【慈幼通訊社
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2017 年
4月
4
日羅馬慈幼總部訊】
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2017年2月27日，教宗方濟各授權頒布，確認天主忠僕屋大維．奧迪斯主教 (Octavio Ortiz Arrieta) 為可敬者的法令。奧迪斯於1878年4月19日生於利馬，1958年3月1日卒於查查波亞斯(Chachapoyas)，他為查查波亞斯教區主教，以及首名秘魯籍慈幼會士。為隆重其事，總會長范達民神父致函所有慈幼會士及慈幼家庭成員，強調這次聖座確認的牧民神修價值，並呼籲推動如此眾多慈幼聖者的豐富的見證。
學生時代的奧迪斯，為慶禮院的一分子，後來成為慈幼會士，在秘魯從事鮑思高神子的工作。他是首位在秘魯第一所慈幼會院舍，接受培育的慈幼會士。這院舍在Rimac，是一個貧窮的社區，在那裡他學會犧牲並活出簡樸的生活。
慈幼會士於1891年首次抵達秘魯後，他便熟識鮑思高精神及預防教育法。他作為當地第一代慈幼會士，學會犧牲自己，服務他人，這成為他一生的特點。縱使當時他很年輕，卻已身負重任，例如展開新事業，指導他人，以一份簡樸與犧牲，全情投入服務窮人。
他的下半生始於上世紀二十年代，他當了查查波亞斯教區主教三十六年，凡委託給他的牧民工作，從策劃到實踐，均表現出卓著的成就。在聖召牧職方面，他給予修生及司鐸實質的支持。在青年培育上，兼顧人性與教理方面。他也致力牧養家庭，關顧新成立家庭的培育，並在他們遇上危機或有所缺失時提供支援。
「他的一生以救靈為首要工作，並把這救靈工作延伸到他的司鐸兄弟。他鼓勵他們要抵抗尋求安逸與榮譽的誘惑，催促他們致力牧民工作。這充分表示他已達到基督徒生活的高水準。他是一位牧者，潛藏著他具獨創性的牧民愛德，尋求與天主子民的共融，服務最有需要者，見證福音的神貧生活。」
這位主教履行牧職時，實在是對慈幼式生活的一份見證，值得眾人認識，並應受到教會及秘魯慈幼家庭，以及眾多慈幼會主教特別的欣賞。他真是一位模範，遵從鮑思高的宗徒神恩，慷慨獻身牧民工作。
Letter of the Rector Major for Venerable Bishop Octavio Ortiz Arrieta
(ANS - Rome –RMG, 04 April 2017) – On 27 February 2017, Pope Francis authorized the decree of Venerable of the Servant of God Octavio Ortiz Arrieta Coya, (Lima, 19 April 1878 - Chachapoyas, 1 March 1958) bishop of Chachapoyas and first Peruvian Salesian. To mark the occasion the Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, wrote a letter to all Salesians and Salesian Family members, to emphasize the pastoral and spiritual value of this recognition and enhancing this rich testimony on the great tree of Salesian holiness.
Octavio Ortiz Arrieta Coya spent his early years as an oratorian, a student and then a Salesian engaged in the works of the sons of Don Bosco in Peru. He was the first Salesian formed in the first Salesian house of Peru. It was in Rimac, a poor neighbourhood, where he learned to live an austere life of sacrifice.
From the first Salesians who arrived in Peru in 1891, he became familiar with the spirit of Don Bosco and the Preventive System. As a Salesian of the first generation, he learned that service and self-giving would be the hallmark of his life. Even as a young Salesian he assumed important responsibilities, such as the opening of new works and the direction of others, with simplicity, sacrifice and total dedication to the poor.
The second part of his life, from the beginning of the 20s, he lived as bishop of Chachapoyas, for 36 years, distinguished by the way he planned and carried out the pastoral tasks entrusted to him. In vocation ministry he gave concrete support to his seminarians and priests. He gave human and catechetical formation to the young. He also devoted himself to the pastoral care of the family, attentive to the formation of new families and supporting families in crisis situations or irregularities.
"His whole life was dominated by the primacy of the salvation of souls: a salvation which he extended also to his priests. He encouraged them to counter the temptation to settle for easy certainties or to seek positions of greater prestige, urging them to engage instead in pastoral work. It can really be said that he reached a high level of Christian life. He was a pastor who embodied pastoral charity in an original way, seeking communion with the people of God, reaching out to the most needy and witnessing a life of evangelical poverty.”
This witness to Salesian life lived in the episcopal ministry deserves to be known and appreciated in a special way by the Church and the Salesian Family of Peru, and also by the great number of Salesian Bishops who can see in him a model and an example of generous pastoral dedication according to the apostolic charism of Don Bosco.