October 2, 2005
Father Felix Varela 1788 – 1853
Felix Varela was an orphan boy from Cuba who was raised by an uncle in St. Augustine, Florida. When he arrived in New York in 1823 to become assistant pastor of St. Peter’s Church, Barclay Street, the church in the United States was still in the process of being organized. He had been a member of the Cortes, or democratic parliament in Spain which was later dissolved by the tyrant King Ferdinand VII who condemned all of the members to death.
Varela came to America with a death sentence over his head. He was a brilliant, witty and a very skilled preacher. He participated in many public forums representing the Catholic Church brilliantly in a city where there was a great deal of anti-Catholicism. He was a friend of the poor and spent part of every day for twenty-five years visiting the city hospital, a place which was at that time filled with contagion and people dying – sometimes fifty a day – of epidemics. He was known to give his coat away. People have compared him to Bishop Miriel in Les Miserables because he even had to go to the police station to prove that a poor woman had some silverware because he had given it to her due to her need. He was eventually Vicar General of the diocese of New York and played an important part in the recognition of Catholics as a legitimate and respectable part of the life of the city. He was deeply, deeply religious and particularly devoted to the Holy Eucharist. He died in Florida very ill and very poor, but totally devoted until his last breath.
The United States Postal Office bestowed public recognition on him for his years of humanitarian work by issuing a 32-cent commemorative stamp presenting him as a social reformer.
It is unfortunate that Father Varela is not better known, particularly in the New York area. He was a very important part of the development of the church here and its preparation to receive people from many different cultures and backgrounds into the huge melting pot of New York. When they tried to get him to be a soldier, he said, “I wish to be a soldier of Jesus Christ. I do not wish to kill men, but to save souls.”
In order to get more information on Father Varela, type “Felix Varela” into Google and several websites will come up. You may have to click on “translate” in order to get them in English. Let’s hope that there will be more studies of Father Varela available to us.
Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR
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