Father Felix Varela, the 19th-century Cuban patriot-priest, has a courtyard of his own at the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Augustine. Bishop John J. Snyder honored Varela in November, by naming the east courtyard of the Cathedral-Basilica in his honor. “It is not just an empty symbol,’’ he said. “It allows us to bring to life the memory and the teachings of Father Varela.’’ Vaela spent his early years in St. Augustine and then returned here in the mid-1800s. He ministered to the parish between 1849 and the time of his death in 1853. Varela wrote and spoke about social reform and human dignity. He was ordained in Cuba and then elected to the Spanish Cortes (parliament). Later, he became vicar general of the Archdiocese of New York. He fled Spain for the United States because he was under attack from the Spanish government for his stand on human rights. “He (being Cuban) was an apostle to the Irish. There were no boundaries to his proclaiming of the Gospel,’’ Bishop Snyder said. “Last week (in November), the American bishops made a statement on immigration. Father Varela reached out to immigrants. The bishops called us to be advocates of justice and human dignity, just as Father Varela did.’’ The east courtyard was chosen by the parish as the site of the Varela memorial because it is the documented location of where Varela’s house was located next to the Cathedral-Basilica. The house’s location was unknown until 1996 when Miami educator Alberto Martinez-Ramos found documents in the Library of Congress showing the site. The dedication drew more than 400 people including more than 200 from South Florida’s Cuban-American community. Many came under the auspices of the Padre Felix Varela Foundation of Miami. Early in 2001, the courtyard will include a life-sized bronze statue of Varela. It presently bears the blue emblem of the Great Floridians 2000 from the Florida Department of State and the Florida League of Cities. Amalia Varela de la Torre, Ph.D., president of the Varela Foundation, thanked Bishop Snyder for setting aside the courtyard in Varela’s honor. She predicted it will become “a place of pilgrimage and praise. Father Varela affected the development of his country and is called the founder of the Cuban nationality.” She said he called for the creation of a commonwealth 50 years before England implemented it and advocated freedom of slaves in Cuba 40 years before Abraham Lincoln freed slaves in the United States. He also championed day care and trade schools for young women. Monsignor Octavio Cisneros of the Diocese of Brooklyn, the American vice postulator for the cause of canonization, said “Varela is a Servant of God, a step in canonization.” There is no indication if or when canonization will be accorded, Cisneros said, because it requires a miracle attributed to Varela’s intervention. Bishop Agustin Roman, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Miami and himself a Cuban exile, said he first saw Tolomato Cemetery in the 1970s. Varela was buried in Tolomato Cemetery in 1853. In 1911, the Cuban community returned his remains to Havana. Roman said then — St. Augustine Bishop Paul Tanner told him, “‘This person must be a very significant man to the Cuban society to have so many friends remember him 150 years after his death. He must be very special.’” Margo Pope is a freelance writer in St. Augustine and a parishioner of the Cathedral-Basilica.