A recognition to the ecclesiastical historian José Luis Sáez

SANTO DOMINGO. - The standout ecclesiastical historian, philosopher, theologian, writer, film critic, university professor and priest of the Society of Jesus, José Luis Sáez was recognized this Friday November 22 by the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) during the twenty-fifth edition of the recognition “A Day with an Author and his Work”, with which the university pays tribute to the life and work of men and women for their contributions in various fields.

During the activity, the students of the Babeque Secondary, Santa Teresita and Lux ​​Mundi Educational Community schools, co-organizers of the event, as well as those of several INTEC careers played a leading role.

The program began with the presentation “José Luis Sáez, the life behind his works”, By the Santa Teresita School; Next, the Lux Mundi educational community presented the performance “A trip with the father”And then, the students of the Babeque Secondary School screened the documentary“José Luis Sáez: Rolling the story" The act of recognition continued with the presentation of documentary theater “Baptism of the slaves”, Starring the students of the Salomé Ureña Center of Excellence, a guest school in this edition.

The students of the career of INTEC Cinema and Audiovisual Communication they presented the micro documentary “Sáez: The value of a moment”, and then the investigative journalists Angela Peña y Ana Mitila Lora participated, along with the historian José Chez Czech, in the panel "José Luis Sáez: Three voices, three visions", in which they analyzed their trajectory, life and contributions to society.

The rector of INTEC, Rolando M. Guzmán, said that recreating a life in two hours is a promising task, which can only be undertaken with a good dose of passion, ingenuity and optimism. And that was the mission that the student groups had.

“Thanks to them, we know a story that begins in the Iberian Peninsula, but that can only be understood from the perspective of the Caribbean, and in which we will find a child who crosses an ocean to meet his father, a teenager who embraces the priesthood as a way of life and an adult who seeks in the study of the past how to understand his present, ”he said.

Guzmán, when celebrating the work of José Luis Sáez, highlighted the work of the filmmaker, journalist, priest and historian. "As a common thread we can, above all, celebrate his work as a teacher, through which his generosity has been put at the service of many people who have been lucky enough to meet him along the way."

On his side, the priest of the Society of Jesus, José Luis Sáez, said he was glad that “it was this institution that thought of me, because it was up to me to live very closely the birth of INTEC, in its romantic era, perhaps when announced that it would be dedicated exclusively to postgraduate studies and that was a novelty and, thus, also reduced the exodus of those who went abroad in search of a specialty.

Meanwhile, Victor Hernández, interim dean of the Area of ​​Social Sciences and Humanities, thanked Father Sáez for the kindness of his time during the months of preparation, in which he enthusiastically received the responsibilities today to exalt his relevant contributions, as a social, ecclesial and history reference.

INTEC initiated the program "A Day with an Author and his Work" in the year 1995 with the objective of contributing to the strengthening of Dominican culture, through the recognition and promotion of leading figures in society. Some of those recognized through the Program are: Yvelisse Prats-Ramírez de Pérez, Juan Bolívar Díaz, Mariano Lebrón Saviñón, Marcio Veloz Maggiolo, Soucy de Pellerano, Mary Pérez de Marrazini, Iván García and Sr. Leonor Gibb, among others.

Biographical data of José Luis Sáez Ramo

Sáez was born in Valencia, Spain, the 21 of September of 1937. He lived in Madrid until 1954 when he moved to Santo Domingo and resumed trade studies at the School of Expert Accountants, where he obtained the Bachelor of Commercial Studies at 1956 and entered the newly opened Faculty of Economics and Finance of the University of Santo Domingo (1957-1958).

He obtained ordinary Dominican nationality on May 30 from 1967. From 1999, he is a member of the Dominican Academy of History, for which he has been the secretary for the second time since August of 2019. On March 31 of 1999, President Leonel Fernández granted him the Order of Duarte, Sánchez and Mella in the degree of Caballero, together with a group of journalists.

He was a professor for almost fifteen years of Cultural History at the Santo Tomás de Aquino Seminary, where he also taught during a liturgical expression course. Although since the summer of 1967 he had begun courses in film appreciation at the UASD, upon his definitive return to 1979, he won by competition the chair of Cinematic Journalism at the School of Journalism of the same university, and, although he changed the subject several times , the first semester of 2014 was still active as a professor of Iconographic Journalism.