In memoriam
Rev. Fr. Bonifacio Garcia Solis OP
(19 Jun. 1945-23 Oct. 2021)
Prior Provincial (1997-2001, 2001-2004, 2004, 2008; 2017- 2021)
Rev. Fr. Bonifacio Garcia Solis OP was born on June 19, 1945 at Santibáñez de Murias-Aller, Asturias, Spain and died on October 23, 2021 at Oviedo, Spain. A son of Our Lady of Rosary Province, Order of Preachers.
Throughout the history of the Province, Priors Provincials who had been re-elected had been quite few and those who were so indeed had left a mark in the life of the Province. Among those who can be counted in this group of brothers was Fr. Bonifacio Garcia Solis. He was not only re-elected but stands out among our superiors to have assumed the position as Prior Provincial for three consecutive terms and after a lull of 8 years once again served the Province as its major superior for another term of four years.
His death last 23 October,2021 shall indeed leave us bereft of his presence and his expertise among us but surely it is his moment to receive his long-awaited reward as a faithful and prudent steward.
Today on Mission Sunday, allow me to share his legacy which many of us pride to have been part of during the past 25 years.
Fr. Bonifacio Solis was elected as the 110 Prior Provincial of the Province of Our Lady of the Rosary in 1997. The Province then faced a pivotal moment in history seeking and discerning her whole Church and within the Order and the emerging realities in the world.
Taking the “Document of 1997” as the working vision of his leadership, Fr Solis and the brothers chosen to be part of his leadership team began the tedious process of re-founding the Province, on one hand recuperating the missionary vocation and the other to strengthen and diversity our presence in the “places of mission”. Fr Solis believed that the priority of the province was the recruitment of vocations and their adequate formation as key to this process. With an iron will, and his far sightedness, he promoted it zealously and began to allow many brothers to see this reality as the sign of hope for the Province
Perhaps one characteristic which can be remembered in his three term Provincial ship would be the influx of non-Spanish vocations to the erstwhile “European” province, the restoration of the China mission and the presence in Singapore and the incorporation of the Venezuelan brothers to the Province.
Under his leadership the Province began to seek ways to realize the restoration of our ministry in China. Although the project had begun earlier during the time of the previous Provincialship of Fr. Pedro Luis Gonzalez, it finally bore fruit in at the beginning of the millennium. Fr Solis was the first Provincial since the Pacific War to make a canonical visit to China when he visited our makeshift novitiate in 2004. Seeing the indigency of the place and the uncertainties of the nascent community, he was deeply touched and took the mission very close to his heart. Eventually he had the privilege to receive the vows of our first Chinese vocations and established two foundations in 2004 to begin the restoration of our presence in China. He worked ceaselessly to help the mission seeking needed permissions from the Order and from ecclesiastical authorities. The great success of the project owes greatly to his prudence, his zeal and his foresight.
This was repeated when the Venezuela project which began earlier was incorporated to the Province. And the Province had to assume the consolidation of the Order in Venezuela with the formation of vocations. Brothers were sent to do their post graduate formation and today these brothers despite great trials and challenges, are now assuming important positions of responsibility.
Similarly, the Myanmar project was accepted by the Province through his initiative.
During his Provincialship, he was able to re-establish novitiates and Formation houses in many parts of the province. Singapore for a time was a formation house and formed a group of brothers who are now incorporated to our ministries in the mission. China had its first novitiate receiving vocations following a different and more creative formation paradigms.
Realizing that the future of the Province needed a more cohesive formation center to form brothers in the lifestyle and ideals of the Province, he re-established the novitiate in Hong Kong for all Asian vocations, and eventually the foundation of the International Student House in the former Portuguese enclave of Macau, making the HK-Macau region as the lifeblood and heart of the Holy Rosary Province.
The emerging missions amalgamated the Province with a renewed vision of herself and her work in the mission. Many times, at council or during many moments of dialogue in community, we would always say that we are facing so many problems, but he would always tell us, we are faced with many problems yes but these are problems about life not of death. These words had become our daily mantra to see the development of the Province and our many apostolic projects from the eyes of faith.
Ending his term as Provincial, he was appointed as the Master of Novices in HK, it was then the novitiate was officially transferred to Rosaryhill. During the second term of Fr. Javier Gonzalez, he was chosen to the Provincial Syndic which he acted with the same zeal and dedication as always.
Despite his failing health heavy with so many years of service to the brothers and the marks of ageing, Fr. Solis continued to serve the Province for the fourth time finally passing the baton to the newly elected Provincial, Fr. Ruben Martinez in the summer of 2021.
Surely the achievements of Fr. Solis had left a mark in our long history. But most importantly his brotherly love for each of us, his generosity and his willingness to be of help to anyone who seek his counsel and his prayers will surely be missed. Though his legacy may not be repeated, he had raised the measure of a leader and animator for this Province laden with history yet vibrant with new apostolic projects, of a province faced with ageing but also a province with promising and young vocations.
May his zeal and his religious fervour, no-nonsense wisdom and prudence inspire us to serve God and the Church in this same spirit; and may he intercede for the Province which he so loved.
The funeral was on Monday, October 25 at the Convent of Santo Domingo in Oviedo at 11 a.m. Then the remaining body were brought to the Convent of Santo Tomas in Ávila where there was another mass at 5 p.m. Later he was buried in the cemetery of Ávila.
