The hand of God. By Victor Manuel Quesada Ibargüen.
Introduction of Neftali Rengifo Yurgaqui.
Good is Lent, which, with six more days, resembles a quarantine, but spiritual, which in this 2023 begins on February 22 with Ash Wednesday reminding us that dust we are and to dust we will become and ends on April 6 with Holy Thursday. It is also time to enjoy a short vacation or delight ourselves with readings alluding to the Greater Week: some refreshing their memory and others learning about past events through stories from times of spiritual recollection. These are those forty-six days in which the Catholic Church asks us to reflect in order to be better Christians, without the accursed universal corruption that runs over us in almost all public and private entities, and to fast so that the budget yields in times of scarcity, that for the poor, it is almost always.
The Hand of God, a narration of a certain event closer to its religious meaning and less profane than the soccer fraud of the goal with the hand of Diego Armando Maradona against the England team in the quarterfinals of the 1986 Mexico World Cup. is a recorderis of real events, among them, an event that happened in the San Francisco de Asís Cathedral in the middle of the 20th century, recounted in an entertaining way with the grace of Víctor Manuel Quesada Ibargüen (RIP).
The author is from Nóvita, Chocó. He was based in Cartagena de Indias for more than three decades, and at the time of editing these stories (2016), he was enjoying a “good retirement” from the teaching position he held at the University of Cartagena for 35 years, reaching the highest category. on the ladder: tenured professor.
His academic training as an Industrial Engineer, Master in Economics and Integrated Management Systems and Ph.D. in Organization Engineering, it earned him to work in the business field, both public and private and in the academic field, in the noble teaching work and in academic-administrative positions.
Of his nine written books, “The Hand of God and other stories” is the second in the narrative field, which he put to the readers’ consideration.
Víctor Manuel Quesada Ibargüen, my teenage companion at the Domingo Savio Club directed by our benefactor, the Reverend Father Ernesto Arias Arellano, showed his intellectual gifts and skills with various musical instruments such as the harmonium, guitar and accordion from a very early age. Not in vain was he an outstanding disciple of Father Isaac Rodríguez in the choir of the San Francisco de Asís Cathedral, from where great and famous musicians from Choco came from.
Before settling in Cartagena, he held various positions such as manager of the extinct Chocó liquor factory, teacher, without neglecting his academic and musical training, coming to compose several previously unpublished songs.
Unfortunately, his addiction to cigarettes led him to suffer from respiratory conditions that, after a long treatment, caused his premature death in the city of Cartagena.
In his honor, the Board Room of the University of Cartagena, since 2017, bears the name of the illustrious Chocoano Víctor Manuel Quesada Ibargüen, creator of the Industrial Administration program, prominent professor at the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the University of Cartagena. (1)
His literary narrative contained in his book “The Hand of God and other stories”, published by the Pacific Environmental Research Institute in 2016, is mostly taken from reality, from direct experiences or events that happened around him, or product of oral tradition, of which I personally remember some that occurred in my childhood years, especially the story “The Hand of God”, which follows below:
The hand of God
By Victor Manuel Quesada Ibargüen.
Alcibiades was a pious man; to always attend the 9 am Sunday mass, the one officiated by the vicar Pedro Grau Arola, seated on the bench marked with his name; rather that of his family, located on one side of the main altar.
He also attended the daily 5 am mass, officiated by Father Antonio Anglés, another Catalan, in which the homilies were charged with politics and scathing criticism of the rebellious and party spirit of the Quibdoseños. In one of these, disgusted with the residents for a certain confidence with which they referred to the patron saint, San Francisco de Asís, he addressed the parishioners in the following terms:
-Frequently, dear brothers, I have heard that you call the Seraphic Francisco de Asís San Pacho, and some even call him diminutive: San Pachito or simply Pachito. What a lack of respect, in a town where there are so many Pachos and of different kinds! I know Pacho Largo, a good man who works for the curia; but also a certain Pacho Mina, who is the headache of his parents because he does nothing but play billiards; a Pacho Piticlave, nobody knows what that will mean; Pacho Mocho, the policeman lawyer for the poor, and even a certain Pacho Picha; What is this disrespect, brothers? Calling our Patron Pacho… Do not be surprised if one of these days perpetual excommunication falls on you…
On another occasion he was heard:
-In my daily and morning commute to the hospital, to officiate the mass for the sick, I have to go through that place of perdition that you call El Meneaito; horrible things are seen there, just by looking sideways. But I am not going to refer to those filth; I want to alert you, dearest brothers, about a song that I heard on my way through that demonic place. He says more or less like this: “Juancito told me that last night he had a dream… his ring hurt, his finger didn’t hurt, look, this dream is horrible…”; he continues recounting a series of atrocities and concludes that this Juancito, when he woke up, had his finger stuck in his eye…; Forgive my suspicion, dear brothers, but an evil intention is guessed; that finger was not in the eye.” It is strictly forbidden to buy, perform or listen to that song of the devil. The Church offers a reward to whoever provides the name and location, both of the author and of the interpreter, because excommunication will come where he is.
(-In some of his homilies, Father Anglés referred to the grill of Don Nefta, my father, like this: “There, on the ascent to Normal, the devil has put a “Remanso” where women dance naked”.
(-Such publicity was not true, but it was effective so that the establishment of my namesake was filled the following weekend).
But let’s go back to Don Alcibíades in the words of Víctor Manuel.
Alcibiades’s was a quiet life; during the week he managed his newspaper outlet for the whole country, of which he had a monopoly for the distribution.
Due to the difficulties for the arrival of the only airline that provided service to Quibdó, due to the bad weather prevailing in the area, the newspapers were often delayed one or two days; then El Mena, who worked as a newsboy for Alcibíades, would announce at the top of his voice: “El Espectador; The Colombian; The Country of yesterday and today…”; Whoever wanted to buy “today’s” newspaper should also take “yesterday’s”.
He sold comics and trinkets for the boys; ranch and fine liquors; In short, her store was for various articles, frequented by friends of “class” and “race”; Alcibíades was white: Pacho and Pacho “El Bembón”, an albino man from Neguá, helped him in his store, his son.
The Chocoanos who did not know Alcibíades were half petrified when they saw him for the first time; his mouth, his baldness, the features of his face, his eyes, everything about him, people said, was just like Saint Pacho, he came out in his brown tunic and hood, and the white cord with its three knots.
For the day of Corpus Christi, Alcibíades was the sure freighter of the canopy under which the vicar was carrying the Blessed Sacrament; The canopy, in addition to the luxury it radiated, served to protect him from the canicular sun that prevailed on this date in the region.
During Holy Week, Don Alcibíades, as everyone called him, was co-organizer of the solemnities, taking care of the smallest detail related to the different ceremonies that take place in this holy season.
That year was no exception; On Good Friday Don Alcibíades attended the crucifixion and death ceremony of Christ. The cathedral church of Quibdó was packed with the faithful. Father Isaac Rodríguez’s choir sang with heavenly voices; “Sorry oh my God…”, “By my lord you bow your neck to the sentence…”, “Stabat Mater dolorosa iuxta crucem lacrimosa, dum pendebat filius…” and other hymns, as the seven words passed.
“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”… last word. Preacher’s comments, brought especially for the occasion.
Simulation of a great storm, with thunder, lightning and lightning, and tremor of the altar, which made all the children howl and scared more than one unsuspecting old man.
Jesus expires and then comes the release. In the lowering of the crucifix to place it in the Holy Sepulchre.
This part of the ceremonial was in charge of the so-called “holy men”, dressed in a black suit, with a white cloth slung over their shoulders. They place ladders on the sides of the cross and proceed to remove the nails, first from the hands, then from the feet, and they go holding the body, wrapped in the cloths that they carry, to deposit it in the tomb.
It was up to Alcibiades to receive the right hand of the crucifix, as soon as the man on top removed the nail. The one above, he did so, but Alcibiades was distracted, perhaps by the emotion of the moment.
The hand of the crucifix came down with a pendular movement, converting all the potential energy into kinetic energy, and only stopped on the skull of Alcibiades, opening a tremendous gap and knocking him down.
The confusion was great; people were screaming, crying. While some men continued with the release, others tried to help the wounded. A doctor who was attending the ceremony approached, examined Alcibiades, and withdrew in silence.
-Doctor, tell us how you are.
The doctor pronounced his fateful opinion: -; Don Alcibíades is dead!
-Miracle!, -Screamed some-; He is a saint! others murmured.
The dead Christ was placed in the Holy Sepulchre, ready for the commemorative burial procession, which would take place at 5 am the next day, after a night of vigil.
Someone appeared with a coffin, where Don Alcibíades was placed, after the summary legal proceedings. The coffin was placed next to the Holy Sepulchre, and Don Alcibíades was watched along with Christ, guarded by four National Police officers, from the division (PC), armed with two rifles with fixed bayonets.
On Saturday morning, the procession was carried out with the following “steps”: La Dolorosa, San Juan, the Holy Sepulcher and Don Alcibíades, in that order, accompanied by the songs of the Father Rodríguez choir and the funeral notes of the band. from San Francisco.
Once the procession was over, the first three “steps” entered the Cathedral and the last one was led to the cemetery, preceded by the procession by three acolytes, one carrying the crucifix and two, on its sides, carrying two separate candles; and three priests, the same ones who presided over the early morning procession. Behind the coffin that was carried by the “Holy Men” in all their attire, were all the parishioners who attended the religious service.
At that time the priests accompanied the burials, along six blocks along Alameda Reyes avenue; there at the height of the Anayansi prison, they shot him the last answer:
– “…Requiescat in pace… Amen”, -and they started to withdraw. Don Alcibíades was accompanied to the cemetery itself.
There are still many witnesses to the case in Quibdó who do not hesitate to affirm that Don Alcibíades should be sanctified or, at least, beatified. It is not every day that a Christian dies directly struck by the hand of God.
(1). Restrepo, Alejo. Post on Facebook. December 1, 2022.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=6441205405896714&id=100000219540886&sfnsn=scwspmo&mibextid=RUbZ1f