By Ana Rodriguez Soto - The Archdiocese of Miami

Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO

Jesuit Father Amando Llorente, born Aug. 24, 1918, died April 28. He had been spiritual director of la Agrupacion Catolica Universitaria since 1952.

MIAMI � He taught Fidel Castro. And then was forced to leave Cuba by his former student.

But Jesuit Father Amando Llorente � who at one point conceived of creating a religious order of sheepherders � gathered his sheep once more in exile, re-establishing the Agrupaci�n Cat�lica Universitaria in Miami.

He spent the rest of his priestly ministry �forming Catholics for the Church,� as he put it, a paraphrase of Cuban patriot Jose Marti�s line that �Whoever would build a homeland must build up men.�

Father Llorente, 91, died in his sleep April 28 in his home overlooking Biscayne Bay � the John Paul II Retreat House where Agrupaci�n members meet, a place where people are welcomed by a statue of St. Peter the fisherman casting his nets.

The Agrupaci�n, or ACU as it is known, is a Christian Life Community for men who are university graduates and professionals. Its spirituality is based on Jesuit formational principles � the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola � and Marian consecration. Its goal is to help members attain a Christian balance of professional work, prayer, family life, social life, and apostolic service.

Founded in Cuba in 1931, the Agrupaci�n had been Father Llorente�s life work since he took over as spiritual director in 1952, when its founder died. Thanks to exile, the group now has chapters in Orlando, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, and its membership is not limited to Hispanics.

Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO

Jesuit Father Amando Llorente,the longtime spiritual director of the Agrupacion Catolica Universitaria, is shown here speaking during a Mass at Belen Jesuit Prep in Miami.

Through the Agrupaci�n, Father Llorente touched not just the men who were members but their families as well.

�We knew that Father Llorente was not eternal, but how sad was the news!� said Clarita Baloyra of Miami. �And what joy for him, to return to the Father the way St. Ignatius did, just as he wanted.�

Ivan Ospina, also of Miami, recalled taking a picture of Father Llorente after an Easter Mass. The priest appears beaming, surrounded by the children of ACU members.

�As we were taking the photo, he was saying, �Look at what celibacy brings us.� In a homily he said that celibacy is a grace of God, that a priest decides on it freely and voluntarily, without any pressure, before his consecration, and that it yields unexpected fruits,� Ospina said.

�For our family, Padre Llorente played so many roles: father, grandfather, priest, spiritual director, friend,� said Mariano Perez. �Yesterday, our 8 year-old daughter said she had lost one of her best friends and that is the truth. He truly was Christ, in all these different roles, amongst us and brought our family so much closer to Him. We are thankful and humbled that this great, holy priest was such an integral part of our lives.�

Father Llorente was born in Mansilla Mayor, Le�n, Spain, on Aug. 24, 1918. He attended the Jesuit high school in Carri�n de los Condes de Palencia and following the example of his older brother, Segundo, who was a Jesuit missionary in Alaska, entered the Jesuit Order after graduation.

After completing his philosophy studies in Burgos, Spain, he was sent to Cuba to teach at the famed Colegio de Bel�n, from 1942 to 1945. That is where he met a high school student named Fidel Castro. Some believe the two maintained a correspondence even after exile, but Father Llorente remained mum on the subject. He preferred, he said, �to make history and let others write about it.�

He left Cuba to continue his theology studies at the Pontifical University of Comillas in Madrid and Heythrop College in Oxford, where he was ordained a priest on Sept. 8, 1948, the feast of Our Lady of Charity.

Assigned again to Cuba in 1950, he was slated to be named principal of Belen when the plans changed and he was assigned instead as director of the El Calvario Retreat House in Havana.

He referred to this as �his only trial� in a 1998 interview with La Voz Cat�lica, the Spanish-language archdiocesan newspaper, on the occasion of his 80th birthday and his 50th anniversary as a priest.

�God was asking me, like Abraham, �Sacrifice your son� � what you most love,� Father Llorente told La Voz.

Forced to leave Cuba in 1961, he continued serving as director of the Agrupaci�n and of the John Paul II Retreat House in Miami until his death.

Funeral services for Father Llorente are scheduled as follows:

- Wake at the John Paul II Retreat House, 720 N.E. 27 Ct., Miami, Saturday, May 1, 4-9 p.m., starting with a rosary, and Sunday, May 2, 4-9 p.m.

- Funeral Mass Monday, May 3, 1 p.m., in Gesu Church, 118 N.E. Second St., Miami.

Angelique Ruhi-Lopez and Araceli Cantero contributed to this report. To read another in-depth report, in Spanish, about Father Llorente and the history of the Agrupacion, click here.

Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO

Jesuit Father Amando Llorente is shown here after an Easter Mass surrounded by children of members of the Agrupacion.