The 500 years of the Franciscan presence in Michoacán, Mexico

Last Monday, the 21st October 2021, in the old former friary of San Francis, in the legendary city of Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán, ancient capital of the Purépecha Kingdom, the opening of the Jubilee Year was held, which commemorates the Fifth Centenary of the arrival of Br. Martín de la Coruña and his companions to this portion of the Mexican territory. where the Franciscan Province of the Apostles Peter and Paul of Michoacán, in Mexico, was born. 

In the face of such an important event for the life of the Province and for the local Church, the Franciscans of Michoacán gathered in this place so symbolic to their history, because there is the memory of those holy men, sons of the Poor Man of Assisi, who spent their lives announcing the Good News of Jesus to the native peoples of this region.  and whose bodies still rest in this place. 

This great celebration was attended by the Friars Minor, the Poor Clares, the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, the Secular Franciscans and the people of Tzintzuntzan, to give thanks to God, through the Eucharist, for the wonders he has worked throughout these five centuries. 

The homily was preached by the Provincial Minister, Fr. Enrique Muñoz Gutiérrez, OFM, who invited those present to be grateful to God, who brought to this place the message of salvation, making use of a generation of evangelical men, who detached themselves from everything and came to these lands. He said: "They were sent, first by Jesus and then by their superiors, to sow the Good News in the land of lakes and mountains, in the land of fishermen." In his speech, the Minister also recalled the works that Br. Martín de la Coruña, Founding Father of this Province, Br. Maturino Gilberti, Br. Jacobo Daciano and other friars who began the mission in this holy place, and which remained throughout history a source of evangelization and culture.

After Mass and a fraternal meal, the friars left Tzintzuntzan, the fruitful centre of this Province, and returned to their friaries in Guanajuato, Querétaro, Chihuahua and Texas, along with a new desire to be better than yesterday, grateful to history, to their ancestors, to this city and its people for reminding them that it is worth giving one's life for the proclamation of the Gospel; for when you sow generously, you will reap abundantly afterwards.   

By the Provincial Secretariat