Tulio Botero

In 1979, after 21 years at the head of the Episcopal see of Medellin, his resignation was accepted due to his age.

He promoted the Faculty of Theology at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana and allowed seminarians to study at said university; he founded the Bachilleres seminary, which lasted forty years. He established Casa Pablo VI in 1971 and gave it statutes in 1977, for special vocations of students who had to work to financially support their families.

On 8 December of that same year, he was appointed to the Archbishop's Headquarters of Medellín, of which he took possession on 2 February 1958.

In July 1956, he organized the first Diocesan Catechetical Congress with the participation of all the parishes, and ended his pastoral work in the Diocese with the first pastoral week in December 1957.

His interest in Catholic education led him to support and encourage the creation of Diocesan Colleges in most parishes; his love for Mary and his desire to promote Marian piety led to the first Marian Congress being held in August 1954.

Among Botero's priorities for the new Diocese was the Council Seminary; thus, on 8 December of the same year, he blessed and laid the first stone for the construction of his headquarters and, on 24 February 1953, he opened the minor seminary under the direction of the Vincentian Fathers.

From Cartagena, he passed to the newly created Diocese of Zipaquirá, when Pope Pius XII, through the Papal bull of 1 May 1952, appointed him as its first bishop. He took canonical possession of the Diocese on 15 August of the same year, thus beginning the new ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

Because of his great devotion to the Virgin, Botero asked the Holy Father to declare her the patron saint of the new Diocese, under the title of the Assumption. Pius XII, accepting his request, issued the Papal bull of 2 August 1952, by which he appointed the Blessed Virgin of the Assumption as patron of the Diocese.

On 7 May 1949, he was named Titular bishop of Marida and Auxiliary bishop of Cartagena. He was consecrated in Manizales by Bernardo Botero Álvarez on 14 August 1949. He remained in Cartagena from 7 September 1949 to May 1952.

He was ordained a priest in Bogotá by Ismael Perdomo Borrero on 19 December 1931. Until 1934, he missioned in Cundinamarca with Father Nicanor Cid. From 1934 to 1941, he worked at the Popayán Seminary. From 1941 to 1948, he was director of the Internal Seminary and Director of students in Bogotá (headquarters of the Congregation of the Mission); simultaneously, from 1945, he was private secretary of the Apostolic nunciature. In 1948 he was appointed rector of the Tunja Seminary.

After the death of his father, he retired from the Apostolic and studied law for a year at the Colegio del Rosario. He joined the community of the Lazarist Fathers and began the internal seminary (novitiate) on 27 February 1924, joining the community through vows in 1926.

Tulio Botero Salazar, C.M. (Manizales, 1 March 1904 — Medellín, 1 March 1981), was a Colombian ecclesiastic of the Catholic Church, belonging to the Congregation of the Mission. He was auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Cartagena, first bishop of the Diocese of Zipaquirá and archbishop of the Archdiocese of Medellín.

He was born in Manizales on 9 March 1904. His parents were Francisco Botero Jaramillo and Maria Francisca Salazar Jaramillo, both belonging to traditional Caldense families of Antioquian origins and cousins between them.