LAST SPANISH BISHOP OF GUAM CONSECRATED
May 5, 1935
Miguel Angel Olano y Urteaga, who as a simple Capuchin priest and pastor of Sumay was known as Pale' Leon de Alzo, was consecrated a bishop on this day in the city of San Sebastian, in his native province of Guipuzcoa in Spain. Bishop Olano first came to Guam in 1919 and was soon assigned to Sumay, the second largest municipality on Guam at the time. His time as Bishop on Guam was not without trouble. The American Navy wanted the Spanish priests replaced by American ones as soon as possible. Olano himself would have been replaced in short order but World War II delayed that. Instead, he was sent, with the American Capuchins, to Japan. Unlike the imprisoned Americans, Olano was free to find his own lodgings because Spain was neutral in that war. In time, he was able to go to India and then to Australia and back to Guam when it was liberated from the Japanese. In 1945, American Bishop Baumgartner replaced Olano. Olano then spent the next years in the Philippines and finally in Spain. When the first Chamorro bishop, Felixberto Flores, was to be consecrated, Olano came for the historical event and asked to remain on Guam, which Flores granted. He died of a heart attack on May 21, 1970 while swimming at Ipao Beach. He is buried in the Agaña Cathedral, the first bishop to be buried in its sanctuary. Bishop Olano was well-loved, especially by the people of Sumay (who were transferred to Santa Rita after the war). Olano ordained the 2nd and 3rd Chamorro priests : Fathers Dueñas and Calvo. He was the last Spanish bishop of Guam, but he returned to die and be buried in the island he loved.
Olano ordained Father Dueñas (on the left) and Father Calvo (on the right). In the middle, Father Jose Manibusan, was ordained during the war in Manila and died there in 1945 due to poor health.
PARA NUESTROS AMIGOS HISPANOHABLANTES
CONSAGRACIÓN DEL ÚLTIMO OBISPO ESPAÑOL DE GUAM
Hoy día recordamos la consagración episcopal del último obispo español de Guam, el Mons. Miguel Ángel Olano Urteaga, capuchino. Fué consagrado el día 5 de Mayo de 1935 en la Iglesia (ahora Catedral) del Buen Pastor en Donostia, pues Olano era guipuzcoano. Sus primeros años como obispo en Guam no fueron tranquilos, que la Marina estadounidense promovió el cambio de misioneros, de españoles a norteamericanos. Poco después del comienzo de la guerra entre Japón y los EE. UU., fué deportado a Japón, pero encontró refugio con los jesuitas españoles en aquel país. Después, pasó a la India. Al terminar la ocupación japonesa en Guam, volvió a la isla por vía de Australia. En 1945, a Olano le sustituyó Baumgartner, primer obispo norteamericano en Guam. Ahora, despojado de su grey, Olano se encontró también sin país, que en España reinaba Franco. Olano tenía un hermano también sacerdote capuchino, Aniceto, en religión Fray Miguel de Alzo, que se refugió en Argentina después de la Guerra Civil, por ser considerado nacionalista vasco. El Mons. Olano, pues, pasó a Filipinas, tal vez para evitar dificultades políticas en España. Permaneció en Manila hasta el año 1960 cuando pasó a España. Al consagrar el primer obispo chamorro en 1970, viajó a Guam para la ocasión, pidiendo al nuevo obispo permiso para quedarse en la isla. Pocos días después, sufrió un ataque cardíaco, murió y fué sepultado en la Catedral de Agaña, Guam en el mes de Mayo de 1970.
