Life in Lanzarote in 1873 cannot have been easy. That is why Nicolás Figueroa and Rafaela Umpiérrez decided to set off for the Americas, with little more than their four children, to try to carve out a future for themselves, just as they tilled the fields they worked, fleeing the hardship they suffered on the island. After weeks at sea they settled in Santa Lucía, a town near Montevideo, where they would begin working the land from dawn to dusk.
When they arrived in Uruguay, José Marcos Figueroa was only eight years old, but as the eldest of the siblings he had to leave school and help his parents plough the fields. Despite the transatlantic voyage, life did not seem so different from the one they had in Tinajo. He stayed with his parents until the age of 20, but he had prayed so many times for his family’s situation to improve that, on 30 January 1886, he decided to go to the Uruguayan capital, following the call of his Catholic vocation.
A prayer card asking that his “miracles” be reported
The heavy blow of smallpox
Less than a year had passed when, guided by his parish priest and inspired by the Jesuits, he chose to enter as a brother in the Society of Jesus in the Argentine city of Córdoba. Some months later, José Marcos contracted smallpox, an experience that marked him deeply, not because he suffered it himself, but because he ended up infecting his nurse, who would go on to die.
By 1888 he was sent to the Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepción in Santa Fe, a city some 500 km west of Buenos Aires. After taking his vows, he began with the tasks that were usual for Jesuits of the time. He started as an assistant on the porter’s desk, went on to take charge of purchasing for the institution and supported community life in various ways. From 1891 onwards, he became the school’s regular porter.
This institution was central to the life of the Church in Santa Fe. The Jesuits, as well as teaching pupils, accompanied many seminarians and offered their services to the faithful who came to the adjoining church of the Virgen de los Milagros. José Marcos Figueroa, by then Brother José Marcos, was therefore of help to hundreds of people in the life of the city, who came to the school seeking comfort or support in their worldly questions or matters of faith.
And he did not leave the school’s porter’s desk until the day of his death, 52 years later: work and silence defined his life. Throughout that time, Brother Figueroa was remembered for the warmth of his manner, for his life and his small everyday deeds. Without extraordinary events, without eccentricities, José Marcos was never known as anything other than a man at the service of his community, especially the most needy, and of his God.
The Church of Nuestra Señora de los Milagros, where he is buried
Death and the path to beatification
The death of José Marcos in 1942, just short of his seventieth birthday, was a heavy blow for all the people of Santa Fe. The affection of those who had benefited from his help drew crowds of pupils and their families to his burial at the Piquete Cemetery on 19 November 1942. After his death people began to call him a “saint”.
Ten years later, the Jesuits decided to move the remains of the members of the congregation buried in that cemetery to another location. There, as they still maintain to this day, they found the incorrupt body of José Marcos. Work on the Lanzarote native’s canonisation began immediately. The Jesuit fathers then asked Rome for permission to exhume his remains and move them to the Church of Nuestra Señora de los Milagros, next to the school where he had been porter for more than half a century.
On 17 December 2022, Pope Francis approved the declaration of Brother Figueroa’s heroic virtues and designated him “venerable”. In the Catholic Church, the process of beatifying a Christian requires that, during their life, they “lived in accordance with the principles of the gospel”. If this is demonstrated during the process, the Pope may declare them as such. This is the step prior to beatification, which can only take place if a miracle is verified. The process continues to canonisation and recognition as a saint, for which the verification of a second miracle occurring after beatification is required.