- published: 19 Nov 2015
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Gracias is a small Honduran town/municipality that was founded in 1536, and has a population of approximately 25,000 people (12,000 in the urban center). It is found in the mountainous centre of western Honduras, in the Lempira departamento.
Elevation ranges from roughly 800 meters at the town square to 2,870 meters at the peak of Montaña Celaque (Celaque Mountain, also known as Cerro Las Minas). Climate is greatly influenced by elevation, with the low-lying portions having a wet-dry (monsoonal) pattern. Montaña Celaque is the highest mountain and largest cloud forest in Honduras, and is protected through Celaque Mountain National Park.
Gracias serves as a transportation hub for the immediate region. The town is connected to the northern city of Santa Rosa de Copan by a paved 2 lane highway, and construction of a paved 2 lane highway to La Esperanza has been underway for several years.
Agriculture is both subsistence and export based (primarily coffee). Agricultural crops vary with elevation and climate, with corn and beans grown at lower altitudes and fruits/vegetables grown at higher altitudes. Coffee harvest occurs in November and December.
Oswald Gracias (born 24 December 1944) is a Goan Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He serves as Archbishop of Bombay, having been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI on 14 October 2006, and was raised to the cardinalate in 2007. In 2010, he was elected as the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (having been the vice-president from 2008).
Gracias was born in Bombay (modern-day Mumbai) to Jervis and Aduzinda Gracias (a native of Orlim, Goa). He recognizes himself as a Goan Catholic. He completed his school studies at St. Michael’s School in Mahim and joined college at the Jesuit run St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. After a year, he entered the Seminary of St. Pius X in Bombay, where he studied philosophy and theology. Gracias was ordained to the priesthood by Valerian Gracias (no relation) on 20 December 1970. From 1971 to 1976, he served as Chancellor and secretary to Bishop Joseph Rodericks, SJ, of Jamshedpur.
Gracias then furthered his studies at Rome, attending the Pontifical Urbaniana University from 1976 to 1982; he obtained a doctorate in canon law, a diploma in jurisprudence. Upon his return to Bombay, he was named chancellor, judge of the metropolitan tribunal, and judicial vicar. From 1982, he was the chancellor of the Archdiocese of Mumbai, and from 1988 he was the judicial vicar for the Archdiocese. In 1991, Gracias was made archdiocesan consultor. He also served as a visiting professor to the seminaries of Bombay, Poona, and Bangalore, as well as serving as President of the Canon Law Society of India.