• Submitted by: lena campos
• Society
• 05 / 25 / 2012

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The Santo Ángel Custodio Parish, founded in 1690 in this city was the venue selected by Cuban intellectuals and artists to dedicate a mass to José Julián Martí Pérez on the 117th anniversary of his death in combat in Dos Ríos.

The religious ceremony began on Tuesday, May 22 at 6 o’clock in the afternoon with the presence of Armando Hart Dávalos, the prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso and other personalities of Cuban culture and nation. The ceremony asked for the eternal rest of the apostle of Cuban independence.

During his liturgy, the priest carefully recalled the thinking and faith man in José Martí, baptized in this church on February 12, 1853. He was a man, whose life was guided over by three basic church pillars: faith, hope and love, in God as well as in men. Out of the three, love is and will always be the most important one in the road towards God and it was also what guided the destiny of José Julián throughout his life.

He also recalled that Martí had a lifetime of sacrifices in search of an ideal: the independence of his homeland and he founded his reason and his ethics upon the precepts of father Félix Varela, who was also baptized in this church in 1788 and who died a few days after the birth of José Martí. He then mentioned some of the thoughts and reflections made by Martí in his Complete Works and he finished his words with that phrase that states: “You see through love. You see with love. Love is what makes you see. A spirit without love can not see.”

In the mass there was also present the artist Kamyl Bullaudy, main promoter of this tribute, who exhibited some of his work in the sanctuary, among them a standing Martí which was placed closed to the shrine. Another important person in visual arts, Nelson Domínguez, accompanied Kamyl with one of his works.

Music was in charge of the soprano Johana Simón, followed on several occasions by the voices of Ileana Pérez and Egor Vega, accompanied by Fran Paredes in the piano and Rayko López in the flute. There was interpreted, among other pieces, La rosa blanca (The white rose) by José Martí with music by Ernesto Lecuona and the Ave María by José María Vitier.

The Santo Ángel Custodio Parish was one of the sceneries outlined by Cirilo Villaverde in his novel “Cecilia Valdés o La Loma del Ángel”, a book which is a true compilation of the Cuban life and customs during the 19th century. Here the author makes a detailed description of this church, where yet another distinguished Cuban daughter, present in this event, was baptized: Alicia Alonso.

This ceremony took place in a peaceful environment, and it will undoubtedly remain in history for the confluence of symbols and meanings in the same place and date, to pay tribute to one of the most complete men who was ever born in this country, our José Martí, who expressed in his letter to Gonzalo de Quesada a few days before dying in combat in Dos Ríos: “One day a man died in the cross, but we have to learn to die in the cross every day.”

Source: Cubarte.cult.cu