beg you for the good of our souls that we may achieve a spirit of resignation and peace just as Jesus had when he was in the garden. of bitterness, we ask you to grant us through the intermediary of our servant the grace that we request in this novena. (Ask for what you want in this novena and then pray an Our Father and Hail Mary and Glory Be).
Seventh day
Merciful Father in the face of so much burden for our sins we ask that you can purify us of our faults since we recognize what our faults are, if we have sinned against you we ask you to forgive us, our hearts must be filled with sincerity and wisdom.
Cleanse us of our sins and remove from our sight any trace of sin or vice. May we, through the intercession of your servant José Gregorio Hernández, who always distanced himself from all sin, obtain grace through this novena. (Ask for what you wish in this novena and then pray an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be.)
Eighth day
Lord Jesus, you were our savior before your presence, we are going to beg you to fill our hearts with the best feelings, with faith and hope, charity and love, that you can remove from our lives the pain of our sins and forgive us for the offenses that we have committed, that it be through the intermediation of our Servant José Gregorio Hernández that we obtain the grace that we ask for in this novena. (Ask for what you want in this novena and then pray an Our Father and Hail Mary and Glory Be).
ninth day
On this last day of the novena we ask that the Holy Spirit descend upon us just as he descended upon his servant José Gregorio Hernández so that he would be the most faithful devotee of his lord, today we honor you and thank you for listening to our prayers, We ask you to remove any sign of pride from the hearts of people and to lead the most humble and needy people to a world where they can have goods and health, through the intercession of your servant of God, José Gregorio Hernández. (Ask for what you want in this novena and then pray an Our Father and Hail Mary and Glory Be).
Final Prayer
This prayer should be performed every day of the novena after the consideration of the day, and after the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be have finished.
Heavenly Father we thank you for having listened to our requests, for each day you give us, for the sun that illuminates us, for the food you provide us, and above all for our health, we ask you for José Gregorio Hernández, your servant , the doctor of the poor in Venezuela, so that his cause reaches heaven, and you make him our saint.
May your great virtues and your human gift of wanting to help your neighbor be instilled in each of us, so that we may become better people. Only you can make this happen, so that we may follow the path of goodness and righteousness, always in the hands of Jesus Christ Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Amen.
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