In our heartfelt tribute to the man who inspired CESAN, we share the only recording we have found of a lecture he gave in Estepona (Malaga) in 2012.
It was with great sorrow that we received on September 23rd the news of the death of José Manuel Fernández Fígares. He was a member of CESAN and the inspirer of this new stage of the Andalusian delegation of the Spanish Center of Syndonology.
I have known him since I was very young. He was a very endearing and close person with everyone. He always had a good word and a smile on his face. His optimism and energy when facing problems was contagious. Generous, deeply in love with his wife, Maripí, he left his mark on four wonderful daughters who bear witness to José Manuel's personal greatness.
When I was very young, he introduced me to the study of the Holy Shroud. Always from the rigor of the science that he himself practiced at the University. Concerned about the needs of CES members in Andalusia, he wanted to revitalize this delegation, but illness prevented him from doing so. He was the one who launched me to pick up the baton of this task. He is the soul of all our work. Although his illness prevented him from participating, he was always attentive to our work as long as he could. It is an irreparable loss for this entire delegation.
We are consoled to know that he now contemplates the true face of the Man of the Shroud and from heaven he continues to inspire our work. We entrust ourselves to him to continue unraveling the truth of the Shroud.
Ignacio Huertas Puerta, CESAN delegate.
Below, we reproduce the publication made by the Diocese of Malaga:
José Manuel Fernández Fígares was Professor of Cell Biology at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Malaga, where he held the responsibility of being the first director of the Department of Cell Biology, Genetics and Physiology of the University of Malaga. He was also a member of the Spanish Center of Sindonology, an entity dedicated to the study and dissemination of the Shroud of Turin. He was, also, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Victoria Foundation for several years until he resigned in 2018 for health reasons.
In a communiqué made public by the educational institution, they highlight about him that "he was a simple, kind and approachable person; and a committed Christian, who carried out tasks of service and responsibility in his parish, in the ecclesial association to which he belonged and in the Church." In the text, the diocesan schools thank "his testimony of Christian faith and his collaboration in the Board of Trustees of the Foundation" and ask to raise a prayer "so that the Lord may welcome him now in his kingdom of peace and immortality".
Fernández-Fígares was director of the Diocesan Department of University Ministry in Malaga from 2012 to 2017. He thus succeeded a wide range of people delegated for this mission by the bishops of Malaga: Francisco García Mota, who was the one who initiated it, and who was followed by Fr. Ignacio Núñez de Castro (Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry), Fray Florencio Turrado (Fr. Montero, Fr. Antonio Muñoz, Antonio Calderón, Fray Cristóbal, Fr. Cabello, Francisco González and José Muñoz (Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the UMA).
He contributed with his invaluable work to the promotion of this pastoral and was also in charge of celebrating the 50th anniversary of this department. In an article on the occasion of this anniversary, he wrote: "In the University not everything is studying or teaching. The spiritual dimension of the person, solidarity, the reading of the signs of the times and dialogue with the world are part of the universal spirit that the passage through the University must impregnate. Encouraging this is the task of the University Pastoral".
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