100,000 Pilgrims Pay Homage to Bl. Ceferino Namuncura'

100,000 Pilgrims in Chimpay 
Pay Homage to Bl. Ceferino Namuncurá

(ANS – Chimpay, Argentina – August 30, 2022) - After 2 years in which it was impossible to make it, due to Covid-19 restrictions, the traditional pilgrimage to pay homage to Blessed Ceferino Namuncurá was held in Chimpay on Sunday, August 28. About 100,000 people filled the area known as the “Shrine,” where the shrine and hermitage with the statue of Ceferino Namuncurá are located, and where hundreds of thousands of people pass each year to pray to him, thank him for favors granted, and ask for special graces.

Altho marked by rather cold temperatures (it’s winter in Argentina), the day began immediately with Mapuche prayer and worship on the Cerro de la Cruz of the Fifth Centennial, on National Road 22. Then, at 9:00 a.m., the pilgrimage began. After a 2-hour walk, the impressive group of people arrived at the Parque Ceferiniano and began taking their places in front of the altar set up outdoors in front of the shrine, where Mass was celebrated.

Bp. Esteban Laxague, SDB, of Viedma, Bp. Fernando Croxatto of Neuquén, and Bp. Alejandro Pablo Benna of Alto Valle del Rio Negro participated in this 52nd pilgrimage, whose motto was “Ceferino, Samaritan of Life.” Fr. Dario Perera, SDB provincial Argentina South also was present. There were priests from different cities in Patagonia (many of them Salesians), and others from different parts of the country.

Beyond this impressive participation in Patagonia’s largest pilgrimage of faith, the festivities began as early as Friday, August 26, the day of the liturgical memorial of Ceferino Namuncurá, with Masses attended by pilgrims who arrived by bicycle, horseback, motorcycle, and car. On the 27th, a blessing was given to the pilgrims at each of the Masses. Afterwards, there was a series of celebrations with the young people who arrived at the shrine. At nightfall, there was an evocative moment of prayer beside the fire, lit in front of the shrine. Saturday’s day ended with a hymn to the earth by the youths of the Chimpay Sports Center.

Who was Ceferino Namuncurá?

Ceferino Namuncurá was born on Aug. 26, 1886, in Chimpay, on the banks of the Rio Negro in Patagonia. He was baptized on Dec. 24, 1888, by Salesian missionary Fr. Dominic Milanesio. His father Manuel, the last great cacique of the Araucan Indian tribes, had had to surrender three years earlier to troops of the Argentine Republic. At age 11, Manuel Namuncurá sent his son to study in Buenos Aires at the Salesian Pius IX boarding school. Ceferino expressed a desire to study, then return home and be useful to his people. The family atmosphere at the Salesian school made him fall in love with Don Bosco. Ceferino was a studious and devout young man; he learned Spanish and catechism and took Don Bosco’s pupil Dominic Savio as a model. 

In early 1902, however, he fell ill with tuberculosis, and therefore Bp. John Cagliero, leader of the Salesian mission in Argentina, sent him to Viedma with the hope that he would recover. He was then sent to Italy in 1904 to continue his studies in a climate that seemed better suited to his health. In Italy, Ceferino met Fr. Michael Rua and Pope Pius X. He attended school in Turin and later the Salesian boarding school at Villa Sora in Frascati. But tuberculosis struck him with its full force, and he died in Rome at Fatebenefratelli Hospital on Tiber Island on May 11, 1905. Bp. Cagliero accompanied him. Over the years, his reputation for sanctity grew immensely, and on Nov. 11, 2007, he was beatified in Chimpay, his hometown.