Five years have passed since the death of the woman who was co-initiator of the Neocatechumenal Way with Kiko Argüello, Carmen Hernández.
In a Eucharist presided over by the Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal Carlos Osoro, a formal request was made to open the cause of the beatification process of this exceptional woman who has made a mark in the recent history of the Church.
Hundreds of members of the Neocatechumenal Way participated in the celebration, mainly from the communities of Madrid, as well as numerous priests.
At the end of the celebration, Carlos Metola, postulator of the cause, delivered the formal petition to Cardinal Osoro (the ‘Supplex Libellus’), after more than 16,000 pages that make up 70 volumes with the personal writings and catechesis of Carmen Hernández have been collected since her death.
In the homily, Cardinal Osoro highlighted that Carmen Hernández “was able to announce Jesus Christ, opening horizons of joy and hope, showing and giving and communicating the merciful love of God, showing the new life that appears with Christ.”
“Let us experience today in this celebration, which we offer for the eternal rest of Carmen, that we must go to all men with our poverty, but full of the richness of the Risen One. This is the experience that Carmen had in her life.”
A note from the initiator of the Neocatechumenal Way, Kiko Argüello, was also read in which he says: “We believe that Carmen is with the Lord, she is already at the party. Exceptional woman, truly, with enormous generosity. A very important woman for the Church! She always lived in love with Christ. If you read her diaries, everything that said: “Jesus, I love you, I love you!”. On each page: “I love you, I love you!” Loving Christ is the only truth: “Love Christ and thousands will follow you,” say the Fathers of the Desert. I thought they were following me, but I discover that thousands of brothers are on the Way thanks to Carmen and for the love that Carmen had for Christ ”.
At the end of the text, the initiator and international responsible of the Way asks “D. Carlos Metola, as postulator of the diocesan phase, to make all the necessary steps before the Mr. Cardinal of Madrid, D. Carlos Osoro, to request that may he begin her Cause of Beatification ”.
The first official biography of Carmen Hernández is published
The fifth anniversary of the death of Carmen Hernández coincides with the publication of her first official biography, whose author is the professor and doctor of Philosophy Aquilino Cayuela who edits the Library of Christian Authors, or formally, la Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos (BAC).
After the death of Carmen Hernández Barrera on July 19, 2016, among the more than 1,500 favors and graces obtained through her intercession and the more than 40,000 visits to her grave, it was thought to obtain documented information about her life and her contribution to the emergence and worldwide extension of the Neocatechumenal Way.
The presentation of the biography is charged to Cardinal Rouco Varela, who knew her personally and witnessed her evangelizing work. “Carmen and the history of her life certainly deserved a biography with which a written record remains, well founded in the science of the history of the Church, of what the human, spiritual and apostolic trajectory of a woman who gave herself to Christ and his Church, imitating and welcoming the love of her Mother — of Christ and of the Church — until she gave her life for Him, consecrated to his love for the evangelization of the man of our time —postmodern? – so hungry and thirsty for God’s grace. We find that well-deserved biography in this book ”.
The book reviews the various stages of Carmen Hernández’s life, as well as her scientific, theological, biblical, ecclesiological and liturgical training. The text begins with respect and discretion in the intimacy of this woman to offer a complete and chronological biographical reconstruction of the course of her life.
The foreword to the book is by Kiko Argüello who states: “In these biographical notes, you are going to see an exceptional woman, very important for the Church, in love with Christ, scripture and the Eucharist. She had a clear awareness that the mission that God had given her was to support me, defend me and correct me, for the good of the Neocatechumenal Way. I thank God for Carmen, who has always told me the truth, constantly. She was a deep, authentic and free woman in her relationship with everyone. She was very intelligent. She loved Christ and the Church and the Pope, above all”.
It is therefore a work of great ecclesial value, called to be the first well-documented biography of one of the most influential Spanish women in the Catholic Church emerging from the Second Vatican Council.