
Jerônimo Granero Garcia
Photo courtesy of UNASP São Paulo Memory Center.
Garcia, Jerônimo Granero (1903–1974)
By The Brazilian White Center – UNASP
The Brazilian White Center – UNASP is a team of teachers and students at the Brazilian Ellen G. White Research Center – UNASP at the Brazilian Adventist University, Campus Engenheiro, Coelho, SP. The team was supervised by Drs. Adolfo Semo Suárez, Renato Stencel, and Carlos Flávio Teixeira. Bruno Sales Gomes Ferreira provided technical support. The following names are of team members: Adriane Ferrari Silva, Álan Gracioto Alexandre, Allen Jair Urcia Santa Cruz, Camila Chede Amaral Lucena, Camilla Rodrigues Seixas, Daniel Fernandes Teodoro, Danillo Alfredo Rios Junior, Danilo Fauster de Souza, Débora Arana Mayer, Elvis Eli Martins Filho, Felipe Cardoso do Nascimento, Fernanda Nascimento Oliveira, Gabriel Pilon Galvani, Giovana de Castro Vaz, Guilherme Cardoso Ricardo Martins, Gustavo Costa Vieira Novaes, Ingrid Sthéfane Santos Andrade, Isabela Pimenta Gravina, Ivo Ribeiro de Carvalho, Jhoseyr Davison Voos dos Santos, João Lucas Moraes Pereira, Kalline Meira Rocha Santos, Larissa Menegazzo Nunes, Letícia Miola Figueiredo, Luan Alves Cota Mól, Lucas Almeida dos Santos, Lucas Arteaga Aquino, Lucas Dias de Melo, Matheus Brabo Peres, Mayla Magaieski Graepp, Milena Guimarães Silva, Natália Padilha Corrêa, Rafaela Lima Gouvêa, Rogel Maio Nogueira Tavares Filho, Ryan Matheus do Ouro Medeiros, Samara Souza Santos, Sergio Henrique Micael Santos, Suelen Alves de Almeida, Talita Paim Veloso de Castro, Thais Cristina Benedetti, Thaís Caroline de Almeida Lima, Vanessa Stehling Belgd, Victor Alves Pereira, Vinicios Fernandes Alencar, Vinícius Pereira Nascimento, Vitória Regina Boita da Silva, William Edward Timm, Julio Cesar Ribeiro, Ellen Deó Bortolotte, Maria Júlia dos Santos Galvani, Giovana Souto Pereira, Victor Hugo Vaz Storch, and Dinely Luana Pereira.
First Published: June 16, 2021
Jerônimo Granero Garcia, pastor, evangelist, principal, teacher and conference president was born September 30, 1903, in the Cuenca province, Spain. The son of Juliam and Vicenta Garcia, Jerônimo was born in a Catholic home, named in honor of São Jerônimo. While still a child, his father died, and his mother was concerned about the way he would be raised.1
When a friend invited Vicenta Garcia to go to Brazil, she agreed, and remained there for a year. After this period, she went back to Spain, aiming to get her son, return to Brazil, and settle there. At the age of six, Jerônimo and his mother arrived in Brazil, and soon after, his mother enrolled him in a Catholic boarding school at Vila Mariana district, São Paulo.2
In search of better paying work, the Garcias moved to Havana, Cuba. Another reason for moving was that the language spoken in the country, Castilian, was the family’s mother tongue. Shortly after their arrival in Cuba, Vicenta Garcia became a housemother for a rich family, but she wasn’t able to have her son around. Pleased with Vicenta’s work, the rich family solved the problem by sending Jerônimo to an Adventist boarding school. After attending school worships, he was amazed with the content displayed there.3
At the end of the school year, Jerônimo Garcia returned home, and his mother noticed that he had abandoned Catholic beliefs, embracing Protestantism. Vicenta was sad and removed him from the school, taking him to work in a mechanic shop and continue his studies at night. After four years, by influence of a boarding school friend, he began attending an Adventist church, though his mother disapproved.4
When Garcia decided to become an Adventist, his mother kicked him out of the house and dismissed from his job. His friend who brought him to church recommended him for a job as a sugarcane harvester, and he started living in a humble rural house. He remained there for a few months, working the fields, until his mother came to know where he was living and called him back home with a job offer, unaware that he still followed Adventist beliefs. At the end of the first week back home and at work, Garcia asked his employer if he could not work on Sabbaths. He was instantly denied, then fired, and kicked out of his house again.5
After being kicked out a second time, at the age of 16, Jerônimo Garcia went to an Adventist pastor’s house. In 1920, after six years in Cuba, his mother told him that she was going back to Brazil and that she wanted him to come with her, in another attempt to keep him out of the Adventist church. Garcia decided to return to Brazil with his mother, but before going, he asked his pastor about the Adventist seminary address in São Paulo. The address he received was of the Brazil Publishing House, then located in the city of Santo André, São Paulo.6
The publishing house manager gave Garcia the Brazil College address, and without his mother’s knowledge, he reached the desired location in a few hours.7 After some time, he returned to the school to live and study. He was hired as a mechanic, which helped him pay for his education.8 In November 1921, Garcia met fellow student Ana Klein Araújo.9 In 1925, as class representative, he graduated in theology.10
On February 23, 1926, one year after his graduation, Jerônimo and Ana married. The ceremony took place at the Brooklin Church, in the city of São Paulo, officiated by Pastor Alberto Haygen.11 Ana Garcia contributed much to the Adventist work as a teacher, Bible instructor, singer, and writer, besides assisting her husband in his missionary fields.12
Jerônimo’s first ministerial work was in Bertioga, São Paulo, where he visited local families. After a while, he was called to assist Pastor José Amador dos Reis in a series of evangelistic meetings in Brás district, São Paulo, where he worked as a Bible worker. From this series, Belém Church was founded.13
In Mogi Mirim he assisted Pastor Luiz Braun in another evangelistic series. Two months later, Braun was transferred to another city, leaving all the work of the cities of Mogi Mirim, Espírito Santo do Pinhal, and Mogiana district to Garcia. At this time, Jerônimo and Ana had their first child, Anice.14
At Pastor Enis Moore’s request, in late 1928 Garcia went to the city of Socorro, São Paulo, to do evangelistic work with Pastor Belz. After this work, he returned with his family to Mogi Mirim, where they remained for quite a while. There they had their second child, Flávio.15
In 1930 Jerônimo was ordained in São Paulo Central Church16 by Pastor A. G. Daniells, former president of the General Conference. As he was transferred to the city of Campinas, state of São Paulo, Garcia assisted, along with Pastor Haygen, in a series of conferences which resulted in the founding of an Adventist church there.17 After assisting in various series of meetings, Jerônimo was sent to hold his first conference as an evangelist. He was transferred to the city of Ribeirão Preto, assisted by Iracema Zorub.18
Shortly after Pastor Germano Conrad’s request, Garcia was sent to Mogi das Cruzes to assist with gospel preaching in that city, where the only Adventist presence was the Conrad family. Garcia’s work as an evangelist began in 1932, when brothers Francisco and José Siqueira were converted. Both became leaders at the Adventist Youth department in Brazil. Jerônimo Garcia also contributed to the founding of the first Mogi das Cruzes Church and the Adventist Academy. At this time his third child, Gilberto, was born.19
Later, he was sent to preach in the city of Araraquara, in the state of São Paulo.20 In 1934 he was transferred to Rio Grande do Sul21 to work as an evangelistic in the city of Santa Maria, while also pastoring the local church. Through these missionary efforts, Garcia baptized Dario Garcia, who, a few years later, came to be the principal at the Brazil College.22 It was in this city that Garcia’s daughter Helena was born.23
At the end of the conferences, he went to the city of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, thus starting his evangelistic works in São João district, assisted by Pastor Emmanuel Zorub and Catarina Grabby.24 In 1936 Garcia was elected president of Northeast Mission.25 In this field, Jerônimo assisted many churches, besides founding, in 1938, Arruda Adventist Academy, in the state of Recife.26
In 1940, after four and a half years in Northeastern Brazil, Garcia was called to teach at Brazil College, São Paulo. His job to guide and educate new students brought him great joy and excitement, sharing with them experiences about his 16 years of work in Adventist ministry. During this time, he led the construction of Brazil College’s main entrance, still present at the current UNASP-SP.27
In 1944, Garcia received a call to return to the state of Rio Grande do Sul, this time as the president of the conference.28 Assisted by Dr. Siegfried Hoffmann, he founded the O Bom Samaritano Clinic. In the same year, his older daughter, Anice, died.29 While in Rio Grande do Sul, traveled, preached, and organized churches. In 1946 he returned to the state of São Paulo to continue evangelistic work. In 1949, he was called back to Brazil College to serve as vice-director, teacher, and later as principal until 1954.30
In 1954 Garcia was called to head the department of Voice of Prophecy and Public Relations of the South American Division, at the time headquartered in Montevideo, Uruguay. In 1956 he left the South American Division and took over Brazil College Public Relations, but a heart attack forced him to take time off. After recovering, he went back to teach, where he remained until 1966, when he retired. At the beginning of his retirement, he was called to replace a sick evangelist, and went to lead a series of meetings in Rio do Sul, Santa Catarina.31 In June 1972 Garcia received a call to teach at Inca Union College School Theology course, in Lima, Peru. His 46 years of ministry service were of great value for the students of that institution.32
Among his many activities, Jerônimo Garcia also stood out in interpreting various North American preachers. His last interpretation took place in January 1974, when he accompanied pastor N. R. Dower, then Ministerial Conference secretary at the General Conference.33 He finished his ministerial services on June 8, 1974.34 On June 13, 1974, he had another heart attack, and died June 30, 1974. The memorial service took place at Brazil College.
Jerônimo Granero Garcia left an important legacy to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, to which he dedicated 48 years of his life, as a district pastor, evangelist, teacher, conference president, and principal of Brazil College. He stood out as a pioneer in evangelism, and for founding churches in many areas of Brazil where there was no Adventist presence.
Notes
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Ana A. Garcia, Jerônimo Era Assim (Santo André, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 1984), 14, 16.↩
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Ibid., 16, 17.↩
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Ibid., 17-19, 21.↩
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Ibid., 21, 22.↩
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Ibid., 23-25.↩
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Ibid., 25, 26.↩
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Ibid., 26, 27.↩
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Ibid., 28, 29.↩
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Ibid., 29, 30.↩
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Paulo de C. Filho, “A vida e obra do pastor Jerônimo Granero Garcia” (Monograph, Latin-American Adventist Theology Seminary - SALT, Brazil College), 15.↩
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Ana A. Garcia, Jerônimo Era Assim (Santo André, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 1984), 35.↩
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“Ana Araújo Garcia,” Revista Adventista, September 1996, 30.↩
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Ana A. Garcia, Jerônimo Era Assim (Santo André, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 1984), 35-38.↩
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Ibid., 39, 40, 43.↩
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Ibid., 45, 46, 49, 53.↩
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“São Paulo Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1931), 245.↩
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Ana A. Garcia, Jerônimo Era Assim (Santo André, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 1984), 54, 57, 58.↩
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Ibid., 59, 61.↩
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Ibid., 66-69.↩
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Ibid., 69.↩
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“Rio Grande do Sul Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1935), 176.↩
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Ana A. Garcia, Jerônimo Era Assim (Santo André, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 1984), 71, 72, 74 and 75.↩
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Ibid., 78.↩
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Ibid., 77, 78.↩
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“Northeast Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1937), 176.↩
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Ana A. Garcia, Jerônimo Era Assim (Santo André, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 1984), 89 and 90.↩
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Ibid., 111, 113, 114.↩
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“Rio Grande do Sul Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1945), 152; and Ana A. Garcia, Jerônimo Era Assim (Santo André, SP: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 1984), 117.↩
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Ana A. Garcia, Jerônimo Era Assim (Santo André, SP: Brazil Publishing House, 1984), 118-119.↩
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Ibid., 119, 121.↩
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Ibid., 123, 125, 126.↩
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Ibid., 133-134.↩
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Ibid., 139.↩
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Ibid., 140.↩