Enrique San Pedro

Enrique San Pedro was born March 9, 1926 in Havana, Cuba,[1] the second child and oldest son of María Antonia Fornaguera and Enrique San Pedro y Xiques. His siblings were: Silvia, Berta and Javier San Pedro y Fornaguera.

San Pedro studied at Colegio de Belén and entered the novitiate of the Jesuits at Escuela Apostólica y Seminario Menor, en Sagua la Grande on December 7, 1941[1] in Cienfuegos. After two years of novitiate, he underwent four years of classical (Greek and Latin) studies in Havana and in Salamanca, where he received a master's degree in classical literature.[1] These studies were followed by three years of Philosophy at Comillas Pontifical University in Spain. He was sent to Manila to study Mandarin, Tagalog and Vietnamese. He also taught social sciences and Latin at the Jesuit school in the Philippines. San Pedro also studied theology in Baguio, Philippines.

San Pedro was ordained a priest on March 18, 1957.[2] He continued his studies at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and received his doctorate in sacred scripture from the University of Innsbruck, Austria. He spoke seven languages, wrote two books and some professional articles and book reviews.[3]

He then went to Vietnam and taught classes at Pius X Pontifical College in Da Lat. He also worked at the Student Center of St. Francisco Javier in Huế, Vietnam. In March 1975, he was expelled by the communists government.

Fr. San Pedro came to the United States in the late 1970s.[2] He went to Miami to visit his parents and stayed as assistant pastor at St. Raymond's Church and taught classes at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School on and off from 1977 to 1986. He was a visiting professor at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida[2] and at the Jesuit seminary in the Dominican Republic (1976–1977). He again requested to his Jesuit superiors to be sent as a missionary and was sent to Suva, Fiji Islands (1978–1980).

On April 1, 1986, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and Titular Bishop of Siccesi and was consecrated on June 29. His principal consecrator was Mons. Joseph Anthony Fiorenza, Archbishop the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and his co-consecrators were Archbishop Edward Anthony McCarthy and Bishop Agustin Roman, both of the Archdiocese of Miami.

Bishop San Pedro was appointed on August 13, 1991 as the Coadjutor Bishop of Brownsville, Texas.[4] He was installed as bishop on September 26, 1991 and on November 30, 1991, he succeeded as the fourth Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville. His motto is taken from II Corinthians, I2, 15: Libentissime impendam et super impendar (Most gladly I will spend myself and be spent for your sakes).

Bishop San Pedro died on July 17, 1994.[4]

In Brownsville, Texas, the diocese named its homeless shelter after him, the Bishop Enrique San Pedro Ozanam Center. The Bishop San Pedro Spanish Club, a service club in Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, is named after him. He is buried at Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery in Miami.

• Bishop Enrique San Pedro website
• Catholic Hierarchy bio
• Episcopologio de la Iglesia Católica en Cuba bio (in Spanish)
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville