Roman Catholic Archbishop. A staunch promoter of devotion to Our Lady under the title of the Rosary in Guatemala, Monsignor Julián Raymundo Riveiro y Jacinto OP., was the first and so far, only member of the Order of Preachers to lead the Archdiocese of Santiago de Guatemala. Born in Cobán, his mother Mercedes Jacinto died while delivering him, and raised by his father, besides the Castilian spoke fluent Quekchí, one of the Mayan languages, a tongue he retained even after his appointment to his high office. Belonging to a very poor household, he diligently applied himself to studying, before seeking admission with the Friars Preachers at their convent of Santo Domingo in Guatemala City. Receiving the white habit in 1868, he took his simple vows on February 2, 1871. In May of the following year, decrees were issued by the Republic of Guatemala suppressing all religious communities and any kind of monastic institution was prohibited. Thus, deprived of the advantages of community life, the young Dominican was obliged to act without the guidance and spiritual direction of religious superiors. Throughout his course of studies, numerous inducements to enter the legal profession were offered to him, but realizing the consequence of his vocation, he remained firm and demonstrated undeviating loyalty to his ideal of becoming a Dominican. Not having made solemn profession, a requisite for ordination to the priesthood in the Order of Preachers, he applied for and obtained special permission from Pope Pius IX that he might receive holy orders while he was yet in simple vows. Ordained priest in Honduras on April 3, 1877, the following July he received the appointment of chaplain of Saint Dominic's Church in Guatemala, an office which he was to hold for the next thirty seven years, during which time he alone maintained the said church and was the only member of the Dominican Order in Guatemala. Eventually taking his solemn vows on January 15, 1879 in Sonsonate in the hands of Father Juan María Martinez del Arenal, General Master of the Order, the same master appointed him vicar general of Dominican religious secularized in 1885. Urged by a genuine Dominican zeal and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to her Rosary, he established the Society of the Living Rosary among his parishioners by forming circles consisting of fifteen members, each of whom was obliged to say, not the whole Rosary during the week, but simply one decade each day, and at the same time meditating on the mystery which would be assigned by lot. By this means the entire Rosary, or Psalter of Mary, would be said collectively by the members of each circle every day. He next introduced into Guatemala the devotion of the Perpetual Rosary, also called Our Lady's Guard of Honor, the aim of which being that of uniting the members in such a way that, different hours of the day and night being assigned to each, some devoted watchers would be found in prayer and praise at Our Lady's Shrine. As of 1895 he started promoting the October Rosary celebrations in the church of Santo Domingo which last to this day. All of these devotions have since remained highly popular in Guatemala and practically all Catholics in the country would become inscribed in one or more of the various societies and confraternities. Organizing a chapter of the Third Order of Saint Dominic whose membership was soon numbered by the hundreds, as an example to the people whose spiritual direction was entrusted to his care he virtuously endured many hardships and on several occasions was the subject of unfavorable edicts by the government. Founding the "El Pabellón del Rosario" review, due to his outstanding achievements as pastor of St. Dominic's Church he soon gained recognition and elected to the archiepiscopal see of Guatemala on April 8, 1914, was called to Rome where, on the following May 10 was consecrated by Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val y Zulueta in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. Upon returning to his see in Central America he observed a decided change in the attitude of the government toward religious matters. His first official acts as archbishop were to inaugurate a residence of the Dominicans in Guatemala, consisting of two priests and a lay brother, and to undertake and complete the first detailed visitation of the territory under his jurisdiction. Severe earthquakes which then destroyed the cathedral and many churches in the country proved to be a challenge to the new archbishop which he readily accepted. Encouraged by a spirit of confidence in the divine assistance and by the cooperation of the citizenry of Guatemala, he launched a program of reconstruction that produced the most astounding results for the betterment of the disturbed conditions. By his harmonious contacts with the people of every class, he merited a privileged position in the esteem of all and during his time as ordinary, was never molested by the government and enjoyed the greatest respect of the civil authorities. After his resignation from the see, in deference to his successor, he left Guatemala and took up residence in New Orleans, Louisiana, being repeatedly requested to return to his former archdiocese by many. Named archbishop of the titular see on Antinoë on his resignation, Msgr. Riveiro passed away in New Orleans in his seventy seventh year. Transferred to Guatemala via Puerto Barrios, his body was received at Guatemala City by train and following the celebration of a solemn requiem mass, interred at his beloved church of Santo Domingo in its panteón. When the latter was removed in 1970 in order to make space for the present chapel of the Señor Sepultado on the occasion of the church's elevation to a minor basilica under the title of Nuestra Señora del Rosario, his body was found in perfect state of preservation. Reinterred beneath the presbytery of the same church, a monument has been since erected in his honour beside one commemorating fellow Dominican Bartolomé de las Casas in the atrium of the basilica.