After Pope Leo XIV approved the beatification of Fray Augusto Rafael Ramírez Monasterythe Catholic faithful prepare to celebrate this event, in recognition of their years of service to the Church and the people of Guatemala. The friar was murdered in 1983 because of his convictions.
Fray Edwin Alvarado, rector of the San Francisco temple and vice postulator of the cause, reported that the official letter from the Pontiff has already arrived to proceed with the beatification of Fray Augusto Rafael Ramírez Monasterio.
“The beatification of Fray Augusto Rafael Ramírez Monasterio is an event for the entire Church,” Alvarado assured Prensa Libre when speaking about the preparations for the ceremony.
According to Alvarado, it will be Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, president of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, who will represent the Vatican to preside over the beatification mass.
The event will take place on November 7, at 10 a.m., at Finca Florencia, where the faithful and the Church will gather for the beatification of Fray Augusto Rafael Ramírez Monasterio.
What will be the protocol during the ceremony?
The event, which is projected to bring together between 14,000 and 20,000 people, will follow the protocol established by the Catholic Church. Cardinal Marcello Semeraro will preside over the mass and the Archbishop of Guatemala, Monsignor Gonzalo de Villa, will present the cause.
The beatification rite is celebrated within the mass. After the singing of “Lord, have mercy”, the celebration will pause for this special moment, in which Monsignor Gonzalo de Villa will request that Fray Augusto be inscribed in the book of the blessed.
Then a brief biography will be heard about his life, his mission and the events that led to his recognition, Alvarado highlighted. Afterwards, the cardinal will read the decree sent by Pope Leo XIV, which establishes that Friar Augustus is recognized as blessed.
What will happen after the official announcement?
At that moment the official image of Fray Augusto Rafael Ramírez Monasterio will be presented. According to the rector of the San Francisco temple, it shows the friar with his hands clasped inside his habit, in allusion to the torture he suffered days before his death, when his hands were purple and burned.
There will also be the enthronement of a reliquary approximately 40 centimeters high, which contains a relic of the friar obtained during the exhumation carried out in November 2005.
The reliquary will be given to the cardinal, who will place it on a table, light a candle, venerate it and, later, continue the mass with the singing of the Gloria, highlighted Fray Edwin Alvarado.
Who will be present at the ceremony?
The importance of the beatification will bring together various personalities. According to the vice postulator of the cause, representatives of the Episcopal Conference of Guatemala, civil authorities, including the president of the Republic and his wife, as well as relatives and nephews of Fray Augusto, will be present.
As part of the celebration, the choir will be made up of around 100 people and approximately 300 priests are expected to participate.