On Tuesday, December 27, 2022, the Santíssima Trinidad Parish Church in Pueblo Llano, Venezuela, was elevated to a diocesan shrine by the Decree (dated September 3, 2022) of His Eminence, Cardinal Baltazar Enrique PORRAS CARDOZO, Archbishop of Mérida, Venezuela, and Apostolic Administrator of Caracas, Santiago de Venezuela. The Santíssima Trinidad Parish has been entrusted to the Provincial Custody of Our Lady of Coromoto in Venezuela for the last twenty years.
The elevation ceremony was presided over by Cardinal PORRAS. Those concelebrating included the Provincial Custos, Friar Franklin A. DURÁN ZAMBRANO, the Pastor (now Rector) of the new shrine, Friar José L. AVENDAÑO MONSALVE and other confreres and priests of the Archdiocese. Others attending included the parishioners in Pueblo Llano, and some lay faithful from the Beata Virgen María Auxiliadora Parish in Barinas, the San Francisco Javier Parish in Caracas, and other parishes.
As part of this great celebration, the Ministry of Extraordinary Minister of Communion was conferred on eleven lay women who are involved in the Santíssima Trinidad Parish. In addition, two men of the parish, Gabriel and Berbesí, were ordained to the permanent diaconate. Another important event that filled this ecclesial community with joy was the delivery of a second class relic of St. Isidore the Farmer, which Cardinal PORRAS brought over from the Archdiocese of Madrid.
Pueblo Llano is one of the twenty-three municipalities of the State of Mérida in Venezuela. Its first inhabitants were the Chinoes Indians who first made contact with the Spanish on March 19, 1559. This locality has beautiful natural scenery, typical of villages in the Páramo or Sierra Nevada of the Andes. As a parish, Pueblo Llano has existed for about four hundred years. The first Conventual Franciscan missionaries arrived at the Santíssima Trinidad parish on October 27, 2002, and took charge of the church the next day. Since then, the mission has been gradually consolidated to the point that parishioners have taken on the characteristic traits of our Franciscan charism, by cultivating the spirit of communion, fraternity, solidarity, generous dedication, humility and selfless service to God and his Church.
Friar Juan Gregorio MARTÍNEZ CANELÓN, Custodial Secretary