GALLEGOS, INTERCESSOR IN THE FACE OF ECONOMIC DIFFICULTIES

Francisco filed for bankruptcy in 2013 and turned to an attorney to help him with the legal issues of his house debt. He paid him 5,000 dollars for his services, but the lawyer disappeared with the money. Francisco brought the case to the courts but the lawyer did not appear. Thus three years passed between court dates and court dates nothing was resolved.

In 2015 the financial situation was very difficult for Francisco that he decided to make a novena to Bishop Alfonso Gallegos to help him get his money back from the attorney. A few days after finishing the novena, when he was not at home, an unknown man appeared unexpectantly at his home, claiming that he worked for the IRS. He asked his wife for all the documents related to the pending case, gave her his business card and said that her husband

would receive a check shortly in the amount of 5,000 dollars. The check came a few days later, as the man had said. Weeks later, Francisco and his wife went looking for the man who helped solve this case using the information contained on the business card he had left for them. They arrived at the address on the card, but they were told nobody by that name worked there.

Francisco is a humble and poor man, and very devoted to Gallegos. Another time, he was struggling to pay his monthly rent. He had gone to Our Lady of Pillar Church (Santa Ana), because there he volunteers in different services. That day he went to the parish hall "Santa Monica", to prepare food for the feast of Divine Mercy and after the gathering was busy picking up and putting everything in order when a man he did not know approached him and said to him: "Francisco how are you?; and without further ado, he gave him an envelope, and said “put it in your pocket; don't worry, this is for you”. Francisco in those days had little money and was worried about not being able to pay his rent.

The man left went around Mount Carmel Hall, and Francisco went to Santa Monica Hall to continue cleaning up. When Francisco saw that there was leftover food he ran out to invite the mysterious man to eat. He went to the parking lot looking for him but the man was gone.

When Francisco went home he opened the envelope and the money contained in it was exactly what he needed to pay his rent. Francisco believes it was the intercession of Bishop Gallegos, an angel of God.

For several weeks after this incident Francisco looked for the mysterious man among the faithful in various Masses and in the parish groups of Our Lady of Pilar. He has never seen him again.

MAY 24: PRIESTHOOD ORDINATION OF ALFONSO GALLEGOS 62 YEARS AGO

Alfonso Gallegos was ordained a priest in Tagaste Monastery in Suffern, New York, on May 24, 1958, after much discussion as to whether he be ordained or not, due to his visual problems: severe myopia. His first 14 years as a priest were spent in Tagaste, because they did not dare assign him a ministry outside the monastery due to his poor eyesight. Until 1972, he was appointed pastor of the parish where he had been an altar boy, San Miguel, in Watts, Los Angeles, California.

During his early years as a priest in New York, he was a student prefect, chaplain at Good Samaritan Hospital, chaplain of religious sisters, serving as a doorman and answering the phone. In these humble services, Friar Alfonso was already beginning to create a reputation of sanctity. This is what the witnesses who knew him in Tagaste, and who spoke for his cause of canonization, affirm:

“When I met him, I recognized that he was doing a good job attending the door or answering the phone. He was very attentive and polite. Later I realized that he had a visual problem of some kind. I never asked him and he never mentioned it to me. He never alluded to that. He never worried about himself, but about me. I'm sure that's the impression other people had of him. Whoever he spoke to, his main concern was the person in front of him. ”

“I think he was able to make the person of Jesus present through his love for people. He was happy and knew how to connect with people. There was truly an innocence about him that was holy."

“What impressed me most about him was his love, the way he approached people. You ended up feeling his love, his holiness. He was a holy man. He touched our souls, our hearts, with his love, compassion and understanding.”