Diego Hernández González

After the end of the conflict, Diego Hernández González resumed his theological studies and was ordained a priest in Barcelona on June 9, 1940. His first years of ministry were spent in the province of Murcia, first in Lorca as a choir chaplain at the San Patricio parish, then as a coadjutor at San Mateo. In January 1942, he was appointed pastor of the Our Lady of the Assumption parish in La Fuensanta, also serving several small surrounding hamlets. In this rural region marked by post-war poverty, he spent himself without counting the cost to relieve the material and spiritual misery of his parishioners, personally ensuring that no one lacked food. On March 4, 1949, he was appointed pastor of the Santa María parish in Villena (Alicante) and advisor to the Catholic Action youth. Affectionately nicknamed the "pastor of souls" because of his evangelical simplicity and his closeness to the most destitute, he did not hesitate to give his own food and clothing to the poor of his parish. He also founded a parish school there to teach reading and writing to underprivileged young girls. In 1954, following the territorial reorganization of the dioceses, he was incardinated into the Diocese of Orihuela-Alicante. He was then appointed spiritual director of the diocesan seminary of Orihuela and professor of ascetical and mystical theology. He devoted himself fully to the formation of future priests, with a deep desire to foster holy priestly vocations. Subsequently, he assumed various diocesan responsibilities: first director of the Priestly House of Alicante, diocesan director of catechesis (from 1966), member of the synodal commission, and spiritual guide to many priests, religious, and laypeople.

From 1963, serious health problems forced him to gradually reduce his pastoral activities. Despite the illness, he continued to offer a luminous testimony of patience, joy, and pastoral charity, becoming a highly sought-after spiritual advisor. He passed away on January 26, 1976, in Alicante, surrounded by a solid reputation for holiness. The fame of his virtues and the numerous testimonies of spiritual and material favors attributed to his intercession led to the opening of his cause for canonization. The diocesan inquiry was officially opened on January 25, 2002, in the Diocese of Orihuela-Alicante, after obtaining the nihil obstat from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on January 29, 2002. This local investigative phase concluded on February 27, 2004, and the file was transmitted to Rome for examination.

On October 13, 2021, during an audience granted to Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of Diego Hernández González. By this official act, the Spanish priest was declared Venerable. His mortal remains now rest in a chapel of the parish church of La Purísima Concepción in Javalí Nuevo, his native village, where many faithful come to pray and seek his intercession. For him to be proclaimed Blessed, the official recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession by the Holy See is required.

The spirituality of the Venerable Diego Hernández González is deeply Eucharistic and Marian. Marked by the example of Saint Paul and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, he conceived the priestly ministry as a total configuration to Christ, the Good Shepherd. His pastoral action was based on an intense contemplative life, nourished by prayer, study, and great fidelity to the Church. He left a lasting legacy in the Diocese of Orihuela-Alicante, particularly among priests and seminarians for whom he promoted a model of fraternal, simple, and poor life, inspired by the life of the Apostles and the teachings of Saint John of Avila. His spiritual writings and the memory of his tireless charity towards the poor continue to inspire the faithful in Spain and elsewhere.