To the Historian of the City of Havana, Eusebio Leal Spengler, recently deceased, was offered on Wednesday, August 5, a mass in the parish of San Juan de Letrán, in the neighborhood of El Vedado. The religious office, attended by relatives and close collaborators of Leal, was requested by Javier, one of his sons, who was also present.
The Eucharistic celebration was presided over by Cardinal Juan de la Caridad García, Archbishop of Havana, and was accompanied by the Apostolic Nuncio of His Holiness in Cuba, Archbishop Giampero Gloder, as well as friars of the Order of Preachers and some Havana priests.
Dominican father Manuel Uña pronounced the homily of Mass. He did so from the affection and closeness that united Eusebio Leal, whom he accompanied spiritually, especially in recent months, when the disease hit him hard and turned him, to say father Nail, “into a man of pain”.
Although Spanish by birth, Friar Manuel Uña assumes Havana as a city of adoption. Her love for her was born, in some way, thanks to the charm with which Leal was discovering her. “He put his wits, his dream, his time and his talent in living Havana, giving life to useless buildings, deteriorated monuments, forgotten houses. Day by day it was giving them life and it was possible to see what someone publicly stated: ‘The newest thing about Havana is Old Havana,'” he said.
He was Eussebio “Christian by conviction”, and he recognized it publicly. In this regard, Father Nail mentioned the answer he gave when asked if he wanted to be a priest. He never thought to be, but he assured that traits of his character owed them to the religious formation received in his youth and to the accompaniment of his mentor, the Jesuit father Fernando Azcárate, auxiliary bishop of Havana.
In the Eucharist celebrated to thank God for the life of Eusybio Leal, he was asked in a special way for all those who were part of his fruitful existence, for his children, his brothers, for the people who quietly accompanied him with love and tenderness, especially by Louis, his chauffeur and friend.
At the end of mass, Javier Leal, son of Eusybio, thanked Cuba and the Church for their father. Ω
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