After a prolonged illness and at the age of 92, today, Monday, November 24, the renowned priest separated from life in Mérida. Alvaro Garcia Aguilar.
Born in the Yucatecan capital on February 19, 1933, he was the son of the marriage formed by Messrs. Manuel García Montalvo and Francisca Aguilar Fernández. He had a sister, Ligia, who married Edgardo Palma Hernández (they have all since died).
Monsignor García Aguilar was consecrated a priest on June 16, 1956 and was the first parish priest of the María Inmaculada church, in the Campestre subdivision.
He attended primary school at Montejo School. At the age of 12 he entered the Yucatán Seminary and concluded his training at the Pontifical Seminary of Montezuma, New Mexico, where he studied one year of Philosophy and four of Theology.
Recently ordained, he was named vicar of the parish of San Juan Bautista de Tekax. Then he worked in the parishes of Purísima Concepción, in Progreso; of Los Santos Reyes, in Tizimín, and in the meridanas of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in San Cristóbal, and of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, in Itzimná. He was a trainer of the Conciliar Seminary in different periods and national chaplain of the Squires of Columbus, among other positions.
Mary Immaculate
In 1978, 22 years after his ordination, he was commissioned to build the Mary Immaculate Church, of which he was parish priest until 2015, when he was relieved by Father Christian Uicab Tzab. Also in 1978 he founded the Rocamar apostolic group.
Monsignor García Aguilar’s years of service in María Inmaculada were distinguished by the participation of young people, which led to the emergence of 22 priestly vocations, one of them that of Monsignor Fermín Sosa Rodríguez, current apostolic nuncio in Bolivia (previously he was in Papua, New Guinea).
Monsignor García was also the founder of the Patria Institute, a Catholic-inspired school, and served as rector of the Patria University, of which he was a promoter and founder.
With the help of the community, under his coordination, works such as the Priest and Nazareth houses were completed, as well as the San Jorge chapel in the Villas del Sol subdivision.
The body is laid to rest in the parish of María Inmaculada, where tomorrow, at 12:30 p.m., the archbishop of Yucatán, Monsignor Gustavo Rodríguez Vega, will celebrate a mass for the eternal repose of his soul. Subsequently, the procession will leave for the Mausoleum of the Clergy (General Cemetery) for the burial.
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June 9, 2006. Father Álvaro García Aguilar with the image of Mary Immaculate in an interview prior to the 50th anniversary of his priestly ordination -
Father Álvaro García Aguilar shows photos of some of the moments he shared with John Paul II, during the Pope’s visit to Yucatán in 1993 -
Image corresponding to the 55th anniversary of priestly ordination of Father Álvaro García Aguilar, in 2011 -
November 30, 2012: Monsignor Álvaro García Aguilar during the Eucharistic celebration in which the family of the Patria Institute was entrusted to the Virgin of the Conception -
October 1, 2015: Monsignor Álvaro García Aguilar receives expressions of affection from the faithful, after his farewell mass as parish priest of María Inmaculada -
February 21, 2023: At the mass for the 90th birthday of Father Álvaro García Aguilar -
May 27, 2016. The archbishop of Yucatán, Monsignor Gustavo Rodríguez Vega, greets Father Álvaro García Aguilar, prior to the mass for the 60th anniversary of priestly ordination of the founder of the parish of María Inmaculada -
May 27, 2016. Mass for the 60 years of priestly ordination of Father Álvaro García Aguilar: priest Candelario Jiménez Jiménez, vicar general; the archbishop emeritus, Monsignor Emilio Carlos Berlie Belaunzarán; the archbishop of Yucatán, Monsignor Gustavo Rodríguez Vega; the celebrated one, and Father Cristian Uicab Tzab, parish priest of María Inmaculada