Today March 23

Today is the feast of St. Toribio of Mogrovejo, Turibius in Latin, (1538-1606). He is the veritable model of bishops in the New World. I mentioned yesterday that I like laymen saints; Toribio very nearly was one. He was a good man, a holy man, but for all that a lawyer and a layman. King Philip II of Spain (widower of Mary I of England) knew a good thing when he saw one and made Toribio chief judge of the Inquisition in Spain.

Then a unique thing happened. The see of the archbishopric of Spain's colony of Lima in Peru became empty and the people declared they wanted him archbishop. The clergy, knowing his missionary zeal and consummate skill, agreed. Toribio tried to decline, but the royal council was against him. King, clergy and people all agreed; thus he was ordained, first to the priesthood, then to the episcopacy and off he went to his new assignment.

And what an assignment it was! Lima's diocesan boundaries extended over the entire (forbidding) country: 500 miles of Pacific coast and inland over "the spurs of the Andes." - Butler's Lives. Poor Toribio was to face horrible weather and transportation conditions in the administration of his episcopal duties. Worse still was the bad example of the Spaniards themselves: racist, greedy and immoral, they scandalized the natives -- and the Spanish clergy were among the worst offenders. "Without respect of persons," - Butler's Lives, Toribio attacked vice in all its forms, deposed bad priests, protected the poor, and eradicated abuse. He founded churches, monasteries, convents, and hospitals, all staffed with loyal and orthodox priests and nuns. He reached out to the natives, learning all their dialects so he could speak to them in their own language without translators. No "absent bishop," he visited all his flock even when he had insufficient food and no place to rest his head. He braved the weather, bad roads and the constant threat of bandits, saying, "Christ came from Heaven to save us and we ought not to fear danger for his glory." To those who criticized his strong stance against his own people who "had always done things this way," he quoted Tertullian: "Christ said, 'I am the Truth,' not 'I am the custom.' " We need a man like him today!

He died in the saddle, so to speak, visiting and performing his duties in Santa, far to the north of Lima. Sensing his end, he humorously promised a magnificent reward to the first who would tell him his case was hopeless. He had those about him sing the psalm Laetatus sum quae dicta sunt mihi: "I was glad when they said unto me, We will go into the house of the Lord." He died on this date in 1606. He was 68.