Bernardo C. Hernández

Finding the Apostolic Message

Bernardo C. Hernández (1884 – 1948) was the second Bishop President of the Apostolic Assembly and the shortest serving. He was born in Central Mexico, in the city of Puebla on September 18, 1884. Orphaned at a young age he attended a Catholic seminary and later the Baptist Church reached him: He eventually became a Baptist Elder. He received both Catholic and Baptist theological training. In 1919 pioneer Antonio Castañeda Nava arrived in Yuma, Arizona preaching the Apostolic message and it was through him that brother Bernardo was evangelized. He would later move to Jimtown, present-day Whittier, California to establish the historic church there alongside his wife Carmen and children.

Leadership in spite of Crisis

Upon Bishop President Llorente’s death, and due to the absence of Pioneer Antonio Castañeda Nava, Bishop Hernández assumed the leadership of the Apostolic Assembly as interim General Pastor. A schism had already started in 1927 against the new Assembly; it was his decisive leadership that kept the Assembly united. He led the 1928 Convention in Indio, California where for the first time youth choirs sang. After his term as Interim General Pastor, he would serve for another twenty years as General Secretary until the Lord called him into his presence on February 2, 1948.