Juan Sinforiano Bogarín (August 21, 1863 - February 25, 1949) was an eminent

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

an clergyman, the first

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

archbishop of

His life

Bogarín was born in Mbuyapey, a town in the

Paraguarí Department Paraguarí (; Guaraní: Paraguari) is a '' departamento'' in Paraguay. At the 2002 census it had a population of 221,932.War of the Triple Alliance The Paraguayan War (, , ), also known as the War of the Triple Alliance (, , ), was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It wa ...

, Juan Sinforiano and his three siblings were raised by their maternal aunt, María Pabla González. He spent his childhood in Arecaya,

Limpio San José de los Campos Limpios de Tapúa, more commonly referred to simply as Limpio (, is a Districts of Paraguay, district and city located in the Central, Paraguay, Central Department of Paraguay, from Asunción. The city is bordered by three ...

. In 1880, at the age of 16, he entered the Counselor Seminary of

Asunción Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...

, and graduated six years later. He was ordained as a priest on February 24, 1886, by Bishop Juan Antonio Aponte. He worked there until 1887, when he was chosen as bishop by

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

on September 21, 1894, after the death of Bishop Aponte in 1891. He was consecrated by the Main Bishop of Trípoli, Luigi Giuseppe Lasagna, on February 3, 1895 (February 3 is the Feast of St. Blaise, the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

of Paraguay). Bogarín held several positions in the Paraguayan Church, including that of rector churchman of the cathedral and that of general secretary of the Ecclesiastic Curia.

Priestly career

Bogarin promoted the organization of

lay apostolate The lay apostolate is made up of Laity, laypersons, who are neither Consecrated life (Catholic Church), consecrated religious nor in Holy Orders, who exercise a ministry within the Catholic Church. Lay apostolate organizations operate under the gen ...

s such as Catholic Action, the Catholic Ladies' League, and the Catholic Youth Federation, in an effort to restore order and social respect in Paraguay. He struggled against liberal organizations that proposed civil marriage, divorce and lay education. He also campaigned against

Freemasonry Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

, and partisan fanaticism. The history of Paraguay contained a long and tumultuous record of revolutions and coup d'états. He responded to each upheaval he witnessed through his Pastoral Letters, demanding peace between families, demanding cessation of all tortures and hostilities, and exhorting people to take care of the spiritual needs of their brethren. The "traveler bishop" toured almost fifty thousand kilometers of Paraguay, encouraging people in the countryside to socially organize to defend their lands and their rights, without forgetting his teachings about how to get closer to Christ. The Bishop Hermenegildo Roa was his secretary and general vicar of the dioceses. In 1929, the Ecclesiastic Province of the Paraguay was formed from the Archdioceses of Asunción, the dioceses of Villa Rica del Espíritu Santo and Concepción. On August 15, 1930, he received the archiepiscopal pallium and a time later, after three decades of waiting, obtained the independence of Paraguay from the Archdiocese of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. After a life fully dedicated to his evangelist labors, the archbishop died at the age of 85 in 1949.

References

Catholic-Hierarchy
* “''Forjadores del Paraguay''”. Raúl Amaral

External links

Centro Cultural el Calbildo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bogarin, Juan Sinforiano 1863 births 1949 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Paraguay Roman Catholic bishops of Paraguay Roman Catholic archbishops of Asunción Paraguayan Roman Catholic archbishops People from Paraguarí Department