11 May Blessed Mapuche Ceferino Namuncurá

Dear friends,

Today, May 11th, is the day of Blessed Ceferino Namuncurá and we want to share our joy with you!

Ceferino “Pie de Piedra”, Prince of Patagonia, rests in front of the hill that bears his name. Honoring his surname, his remains rest in the open on the ritual stone that his ancestors used to ride horses. Around it rose a monument in the form of a kultrun, the drum of the machi.

Of royal lineage, her father was Cacique Manuel Namuncurá and her mother was the cautiva Doña Rosario Burgos. Crossing the Patagonia on his creole horse, he learned how to handle “boleadoras”, “chuza” and “arco” in the Chimpay’s tolderías. He died when he was 19 years old in Rome.

He was proclaimed Blessed by Cardinal Bertone in 2007 in his hometown. Pope John Paul II closed his speech in Viedma on the New Evangelization with a greeting to “the Mapuche brothers” in their own language:

“Poyén pu mapúche peñi ka pu déya: marimári, pu wen! Ayuwnk.chi tykúlpanién, déuma rupái kiñe patáka tr.p.ntu, féichi ñi llegmúm támyn wéche peñi, Ceferino Namúnkura. Inchetáñi mlen fau fach.ntu, tfáchi nutr.m ayuaf.n ñi nieál eiwyn mu: féichi Pápa, rumél mleái aiwyn ñi ináu méu; Peumanén, inchíñ táiñ Wénu-Cháu, pile támyn rumél kum.lkale.l, mynél pu pyñéñ. Kúmé feleáimn, pu wén!.”

“Dear brothers and sisters, Hello friends, I am happy to recall that one hundred years after the birth of your young brother, Ceferino Namuncurá, my presence here today would like you to have this meaning for you: the Pope will always be at your side; from heaven grant you permanent well-being, in particular to your children. Congratulations, friends. “

Blessed Ceferino, pray for us.