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The Blessed
Blessed Domingo Iturrate Zubero, Trinitarian priest, was born in Dima (Bizkaia) on May 11, 1901. He was the eldest of 11 siblings. He was an exemplary child who grew up in a very religious environment. A model of virtue in his youth; he lived his religious vocation with all radicality. At the age of 13 he left his parents’ farm and entered the Trinitarian seminary. There he was known for being a good student and for his tenacity in his studies. At the age of 18 he went to study in Rome (1919-1926), at the Gregorian University of the Jesuits, where he received a brilliant doctorate in Philosophy and Theology.
He did his novitiate in Bien Aparecida (Cantabria), where he took temporary vows on December 1, 1918 in the hands of his superior. On October 23, 1922, the feast of Jesus of Nazareth, Redeemer for the Trinitarians, he made his solemn profession. Although he wanted to be a missionary, his superiors advised him to dedicate himself to training and the exercise of the ministry. On August 9, 1925 he was ordained a priest by the Cardinal Vicar of Rome, Monsignor Pompilli. On the 15th of the same month, the feast of the Assumption, he sang his first solemn mass in the chapel of the Adoratrices nuns in the framework of a liturgy filled with joy for the ascension of Mary to heaven. But his priesthood lasted only a short time. In the prime of his life he was diagnosed with an incurable illness that Domingo accepted with fortitude, surrendering himself to the will of the Lord. On April 7, 1927 he died in the Convent of Belmonte (Cuenca) suffering from tuberculosis. After a second exhumation, his relics are currently venerated in the Trinitarian church of the Holy Redeemer of Algorta (Bizkaia). The fame of Domingo Iturrate’s sanctity spread and he has become an “accessible” model of a saint for young and not so young, religious and priests. He was beatified by John Paul II on October 30, 1983, who said: “He directed everything towards the Trinity and contemplated everything from that ineffable mystery… A fidelity to the inner call and a generous response to it. As a Trinitarian religious, he tried to live according to the two great axes of the spirituality of his Order: the mystery of the Holy Trinity and the work of redemption, which in him was lived out with intense charity…”
Domingo’s great loves were the Holy Trinity, the sacred Humanity of Christ, the Eucharist and the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Virgin appears in his writings and letters united to Jesus and, on some other occasions, to the Holy Trinity. He certainly loved Our Lady as his mother: “I have consecrated and given myself entirely to Jesus through Mary. Therefore, from now on, in everything I will consider myself as one of His, so that whatever happens to me, whether prosperous or adverse, according to or against my will, I will say: I am of Jesus and Mary; therefore, let them do with me what pleases them most.”
The SECRET of his life, he himself expressed it: “In the small things of every day, take care of fidelity and put all love into the effort.” It was a phrase very dear to him: “Today and here, do the best I can what I have before me, because that is the will of God.”
From the convent of Algorta, sick, he ended a letter written in Basque to his companions in Rome:
“Goodbye. Live well, seek holiness and study hard. Goodbye. Brother Domingo.”
Domingo Iturrate
I WILL DO THE ORDINARY EXTRAORDINARILY WELL
“This is the only thing we should desire in this life: the service of God. All things, apart from loving God, are transitory and perishable. The riches and comforts of this life are nothing but momentary pleasure, which does not last beyond death. And besides being so short, they are mixed with so many bitterness and cares. Therefore we should try to store up spiritual riches, which always last and lead us to an eternally happy life. We should consider the goods of this world as means that God gives us so that we may serve him more easily.”
Domingo Iturrate
PHOTO GALLERY
OIL PAINTING OF BLESSED DOMINGO ITURRATE
To speak of the painting of Blessed Domingo Iturrate is to delve into his own biography. It is a large format oil painting 173 x 260 cm. that represents a glorification of the Blessed.
He appears solemnly with the book of the rule of the Order of the Holy Trinity in his hand, with a stole and in allusion to his fervent devotion to the Holy Sacrament; he carries in his hand the monstrance of San Carlino, of Rome, with the Eucharist.
Above his representation and protecting the scene, wrapped in a Glory; the Virgin of the Good Remedy is presented, patron of the Trinitarians and for whom he professed great devotion.
From heaven we pass to the earthly; After Blessed Domingo and surrounded by a typical atmosphere, the church of Dima and his birthplace emerge, treated with a very fleeting brushstroke.
The composition is closed by some walnut and fig branches in allusion to the work he performed in his family collecting those fruits and the nice detail of the sparrow pecking a fig stands out.
But if there is one thing that stands out in the work, it is the gaze; the use of anarkasis, a pictorial technique that allows the gaze to follow you as you move, gives life and realism to his figure.
Explaining what it felt like to create the work is not easy, but it is easy to explain how he felt the spirit of humility that he carried in life. His motto in life, claiming simplicity but dignifying it, together with the glory that those who honor God deserve, have been the driving forces to create and give meaning to this work, which from Bizkaia will remember the figure and example of so many lesser-known Trinitarians of our recent history.
Felipe Herreros Rodero. Graduate in Fine Arts
(Villanueva del Arzobispo, Jaén. 1984)
TRINITARIAN NETWORK
