Enrique San Pedro

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Enrique San Pedro, S.J. (born Enrique San Pedro y Fonaguera) (March 9, 1926 - July 17, 1994) was a Cuban-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Brownsville in Texas from 1991 until his death in 1994 and previously as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston from 1986 to 1991.

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 in Sagua la Grande,^[1] in Cienfuegos, Cuba, on December 7, 1941. After two years of novitiate, he underwent four years of Greek and Latin studies in Havana and in Salamanca, Spain, 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. San Pedro was sent to Manila, Philippines, to study Mandarin, Tagalog and Vietnamese languages. While there, 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 by Bishop William Brasseur for the Society of Jesus 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]

San Pedro then went to what was then South 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. In March 1975, at the end of the Vietnam War, he was expelled from the country by the new Vietnamese government.

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 Parish, teaching classes at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in Miami periodically 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). San Pedro requested to his Jesuit superiors to be assigned again as a missionary; they sent him to Suva, Fiji Islands (1978–1980).

On April 1, 1986, San Pedro was appointed by Pope John Paul II as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston and titular bishop of Siccesi. He was consecrated on June 29, 1986, by then Bishop Joseph Fiorenza. His co-consecrators were Archbishop Edward McCarthy and Bishop Agustin Roman. San Pedro's motto was taken from II Corinthians, I2, 15: Libentissime impendam et super impendar (Most gladly I will spend myself and be spent for your sakes).

San Pedro was appointed on August 13, 1991, by John Paul II as the coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Brownsville.^[4] He was installed as bishop on September 26, 1991. On November 30, 1991, San Pedrosucceeded as the fourth bishop of Brownsville.

Enrique San Pedro died in Miami on July 17, 1994, at age 68.^[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 in Miami 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