His funeral was held on Tuesday, Dec. 27, at 11 a.m. local time in the church of the Salesian house in Úbeda.
Antonio Rodríguez Tallón was born in Santa Fe on July 4, 1940. He entered the novitiate in San José del Valle in 1955 and made his first profession on August 16, 1956. After studying Philosophy in Utrera-Consolación (1956-57) and San José del Valle (1957-59), he served his apprenticeship in Cordoba (1959-62) and made his perpetual vows on 15 July 1962 in Ronda. He studied Theology in Posadas (1962-63) and Sanlúcar la Mayor (1963-66), and was finally ordained a priest on March 26, 1966, by Msgr. José María Bueno Monreal, then archbishop of Seville.
He then carried out his pastoral work in the Salesian houses of Granada (1966-67), Priego de Cordoba (1967-72), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1972-76), and Cordoba-Don Rinaldi (1976-78), arriving at the headquarters of the then Province of Cordoba in 1978, first as a member of the diocese's Youth Ministry Team until 1984, and then assuming the post of Provincial from 1984 to 1990.
He was later elected Councilor for the Iberian Region, a position he held from 1990 to 1996, and Councilor for the Africa-Madagascar Region, a role he carried out from 1996 until 2002.
When his service on the General Council ended, he became Director of the "San José de Lhanguene" work in Maputo, Mozambique (2002-15), and then Economer of the house in Matola, also in the same country. At the same time, he was also entrusted with the role of Councilor in the Mozambican Delegation within the Province of Portugal (2005-2006), and then that of Vicar of the Mozambique Vice-Province (2006-2012). After serving again in Naamacha, Mozambique (2016-19), he returned to his homeland for a brief interlude in Malaga (October-November 2019), and worked again in the "Triana" house in Seville (2019-21) and finally in Úbeda, from September 2021 until the day of his death.
"He shall be remembered as a man of faith, enthusiastic, enterprising, hardworking, always helpful, and an exemplary Salesian in love with his vocation. May the Risen Lord welcome him into His Kingdom, among all those who gave their lives to the Salesian mission, and may Mary Help of Christians, whom he loved so much, receive him with the affection of the Good Mother of Heaven. May he rest in peace," they commented from the SMX Social Communications office.
