Esquiú lauded the constitution and welcomed it in the name of peace but could not finish the last sentence of his sermon because the audience burst into thunderous applause.

He was stationed there until 1867 when the Archbishop of Sucre Pedro José Puch i Solona summoned him; he remained there until 1872 and there published the newspaper dubbed "The Crusader" in response to anti-clericalism.

[1] In 1872 - while in Sucre before he left - the President endorsed him as the new Archbishop of Buenos Aires but he refused this and instead moved to Peru and then to Guayaquil in Ecuador to escape further pressure to accept the nomination.

Esquiú made a trip to Rome and later to Jerusalem in 1876 and preached on the night of Good Friday to thousands of pilgrims in 1877 before returning to his hometown in late 1878.

Before he died he was in La Rioja but returned his diocese on 8 January 1883 weakened; he felt indigestion and was nauseous and could not eat while also being unable to sleep.

Esquiú was named as Venerable on 16 December 2006 after Pope Benedict XVI confirmed that the late Franciscan had lived a model life of heroic virtue.

Pope Francis approved his beatification in June 2020 and said that he was someone who showed "that faith has a transforming dynamic far superior to that of all political programs, which is the force of love".