Father JOAQUÍN VILLANUEVA BALDA

Born on 20 December 1914 at Osinaga (Navarre).

Died on 4 August 1982 in Jerez de la Frontera.

            His parents, Juan and Josefa had nine sons, of whom Joachín and Fernando both became priests in the Order while a third, Brother Fausto, was an exemplary Brother dedicated to the service of the mentally ill in the Care Centre in Málaga. Their sister, Sr Josefa, was a Hospitaller Sister of the Sacred Heart.

            At the age of six or seven he received his First Communion and went to Mass every Sunday with all the other members of the family, and on the other days he helped with their work in the fields.

            At the age of 18, having learned about the Hospitaller Order of St John of God and its charism, he answered God’s call that was manifesting itself, followed by his brother Fausto and then Fernando.

Brother Joachín made his solemn profession on 25 July 1939 in Granada where he was a member of the Community. Here he studied Philosophy and Theology. On 7 July 1946 he was ordained priest in the Basilica of St John of God in Granada. His field of apostolate was initially in the psychiatric hospital at Ciempozuelos with more than a thousand residents.

"Father Joachín Villanueva Balda was considered a man of God and a friend of everyone.

"With great apostolic zeal, he dedicated himself to the sick and the poor, who saw in him a father who revealed God’s mercy.

“He worked as a chaplain in various houses of the Order in Spain and in 1957 in Latin America (Venezuela and Peru), where he was also the Provincial Delegate.

"In the last eight years of his life he devoted himself to the Apostolic School in Córdoba, preparing people for the service of hospitality. He possessed a special knack that attracted people - a mixture of goodness, humility and simplicity that made everyone admire and respect him.

"He died in Jerez de la Frontera at the age of 67, after 48 years of Religious profession and 36 years as a priest." (From the necrology of the Bética Province).