Esteban Marcuello Zabalza

The life of Esteban de Adoáin was deeply marked by the political upheavals of 19th-century Spain. In 1835-1836, the Mendizábal disentailment decrees led to the suppression of religious orders and the closure of convents in Spain. Forced to abandon his Capuchin habit, he first exercised his ministry as a diocesan priest in Irurozqui. In 1839, he went into exile in Italy.

In 1842, he was sent as a missionary to Venezuela with a group of Spanish Capuchins. There, he carried out intense evangelization work among the indigenous populations of the Apure region (notably the Otomacos, Yaruros, and Chiricoas tribes), founding three villages in the span of six months. Afflicted by severe fevers, he had to return temporarily to Europe in 1845 to seek treatment in Bordeaux. Upon returning to Venezuela, he was appointed director of the seminary and professor of moral theology in Caracas. However, due to revolutionary unrest and his opposition to the liberal government, he was imprisoned and then expelled from the country in 1849.

In 1850, he traveled to Cuba, where he collaborated closely with the Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, Saint Anthony Mary Claret. Over six years, he preached 91 popular missions there with remarkable zeal.

In 1856, he continued his missionary work in Central America, first in Guatemala, then in El Salvador starting in 1859, where he founded a Capuchin convent in Santa Tecla. In 1868, he was appointed guardian of Antigua Guatemala and commissary general of the Capuchins of Central America. In 1872, the rise to power of a liberal government in Guatemala led to a new expulsion of the Capuchins, who were deported to the United States (San Francisco, then New York).

In 1873, he returned to Europe and settled in the convent of Bayonne, France. From this base, he preached numerous missions in the Basque Country, striving to perfect his mastery of the Basque language (Euskara) to evangelize the local populations in their mother tongue.

In 1877, he finally returned to Spain to actively participate in the restoration of the Capuchin Order. He contributed to the reopening of the convent of Antequera (Málaga) and then settled in the convent of Sanlúcar de Barrameda (Cádiz), where he continued to preach until his strength was exhausted.

After a life of incessant apostolic labor and repeated exiles, Esteban de Adoáin died on October 7, 1880, at the convent of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, surrounded by a great reputation for holiness. His remains were interred there.

In 1924, his beatification process was officially opened. The diocesan processes conducted in Pamplona and Seville between 1958 and 1960 were validated by the Congregation of Rites in 1969. The Positio on his heroic virtues was submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in 1983.

On December 21, 1989, Pope John Paul II signed the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, thus proclaiming him venerable. His cause for beatification is still ongoing, awaiting the recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession.

The spirituality of Esteban de Adoáin rests upon an intimate union with God nourished by contemplative prayer, a radical evangelical poverty faithful to the Franciscan tradition, and an indefatigable missionary zeal. Nicknamed "el mudo" (the mute) during his novitiate due to his silent and reserved temperament, he revealed himself to be a preacher of extraordinary eloquence, capable of captivating immense crowds. He also left an important linguistic legacy by cultivating the Basque language, translating several of his sermons and enriching a manuscript dictionary of Euskara. His particular devotion to the Virgin Mary under the title of the "Divina Pastora" (the Divine Shepherdess) marked all of his missions in Spain and Latin America.