Alphonse Gallegos
Encyclopedia
Alphonse Gallegos OAR
, was a Roman Catholic bishop
who was declared a Servant of God
in July 2008.
where his father was a carpenter
, and his mother a homemaker
caring for their 11 children. He had a twin brother, Eloy, grew up in Watts, attended Manual Arts High School
and received confirmation
from then auxiliary bishop Timothy Manning. Gallegos, as a twin, was so intent on becoming a priest he built an altar in his parents' home.
Gallegos attended Rockhurst University
in Kansas City, Tomas College and St. John's University in New York and Loyola Marymount University
in Los Angeles. While a seminarian at the Tagaste Monastery in Suffern, New York
, his superiors learned that Gallegos was born with a severe myopic condition
. He had eye surgery prior to entering the seminary
but wore "Coke bottle thick glasses with his clerical garb" and was nearly blind.
a Roman Catholic priest
for the Augustinian Recollects on May 24, 1958. From 1970 to 1979 he served as pastor of San Miguel and Cristo Rey parishes in the Los Angeles diocese
. He was transferred to Sacramento where Gallegos served from 1979 to 1981 as the first director of the Division of Hispanic Affairs of the California Catholic Conference.
On August 24, 1981, Pope John Paul II
appointed Gallegos auxiliary bishop
of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento
, in Sacramento, California
as the titular bishop of Sasabe. He was ordained bishop on November 4, 1981 by Bishop Francis Quinn
.
Gallegos was the principal co-consecrator of Bishop David Arias Pérez, OAR, of the Archdiocese of Newark
on April 7, 1983.
. Because he was known as "the bishop of the barrio
", approximately 300 lowrider
cars drove in a procession before the bishop’s funeral Mass
at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. The bishop was considered as an unofficial chaplain to lowriders and migrant workers
.
, the cause for Gallegos beatification
was opened by Bishop William Weigand
.
In 2009 it was reported that the cause for Gallegos would be advanced. A testimony of his virtues along with reports of miracles attributed to the bishop's intercession will be presented to the Vatican.
On March 24, 2010, Gallegos' body was exhumed and transferred to the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament at the request of the Augustinian Recollects. This movement is being done as part of his cause
towards sainthood. On March 25, 2010, his remains were transferred to the parish he resided in as an auxiliary bishop. This parish is the Sanctuary of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe
also known as Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Sacramento. Along with Bishop Eugene O'Connell
, he would be the second Sacramento area bishop whose remains were moved. If declared a saint, he would become Sacramento's first one.
and supporter of the unborn, Bishop Gallegos Assembly 2336 and Bishop Gallegos Maternity Home are named for him. In 1997, the city of Sacramento erected a statue of the bishop and named the surrounding square area in his memory.
Augustinian Recollects
-History:The Order of Augustinian Recollects or simply the Augustinian Recollects are a Roman Catholic mendicant Catholic religious order of friars and nuns. They are a reformist offshoot from the Augustinian hermit friars and follow the same Rule of St...
, was a Roman Catholic bishop
Bishop (Catholic Church)
In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders and is responsible for teaching the Catholic faith and ruling the Church....
who was declared a Servant of God
Servant of God
Servant of God is a title given to individuals by various religions, but in general the phrase is used to describe a person believed to be pious in his or her faith tradition. In the Catholic Church, it designates someone who is being investigated by the Church for possibly being recognized as a...
in July 2008.
Early life
Gallegos was born in Albuquerque, New MexicoAlbuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
where his father was a carpenter
Carpentry
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
, and his mother a homemaker
Homemaker
Homemaking is a mainly American term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping or household management...
caring for their 11 children. He had a twin brother, Eloy, grew up in Watts, attended Manual Arts High School
Manual Arts High School
Manual Arts High School is a secondary school in Los Angeles, California. When founded, Manual Arts was a vocational high school, but later converted to a traditional curriculum.-History:...
and received confirmation
Confirmation (Catholic Church)
Confirmation is one of the seven sacraments through which Catholics pass in the process of their religious upbringing. According to Catholic doctrine, in this sacrament they receive the Holy Spirit and become adult members of the Catholic Church....
from then auxiliary bishop Timothy Manning. Gallegos, as a twin, was so intent on becoming a priest he built an altar in his parents' home.
Gallegos attended Rockhurst University
Rockhurst University
Rockhurst University is a private, coeducational Jesuit university located in Kansas City, Missouri, founded in 1910 as Rockhurst College. The school adheres to the motto etched into the stone of the campus bell tower: "Learning, Leadership, and Service in the Jesuit Tradition." It is one of 28...
in Kansas City, Tomas College and St. John's University in New York and Loyola Marymount University
Loyola Marymount University
Loyola Marymount University is a comprehensive co-educational private Roman Catholic university in the Jesuit and Marymount traditions located in Los Angeles, California, United States...
in Los Angeles. While a seminarian at the Tagaste Monastery in Suffern, New York
Suffern, New York
Suffern is a village in the Town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States located north of the State of New Jersey; east of Hillburn; south of Montebello and west of Airmont...
, his superiors learned that Gallegos was born with a severe myopic condition
Myopia
Myopia , "shortsightedness" ) is a refractive defect of the eye in which collimated light produces image focus in front of the retina under conditions of accommodation. In simpler terms, myopia is a condition of the eye where the light that comes in does not directly focus on the retina but in...
. He had eye surgery prior to entering the seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
but wore "Coke bottle thick glasses with his clerical garb" and was nearly blind.
Episcopal appointments
Gallegos was ordainedPresbyterium
Presbyterium is a modern term used in the Catholic Church and Eastern Catholic Churches after the Second Vatican Council in reference to a college of priests, in active ministry, of an individual particular church such as a diocese or eparchy...
a Roman Catholic priest
Priesthood (Catholic Church)
The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church include the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....
for the Augustinian Recollects on May 24, 1958. From 1970 to 1979 he served as pastor of San Miguel and Cristo Rey parishes in the Los Angeles diocese
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is an archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the archdiocese comprises the California counties of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura. The diocesan cathedral is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the...
. He was transferred to Sacramento where Gallegos served from 1979 to 1981 as the first director of the Division of Hispanic Affairs of the California Catholic Conference.
On August 24, 1981, Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
appointed Gallegos auxiliary bishop
Auxiliary bishop
An auxiliary bishop, in the Roman Catholic Church, is an additional bishop assigned to a diocese because the diocesan bishop is unable to perform his functions, the diocese is so extensive that it requires more than one bishop to administer, or the diocese is attached to a royal or imperial office...
of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento
Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento is an ecclesiastical territory or particular church of the Roman Catholic Church in the northern California region of the United States...
, in Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
as the titular bishop of Sasabe. He was ordained bishop on November 4, 1981 by Bishop Francis Quinn
Francis Quinn
Francis Anthony Quinn is the Roman Catholic bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Sacramento. He graduated from St. Joseph’s Seminary and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of San Francisco on June 15, 1946. He earned a MA in education from the Catholic University, Washington, D.C...
.
Gallegos was the principal co-consecrator of Bishop David Arias Pérez, OAR, of the Archdiocese of Newark
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark
The Archdiocese of Newark is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in northern New Jersey, United States. Its ecclesiastic territory includes all of the Catholic parishes and schools in the New Jersey counties of Bergen, Union, Hudson and Essex .-History:Originally established as the Diocese of...
on April 7, 1983.
Death
On Oct. 6, 1991, Gallegos died when he was struck by a car by the side of the road while returning to Sacramento from Gridley, CaliforniaGridley, California
Gridley is a city in Butte County, California, United States. The population was 6,584 at the 2010 census, up from 5,382 at the 2000 census.-History:...
. Because he was known as "the bishop of the barrio
Barrio
Barrio is a Spanish word meaning district or neighborhood.-Usage:In its formal usage in English, barrios are generally considered cohesive places, sharing, for example, a church and traditions such as feast days...
", approximately 300 lowrider
Lowrider
]A lowrider is a style of car originated by Chicano communities that sits lower to the ground than most other cars. Many lowriders have their suspension systems modified so that their ride can change height at the flip of a switch...
cars drove in a procession before the bishop’s funeral Mass
Catholic Funeral
A Roman Catholic funeral is a funeral rite in use in the Latin rite of the Catholic Church. Within the Church, they may be referred to as ecclesiastical funerals...
at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. The bishop was considered as an unofficial chaplain to lowriders and migrant workers
Farmworker
A farmworker is a person hired to work in the agricultural industry. This includes work on farms of all sizes, from small, family-run businesses to large industrial agriculture operations...
.
Process to sainthood
In 2005, after eleven months of scrutinyScrutiny
Scrutiny...
, the cause for Gallegos beatification
Beatification
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...
was opened by Bishop William Weigand
William Weigand
William Keith Weigand is an American Roman Catholic bishop, who served as the eighth Bishop of Sacramento in the U.S. state of California from 1993 to 2008. He previously served as the seventh Bishop of Salt Lake City and as a priest in the Diocese of Boise.-Episcopal appointments:Weigand was born...
.
In 2009 it was reported that the cause for Gallegos would be advanced. A testimony of his virtues along with reports of miracles attributed to the bishop's intercession will be presented to the Vatican.
On March 24, 2010, Gallegos' body was exhumed and transferred to the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament at the request of the Augustinian Recollects. This movement is being done as part of his cause
Canonization
Canonization is the act by which a Christian church declares a deceased person to be a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints. Originally, individuals were recognized as saints without any formal process...
towards sainthood. On March 25, 2010, his remains were transferred to the parish he resided in as an auxiliary bishop. This parish is the Sanctuary of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe , also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe is a celebrated Catholic icon of the Virgin Mary.According to tradition, on December 9, 1531 Juan Diego, a simple indigenous peasant, had a vision of a young woman while he was on a hill in the Tepeyac desert, near Mexico City. The lady...
also known as Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Sacramento. Along with Bishop Eugene O'Connell
Eugene O'Connell
Eugene O'Connell was the first Roman Catholic bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Grass Valley, California.-Early pastoral appointments:O'Connell was ordained to the priesthood on May 21, 1842...
, he would be the second Sacramento area bishop whose remains were moved. If declared a saint, he would become Sacramento's first one.
Legacy
Because he was a KnightKnights of Columbus
The Knights of Columbus is the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization. Founded in the United States in 1882, it is named in honor of Christopher Columbus....
and supporter of the unborn, Bishop Gallegos Assembly 2336 and Bishop Gallegos Maternity Home are named for him. In 1997, the city of Sacramento erected a statue of the bishop and named the surrounding square area in his memory.