Draft:Pablo Menor

Pablo Menor
Father Pablo Menor, S.J.
Orders
Ordination	26 July 1931
Rank	Priest
Personal details
Born	11 August 1899 Villena, Alicante, Spain
Died	20 January 1992 (92 years)

Pablo Menor, S.J. (11 August 1899 - 20 January 1992) was a priest of the Society of Jesus, a promoter of vocations to the religious life, and the founder of Pro Ecclesia Sancta, a religious congregation of men and women.

Biography

Pablo Menor was born in 1899 in the Alicante Provice in Spain, the son of Pablo and Angeles Menor. Raised in a devout home, he was instilled by his family with Catholic values from a young age. From this example of life and domestic formation, Pablo felt a great calling to live a life of holiness through consecration and ordination as a Jesuit. This calling to a vocation was something Menor had felt within him even from his young childhood.

At the age of ten, Menor entered the Minor Seminary of Murcia and was received into the Jesuit novitiate in Granada, Spain

Menor, who would go on to spend his later ministry in Peru, first arrived in in the country to serve in Arequipa in 1925 on assignment as a school teacher at San Jose School, located in the city.

Upon return to Spain, he continued his theological studies in Barcelona, and struggled greatly with academic work due to acute chronic pain that hampered his ability to study. This intense chronic pain would continue to afflict Pablo throughout his life. Pain notwithstanding, menor eventually passed the rigorous examinations at the seminary, and he was ordained a priest of the Society of Jesus on 26 July 1931. Following ordination, the now-Father Menor completed ministry assignments in Caldas de Canavezes in Portugal, until he returned to minister in Peru, where he would spend the rest of his life and priestly ministry.

Returning to Arequipa, Father Menor taught as a professor at the Minor Seminary of San Jose, eventually rising to lead the institution as Rector. When the Jesuit-run seminary began a new program of novitiate formation, Menor was placed in charge of the program. In time, this program would see Menor as the main religious formator for a number of Catholic clergy that would eventually rise into great positions of responsibility and notoriety - including men who would later become bishops of such dioceses as Trujillo, Callao, Arequipa, and Chimbote.

1943 saw the return of Menor to Arequipa, where he was entrusted with the task of organizing and building a new parish in the community, Our Lady of the Pillar. There, he guided congregants through the spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius, led retreats, and gave spiritual direction. The priest's attentiveness to his pastoral labors and the positive impression he left on the people of Arequipa won Menor a particular affection and praise from locals. This success was great enough to convince Menor's superiors, as far up as the Jesuit leaders in Rome, to transfer him to Lima for greater responsibility, though this was met with resistance by the locals in Arequipa who did not want to see their esteemed pastor leave.

Bibliography

• Pablo Menor, S.J. Hijo Fiel de tu Iglesia hasta la muerte. Autobiografía espiritual. 2003. Arcángel Publicaciones / Centro de Orientación Religiosa.

This page will be placed in the following categories if it is moved to the article namespace.

Categories:

• 1899 births
• 1992 deaths
• 20th-century Spanish Jesuits
• Clergy from Valencia