This award, which is granted to those who have rendered distinguished service to the Church, would be given to Ayechu on the occasion of the Third Assembly of the Church in Panama, which will take place at Colegio de San Agustín and Parish of Saint Luke, ministries both attended to by the Augustinian Recollects in the Ciudad de Panamá. The bishops set the date of conferral of medal on Sunday, January 15 as part of the Eucharistic celebration at 8 o’clock a.m. in the Parish of Saint Luke. This Eucharist, which will be aired on television nationwide, will mark the beginning of the celebration of the fourth centenary of the arrival of the Recollects at the Isthmus of Panama.

Recognitions

The Spanish Augustinian Recollect Benjamin Ayechu Garde has spent most of his 65 years of priestly life in Panama. His vocation was education at the very beginning, in which he has been a pioneer. He founded the first formal school of the country, la nocturna “Padre Bernardino García.” He has been the rector of Colegio San Agustín, which is proper of the Order. And, in 1965, he became the founder and first rector of the Universidad Católica Santa María la Antigua, from which more than 25,000 students have already graduated. His many accomplishments have been publicly acknowledged by different awards: Núñez de Balboa, Cien Panameños Ilustres and la Orden de Manuel José Hurtado. Likewise, he has received the Llave de Oro de la Ciudad de Panamá.

The name of Benjamin Ayechu joins the other many Recollects who, in the recent history of the central American country have given their lives and exerted much effort for the good of the Panamanian people. It would also be necessary to mention, among others, the names of Bernardino García, Pedro Fabo, Rogelio Barasoain or Monsignor Martín Legarra.