Beloved priest who taught at Belen dies at 80
BY OSCAR CORRAL
The Rev. Jorge J. Sardiña, the grandson of a former Cuban president, a classmate of Fidel Castro, and a highly regarded Jesuit priest who taught at Miami's Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, died of heart failure Saturday.
''You're talking about a person who lived his vocations and his priesthood so powerfully,'' said the Rev. Willie Garcia-Tuñon, a Jesuit who teaches at Belen and who was once a student of Sardiña. ``These kids were attracted to him and how sincere he was. They felt that they were in the presence of someone holy.'' Sardiña's sister, Mariana Sardiña Lopez-Oña, said her brother wanted to be a priest since his first communion, and tried to enter the seminary when he was 12 then again two years later, but his parents persuaded him to wait until he graduated from high school. Jesuits, including Sardiña, adhere to vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Belen has been a shaping influence in the lives of many Miami and Cuban leaders, including Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, congressional candidate and Democratic activist Joe Garcia, Broadway actor Raul Esparza and even Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who attended the school in Havana and, after the revolution, shut it down.
''He [Fidel wanted not just to be on the team but to be the captain, but he didn't know how to play,'' she said. ``So he would put a light bulb outside and practice into the night until he became very good. Jorge said that whatever he [Fidel] had a drive to do, he did it. He also said Fidel had a chip on his shoulder and wanted to improve himself in everything and wanted to be the first and the best of everything.''
BY OSCAR CORRAL
The Rev. Jorge J. Sardiña, the grandson of a former Cuban president, a classmate of Fidel Castro, and a highly regarded Jesuit priest who taught at Miami's Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, died of heart failure Saturday.
He was 80. Sardiña, a teacher and counselor for decades, was popular among students at the elite Miami school, which was formed in exile after the Catholic Jesuits were expelled from Cuba following Fidel Castro's revolution in 1959. Friends said the priest spent his last days in a hospice quietly reciting Mass to himself over and over.
''You're talking about a person who lived his vocations and his priesthood so powerfully,'' said the Rev. Willie Garcia-Tuñon, a Jesuit who teaches at Belen and who was once a student of Sardiña. ``These kids were attracted to him and how sincere he was. They felt that they were in the presence of someone holy.'' Sardiña's sister, Mariana Sardiña Lopez-Oña, said her brother wanted to be a priest since his first communion, and tried to enter the seminary when he was 12 then again two years later, but his parents persuaded him to wait until he graduated from high school. Jesuits, including Sardiña, adhere to vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Belen has been a shaping influence in the lives of many Miami and Cuban leaders, including Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, congressional candidate and Democratic activist Joe Garcia, Broadway actor Raul Esparza and even Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who attended the school in Havana and, after the revolution, shut it down.
''A favorite of Belen students for over four decades, Father Sardiña began as a member of the Belen community in 1933, the year he began at El Colegio de Belen,'' the school said in an e-mail to alumni. ``During his two tenures at Belen Jesuit (1961-1965 and 1981- 2008), he served as an English and theology teacher, as well as a spiritual counselor for the middle-school students, creating a solid foundation in their faith and devotion to God.''Sardiña, the grandson of Cuban President Mario García-Menocal, entered the Society of Jesus in 1947, just two years after graduating from high school, Garcia-Tuñon said. He was ordained in 1959 and took his final vows in 1965, once the school had relocated to Miami from Havana. Sardiña graduated in the same class as Fidel Castro in Havana and the two boys knew each other, said Lopez-Oña, 77, of Miami. Sardiña told his sister that Castro had a ''brilliant'' memory and would tear pages out of books as he learned them standing in line to enter a classroom. Sardiña told her Castro wanted badly to be on the basketball team, but didn't know how to play.
''He [Fidel wanted not just to be on the team but to be the captain, but he didn't know how to play,'' she said. ``So he would put a light bulb outside and practice into the night until he became very good. Jorge said that whatever he [Fidel] had a drive to do, he did it. He also said Fidel had a chip on his shoulder and wanted to improve himself in everything and wanted to be the first and the best of everything.''
Sardiña counseled sixth- and seventh-graders at Belen in Miami, a first Jesuit contact for many youngsters entering the competitive school. He offered the kids an ear, candy and the occasional handkerchief. Often during lunch periods, he could be found in the school's chapel.Sardiña's niece, Beba Sardiña Mann, said her uncle's religiosity was authentic. "'My uncle had a calling since he was a very young boy,'' she said in an e-mail. ``He would spend a lot of time in church as a child, he would go every morning for communion. He was very much loved because he was very much in touch with God and with the times.'' Belen said Sardiña practiced what he preached. 'We mourn the loss of a true `man for others,' '' the e-mail said, invoking the Jesuit motto. A wake for Sardiña will be held at the school's west Miami-Dade campus, 500 SW 127th Ave., Monday night. A Mass will be held in his honor at the school Tuesday morning.
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4 comments:
For the record, that Joe Garcia is NOT me.
-J.
J,
I have noted that it my records. The cup of Joe's runneth over.
JMJ
Joe
Incidentally, That Other Guy graduated a year after I did and for a spell we worked together at the campus conservative newspaper, from which he was let go/left in a huff.
-J.
He was in his 50's not 80
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