Brochero, Saint José Gabriel (1840-1914), is an Argentine saint of the Roman Catholic Church . Brochero was a Catholic priest who devoted his life to ministering to the poor and ill in his rural parish (church district). He became known as the “gaucho priest” because he traveled around the countryside on a mule and dressed in a poncho and sombrero (wide-brimmed hat) like a gaucho. A gaucho is a cowboy of South America’s plains. Brochero is also known as Cura Brochero. Cura is a Spanish word for priest. Brochero was the first Argentine to be made a Catholic saint, in 2016.
José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero was born on March 16, 1840, in Santa Rosa de Río Primero, Córdoba province, Argentina . He was the 4th of 10 children. Brochero entered the Major Seminary of Córdoba, also known as Our Lady of Loreto, in 1856, just before his 16th birthday. In 1866, he was ordained as a priest for the Archdiocese of Córdoba. In 1869, Brochero was assigned to St. Albert parish, a large, rural parish west of Córdoba city in Argentina’s mountainous Andean Region.
In addition to serving as parish priest, Brochero worked to educate the local people and help them out of poverty and isolation. With his parishioners’ (parish members’) help, Brochero built a religious retreat house (place for spiritual reflection); a residence for priests and another for nuns; a girls’ school; and a number of churches. The town where Brochero lived, Villa del Tránsito, today is known as Villa Cura Brochero. Brochero also constructed about 125 miles (200 kilometers) of roads and helped plan a local rail line. In addition, he successfully appealed to officials to establish local post offices and telegraph stations.
While working with sick parishioners, Brochero became infected with leprosy , also called Hansen’s disease. He died on Jan. 26, 1914, in Villa del Tránsito. In 2013, Brochero was beatified (declared among the blessed in heaven). Beatification is an important step toward becoming a saint. He was canonized (declared a saint) on Oct. 16, 2016. Pope Francis described Brochero as having had the “smell of his sheep,” meaning that he took an active, hands-on approach to his ministry.
