MORENO Y DÍAZ, EZEQUIEL, ST.

Augustinian Recollect priest, missionary, bishop of Pasto (Colombia); b. April 9, 1848, Alfaro, Logroño, Spain; d. August 19, 1906, Monteagudo Monastery, Navarra, Spain. Ezequiel, the son of Felix Moreno and Josefa Díaz, joined the Augustinian Recollects at Monteagudo Monastery (Sept. 21, 1864) and pronounced his vows at Marcilla Monastery the following year. He was sent to the Philippine missions (1870), where he was ordained in Manila in 1871. After evangelizing the Philippines for fifteen years, he returned to Monteagudo to serve as prior and form future missionaries. In 1888, he travelled to Candelaria, Colombia to reorganize the Augustinian Recollects there. His success in reinvigorating the faithful of the region led to his appointment as the first vicar apostolic of Casanare, and in 1895 Moreno was consecrated bishop of Pasto in southern Colombia, where he actively defended the rights of the Church. After developing cancer, he returned to Spain in 1906 where he retired to Monteagudo Monastery to die. Pope Paul VI beatified Bishop Moreno, Nov. 1, 1975, and Pope John Paul II canonized him in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Oct. 11, 1992. Patron of cancer victims.

Feast: Aug. 19.

Bibliography: Epistolario del beato Ezequiel Moreno y otros agustinos recoletos con Miguel Antonio Caro y su familia, ed. by c. valderrama andrade (Bogotá 1983). e. ayape, Semblanza de San Ezequiel Moreno (Madrid 1994). e. l. a. romanillos, Bishop Ezekiel Moreno: An Augustinian Recollect Saint among Filipinos (Quezon City, Philippines 1993). c. valderrama andrade, Un capítulo de las relaciones entre el estado y la Iglesia en Colombia: Miguel Antonio Caro y Ezequiel Moreno (Bogotá 1986). Acta Apostolicae Sedis (1976): 486–89; (1992): 1017. L'Osservatore Romano, Eng. ed. 45 (1975): 1–4.

[k. i. rabenstein]