Rafael García Herreros (Cúcuta, January 17, 1909–Bogotá, November 24, 1992) was a Colombian leader of the Charismatic Catholic Minuto de Dios organization.
Rafael García Herreros born in Cúcuta January 17 of 1909, son of the Julio César García Herreros Orbegozo and of María Unda Pérez. In 1923, when he was 14 years old, he went to Catholic Seminary of Pamplona, where he finished his studies in November 1927 . In 1928 he was invited to be a member to Congregation of Jesus and Mary, founded by St. Juan Eudes; He became a member the February 7 of 1932. In the following years and until the 2000, García Herreros studied philosophy, Latín, Greek, English, science, ecclesiastical history, interpretation of the Bible, dogma, canonical, straight canonical, Hebrew, art, literature and others.
In 1950 he began hosting a radio show "El Minuto de Dios," a daily one-minute show of religious reflection. It proved popular and soon expanded on the radio and moved to television in 1955. In 1961 he began to Banquete del Millon fundraiser, where the wealthy paid large amounts to eat a simple meal. The organization used the funds to build housing for the poor.
Early Years
Rafael García-Herreros Unda, son of a military man, Julio César García-Herreros and María Unda, was born on January 17, 1909, in the city of Cúcuta. In 1923, at the age of 14, he entered the school of Santo Tomás de Aquino, in Pamplona directed by French parents, where he would finish his studies, in November 1927. In 1928 he was invited to enter the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, founded by Saint John Eudes; community that he entered on February 7, 1932; in 1944 he was ordained as a priest, officiating his first mass at the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows in Bogotá. Between 1934 and 1954 he dedicated himself to training seminarians in different centers of the country, an activity that he combined with a trip to improve philosophy in Europe between 1950 and 1951.
Minuto de Dios Foundation
In 1946 he began a career linked to the media: first on radio 1946 on Radio Fuentes in Cartagena and then, from January 10, 1955, and for 37 continuous years, on television, with his well-known program El Minuto de Dios. In turn, the construction of a popular neighborhood began in Cali and later, from 1957, and on land donated by Antonio Restrepo and Estanislao Olarte, near the Juan Amarillo river, west of Bogotá, the El Minuto neighborhood. of God.
Since November 1961, at the initiative of García Herreros, the Millón Banquet has been held, with which many of the needs of the neighborhood are financed, which, as of September 10, 1965, became a parish and whose first parish priest was the 'el father 'García-Herreros. He was also the one who founded the Museum of Contemporary Art (1966) on its grounds, supplied it with a station, a publishing house, a television programmer and a university, making it a true citadel.
The scenography of the program consisted of a wooden cross with an inclined crossbar, after the image of García-Herreros, who in recent years wore a ruana over his cassock.
The program has continued to be broadcast after the death, in 1992, of García-Herreros, maintaining the same scenery and the same sentence at the end. In 2005, the show celebrated 50 years of uninterrupted broadcasting.
García-Herreros and the Charismatic Renewal
García-Herreros was also the promoter of the Catholic Charismatic Renovation spirituality stream in Colombia and Latin America. It is known that from the 1960s he invited some Protestant preachers from the Baptist Church in the United States to guide the formation of the first prayer groups, typical of this religious current. In addition, this priest was given the task of creating various organizations that under the name of "Minute of God" would promote the charismatic renewal, through the realization of massive Eucharists and worship and praise congresses, religious music concerts, seminars of initiation and follow-up, formation schools for the laity, radio and television programs, and various publications. After his death, several priests from his religious community have continued this mission of evangelization.
Death
On November 24, 1992, during the XXXII Millón Banquet, García-Herreros died at the age of 83.