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ZAÑA, Peru (RNS) — Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo (Saint Turibius of Mogrovejo), the second archbishop of Lima, was on one his many journeys to visit the far-flung pockets of his flock when he died in the colonial city of Zaña during Holy Week of 1606.
Pope Leo XIV, who takes inspiration from Toribio, instead began his journey as a bishop in Zaña. In 2014, as a missionary, the Rev. Robert Prevost spent the night before he was ordained a bishop praying in a chapel before Toribio’s relic. And on Saturday (Nov. 14), during his apostolic journey and homecoming to Chiclayo, Leo will stop in the small agricultural town to celebrate the jubilee for the 300th anniversary of Toribio’s canonization.
Zaña had a significant population of enslaved Africans, and Toribio has been credited with advocating for their dignity and for the Indigenous peoples. “Zaña is the cry of the oppressed,” said the Rev. David Farfán, the pastor of St. Toribio de Mogrovejo parish in Zaña, in Spanish, like others interviewed for this article.
Toribio, patron saint of Latin American bishops, established one of the first seminaries in Latin America and required his priests to learn Indigenous languages, like Quechua and Aymara. With their own local priests, Peru developed a robust home-grown church.
“It’s not a coincidence we have a Peruvian pope,” said Fárfan. “It’s part of the development of history.”
On Saturday, after traveling about an hour down the highway outside Chiclayo, passing dusty, desolate sections of desert and rudimentary new residential communities, Leo will arrive in the small agricultural town of Zaña accompanied by caballos de paso, a Peruvian horse breed.
At the Zaña gathering, representatives of local marginalized groups, including migrants, will spend time with Leo under a newly constructed shade structure on the parish school grounds. Augusto Martínez, coordinator of Comisión de Movilidad Humana, a migration ministry that Leo helped shape, said that 40 migrants and 16 volunteers would take buses to a town outside Zaña and then take the last 40 minutes on foot as a pilgrimage.
“We have all the joy about seeing him, but to be honest, more than seeing him or touching him, it’s hearing the message” that he brings as the country faces violence, crime, illegal mining and corruption, said Martínez.
Zaña was not in the original plans for the Chiclayo leg of Leo’s trip. Leo had originally expressed interest in visiting the Quechua-speaking region of Incahuasi before planners determined that it was too difficult to safely land a helicopter with the strong winds in that extremely high part of the Andes. Zaña was added to the schedule in its place. But the visit will be private, rather than accessible to all — something that is making people in the town “very upset,” Farfán said.
“We are the forgotten ones of Chiclayo,” said Farfán. The planning has mostly occurred in Chiclayo, Farfán said. As Zaña’s pastor, he had to fight to include a performance by local dancers instead of having the university perform.
Before Leo’s visit, two pilgrimages arrived in Zaña on Thursday, one with the Virgin of the Assumption from Cutervo and another with the cross of Olmos, both important objects for local popular piety practices.
The cross of Olmos was perched in the back of a pickup truck, and young people in traditional attire danced, waving handkerchiefs behind the car. Behind the small procession was the Virgin of Cutervo on a different car in a glass box. A crowd of people clapped and chanted as the pilgrimage slowly made its way to the main square, where a welcome Mass was celebrated.
Farfán has been in ministry in Zaña for 11 years. When he first got there, “this was strictly speaking for farmers, a reality that was completely of the countryside,” he said.
For the older siblings of the students whose excited voices could be heard from Farfán’s office in St. Nicholas of Tolentino school during his interview with RNS, going to school meant leaving at 4:00 a.m. for Chiclayo and returning up to 12 hours later.
When then-Bishop Robert Prevost asked Farfán what needs he observed in the community, Farfán ran a survey that found nearly 97% of participants told him they wanted a school that covered preschool through secundaria, or Peruvian high school.
They had an empty building they could use — the church had run an experiment at a technical college that failed because they hadn’t ensured the two-year credits could transfer for full degrees.
For his new preschool, Farfán wanted to name the classes “angels,” “archangels” and “seraphims,” but Prevost had another idea: “faith” for the 3-year-olds, “hope” for the 4-year-olds and “charity” for the 5-year-olds. For the older classrooms, Prevost suggested each be named after a saint to protect the children. Today, an AI-generated image of Leo and Farfán decorates one of the classroom doors, which says, “Pope Leo: Our Founder.”
The school itself is named after St. Nicholas of Tolentino, the first saint within the Augustinian order and the patron Leo chose when he professed his perpetual vows as an Augustinian.
Katthya Plaza, the principal of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, which now has 280 students, said Leo would come to Zaña every year to celebrate the Mass for St. Nicholas of Tolentino’s feast day. What she remembers most was the lunches with him afterward. “To eat with us at the same tables,” she said, “for us that was extraordinary.”
After they set up the school, the next urgent issue was water access. Farfán said that the district only received up to three hours of water a day. But now the campus has its own well, complete with a photo of Prevost blessing the well in 2021 with the caption, “this well was blessed by the Holy Father Pope Leo XIV.”
For Toribio’s jubilee, the regional government of Lambayeque made a substantial investment to improve infrastructure on the school grounds that will host the jubilee and Leo’s visit. Just weeks before Leo’s arrival, Kevin Delgado Castro, the lead engineer, was supervising the watering of newly planted grass. He said that he’d spent several months living in Zaña as his team of fifty worked six days a week for four months in intense heat to prepare the campus.
From developing grounds that were “pure dirt” to creating a brick walkway and erecting bathrooms, security entrances and a large paved and shaded structure for the papal event, Delgado said it was “gratifying” as a Catholic to be able to do work for the pope.
Those preparations continued up to the final days before Leo arrived. On Thursday, Iris Asenjo Perez called out to three men cutting down a tree with an axe, “No, no, no.” The Zaña municipality manager shook her head. “Not that one.” It was too late; the tree was lost. “We’ll plant a bigger one,” one of the gardeners replied.
In the main square, a water truck pulled up to spray the tiles, and six men and women started scrubbing the square vigorously. Inhabitants collected trash, and people were moving corrugated sheets from their porches. Every lamp post was decorated with a Leo poster.
Beside the convent, Hernan “Chorri” Cajan Castro had piled up tubs of sweets under a gazebo. “These were the pope’s favorite,” the vendor pointed out. The lopsided balls of caramel-ish filling tasted sweet, but not too sweet. “We’re gifting him a tray of them.”
At the school, workers were completing the final touches. Gloria Melendres Acuña, a services and maintenance worker at the school, said then-Prevost confirmed her. She remembers him as being generous during his visits and never distinguishing between anyone. “He was good to everyone.”
Fárfan, the pastor, said, “People are staying in the school and other spaces,” though the real influx of people isn’t expected until Saturday, and most will be making their way back through the desert to Chiclayo after Leo’s visit. “But what will remain,” concluded Farfán, “is that Zaña will be a sanctuary. Thanks to Pope Leo.”