Óscar Julio Vian Morales

S.D.B. The Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), formally known as the Society of Saint Francis de Sales (), is a religious congregation of men in the Catholic Church, founded in 1859 by the Italian priest John Bosco to help poor and migrant youth during the ...

(18 October 1947 – 24 February 2018) was

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Guatemala The Archdiocese of Santiago de Guatemala is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Guatemala.cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

. He had previously served as archbishop of Los Altos in

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. He was born in

Guatemala City Guatemala City (, also known colloquially by the nickname Guate), is the Capital city, national capital and largest city of the Guatemala, Republic of Guatemala. It is also the Municipalities of Guatemala, municipal capital of the Guatemala Depa ...

, ordained a priest in 1976, and appointed

Vicar Apostolic A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

El Petén EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...

in 1996. He was installed as Archbishop of Los Altos on 17 April 2007.

Biography

After his secondary education at the Colegio Don Bosco in Guatemala and the Salesian Seminary in El Salvador, he studied philosophy, theology and pedagogy at the Salesian Institute of Theology and Philosophy, and the San Carlos University of Guatemala. On 25 August 1976 he was ordained priest by Cardinal

Miguel Obando y Bravo Miguel Obando y Bravo, SDB (2 February 1926 – 3 June 2018) was a Nicaraguan Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Managua from 1970 to 2005. Pope John Paul II created him a cardinal in 1985. He was a member of the Salesians of Don Bo ...

, the Archbishop of Managua, Nicaragua. He taught at various Salesian education centers in Central America, including the Salesian Vocational Center Rinaldi Santa Tecla (El Salvador), Dominic Savio College of Cartago (Costa Rica) and the Don Bosco Technical Institute (Panama). Also, he was director of the Instituto Salesiano San Miguel in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Fr. Vian Morales received sabbatical leave to study liturgical theology at the

Pontifical Liturgical Institute The Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome, located at Sant'Anselmo on the Aventine hill, promotes the study of the Sacred Liturgy. It is entrusted to the Benedictine Confederation, and has the role of training professors of liturgy and liturgic ...

of Sant'Anselmo in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. On his return to Central America he was appointed spiritual adviser and director of the Salesian Institute and the Salesian Youth Centre (CEJUSA). Shortly afterwards he was appointed director of studies at the Salesian Don Bosco School in

and four years later director of the Salesian San Miguel Institute in

Tegucigalpa Tegucigalpa ( )—formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District ( or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz''—is the capital and largest city of Honduras along with its sister city, Comaya ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

. In December 1990 he was appointed director of the Don Bosco Youth Center in Managua, Nicaragua, and in 1994 took over as director of the Don Bosco School of Guatemala City. He also taught liturgical theology and catechesis in numerous seminars throughout Central America. For the Salesian

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

he acted as councillor of the Salesian Inspectorate for Central America (CAM) and delegate for youth ministry in the province's center located in

San Salvador San Salvador () is the Capital city, capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its San Salvador Department, eponymous department. It is the country's largest agglomeration, serving as the country's political, cultural, educational and fin ...

. In 1990 he was elected delegate of the Salesian Province to the

General Chapter A chapter ( or ') is one of several bodies of clergy in Catholic, Old Catholic, Anglican, and Nordic Lutheran churches or their gatherings. Name The name derives from the habit of convening monks or canons for the reading of a chapter o ...

in Rome.

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

named him Vicar Apostolic of El Petén on 20 December 1996. He was consecrated bishop by Cardinal Obando y Bravo on 1 February 1997 in the city of Flores, El Petén. Between 1997 and 2006, he also held various positions within the Episcopal Conference of Guatemala, was chairman of its liturgy ministry committee, and participated in its committees on land ministry, Caritas-social ministry, youth ministry, and education ministry. In addition, he chaired the Education Ministry Commission of Central America and Panama (CORECA). He was appointed Archbishop of Los Altos Quetzaltenango-Totonicapán in 2007. Transferred to the post of

Archbishop of Guatemala The Archdiocese of Santiago de Guatemala is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Guatemala.cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

in a

hospital on 24 February 2018.

Acting President An acting president is a person who temporarily fills the role of a country's president when the incumbent president is unavailable (such as by illness or visiting abroad) or when the post is vacant (such as for death Death is the en ...

Jafeth Cabrera Franco decreed three days of national mourning, and the national flag should fly at half mast in all public plazas and government buildings.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vian Morales, Oscar Julio 1947 births 2018 deaths Guatemalan Roman Catholic archbishops 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century Roman Catholics Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala alumni People from Guatemala City Deaths from cancer in Guatemala Salesian bishops Roman Catholic archbishops of Guatemala (1743-2013) Roman Catholic archbishops of Santiago de Guatemala Roman Catholic archbishops of Los Altos Quetzaltenango-Totonicapán