Patriot
Political activists in modern times claim Arizmendi was also a patriot with liberal thoughts without providing historical conceptual verification. He was a stern supporter of Ramon Power y Giralt when this veteran of the Spanish navy and past frigate Captain was asked to represent Puerto Rico in front of the Spanish Courts in Cadiz. In reality intended as a reminder of the poor, but interpreted by some in modern times as a patriotic gesture, Arizmendi gave Ramon Power his episcopal ring, "as sure pledge that will sustain you in the memory of your resolution to protect and maintain the rights of our fellow countrymen, as I myself am resolved to die for my beloved flock". There is no evidence either man was disloyal to the monarchy. A modern day interpretation, which has no historical foundation that can be found in the footnote, is that for Arizmendi this was also a national symbol of Puerto Rico by joining his country and God in his heart Arizmendi's statement may have inspired the seizure in 1810 of all ecclesiastical stipends by the royal treasury, but most likely it was the end of the Situado from Mexico the same year.
In 1814, after traveling around the island in his second pastoral visit he fell ill in Hormigueros in whose Hermitage, now the Basilica Menor de la Virgen de Monserrate, he desired to be buried. Bishop Juan Alejo de Arizmendi died in the City of Arecibo, Puerto Rico on October 12, 1814. His remains are in the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista, in Puerto Rico.
Read more about this topic: Juan Alejo De Arizmendi
Famous quotes containing the word patriot:
“Never was patriot yet, but was a fool.”
—John Dryden (1631–1700)
“Populism is folkish, patriotism is not. One can be a patriot and a cosmopolitan. But a populist is inevitably a nationalist of sorts. Patriotism, too, is less racist than is populism. A patriot will not exclude a person of another nationality from the community where they have lived side by side and whom he has known for many years, but a populist will always remain suspicious of someone who does not seem to belong to his tribe.”
—John Lukacs (b. 1924)
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809)