Los
Angeles County
Biographies
REV. ANDREW RESA, C. M. F.
Devoting the best efforts of his
life to missionary work, the Rev. Andrew Resa possesses talents which have made
his labors more than ordinarily effective, and is now in charge of the Mission
at San Gabriel. Of old Castilian stock,
he was born at Calahorra, Spain, on the 2nd
of February, 1872, and is a son of Peter and Felicia (Solano) Resa.
To the age of thirteen, Rev. Resa
attended parochial schools, afterward spending two years in Barbastro
College at Aragon, Spain, and this was followed by a two years’ course in
philosophy at the University of Cervera at Cataluña. His theological studies were completed in
Santo Domingo de la Calzada at Old Castile. He was ordained a deacon in January, 1895,
and in November of the same year was ordained a priest at the University of Cervera. Going to
Mexico, he taught in a college at Toluca for about two years. He was a missionary at Mexico City for four
years and was then transferred to Guanajuato, Mexico, where he was similarly
engaged for a like period. Next assigned
to Texas, he was assistant pastor of the Catholic Cathedral at San Antonio and
surrounding missions for two years. At
the end of that time he was called to a parish at San Marcos, Texas, where he
built several small churches, and two years later came to California, as pastor
of the San Gabriel Mission. This charge
he relinquished at the end of eighteen months to accept a call from the Old
Plaza Church in Los Angeles, where he filled a pastorate of one and a half
years, and during that period the church building was enlarged. Again transferred to San Antonio, Texas, he
remained in the city for six years, having charge of the San Fernando Cathedral
there. Then he returned to the Old Plaza
Church in Los Angeles, and since 1923 has served continuously as provincial and
since 1929 as pastor of the San Gabriel Mission. An eloquent and forceful expounder of Gospel
truth, Rev. Resa has been one of the strongest individual forces in the spread
of Catholicism in Southern California, setting before his parishioners an
inspiring example of sincerity, humility and faith. He is a member of the Order of Immaculate
Heart Missionaries and the local council of the Knights of Columbus.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 93-94, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPIES