Francisco Vidal y Barraquer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Francisco de Asís Vidal y Barraquer | |
|---|---|
| Archbishop of Tarragona | |
 Pictured sometime between 1918 and 1931. | |
| Church | Roman Catholic Church |
| Appointed | 7 May 1919 |
| Term ended | 13 September 1943 |
| Predecessor | Antolín López y Peláez |
| Successor | Manuel Arce y Ochotorena |
| Other post | Cardinal-Priest of Santa Sabina (1921–43) |
| Previous posts | Titular Bishop of Pentacomia (1913–19) Apostolic Administrator of Solsona (1913–19) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 17 September 1899 by Tomás Costa Fornaguera |
| Consecration | 26 April 1914 by Antolín López y Peláez |
| Created cardinal | 7 March 1921 by Pope Benedict XV |
| Rank | Cardinal-priest |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Francisco de Asís Vidal y Barraquer 3 October 1868 |
| Died | 13 September 1943 (aged 74) Foyer Saint'Elizabeth, Fribourg, Switzerland |
| Buried | Tarragona Cathedral (since 1978) |
| Parents | Francisco Vidal i Gimbernat Angelina Barraquer i Roviralta |
| Alma mater | University of Barcelona University of Madrid |
| Motto | Diligite alterutrum |
| Coat of arms |  |
| Styles of Francisco Vidal y Barraquer | |
|---|---|
| |
| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Religious style | Cardinal |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
| See | Tarragona |
Francisco de Asís Vidal y Barraquer (Catalan: Francesc d'Assís Vidal i Barraquer, 3 October 1868 – 13 September 1943) was a Spanish Catalan cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Metropolitan Archbishop of Tarragona and Primate of Spain [1] from 1919 until his death; he was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 1921.
He famously refused to sign the 1937 Collective Letter in which the Spanish Church's hierarchy gave their support to Francisco Franco's forces,[2] and died in exile in Switzerland.
Born in Cambrils to a family of rural landowners and liberal professionals, Francisco Vidal y Barraquer attended the Colegio San Ignacio in Manresa (1880–1885), earned his bachillerato at the seminary in Barcelona (1885), and then practiced law for a year after studying at the law faculty of Barcelona. He entered the seminary of Tarragona in 1895, and was ordained to the priesthood on 17 September 1899. On 24 September 1900 Vidal obtained his doctorate in law from the University of Madrid. He sought to join the Society of Jesus, more commonly known as the Jesuits, but his father asked Francisco to finish a career first.
Vidal then did pastoral work in Tarragona, as well as serving as fiscal (1905), provisor and acting vicar general (1905–1909) in its archdiocesan curia. He was a canon of Tarragona's cathedral chapter from 1907 to 1913, vicar general from 1909 to 1913, archpriest in 1910, and vicar capitular from October 1911 until his promotion to the episcopate.
On 10 November 1913 Vidal was appointed apostolic administrator of Solsona and titular bishop of Pentacomia. He received his episcopal consecration on 26 April 1914 from Archbishop Antolín López Peláez, with Bishops Ramón Barberá y Boada and Ramón Guillamet y Coma serving as co-consecrators, in the cathedral of Tarragona. He was senator of the Spanish kingdom for the province of Tarragona from 1914 to 1916, and renounced the mitre of Cádiz to help calm the political and social tensions of Catalonia. Vidal was later Archbishop of Tarragona on 7 May 1919.
Pope Benedict XV created him cardinal priest of Santa Sabina in the consistory of 7 March 1921. Vidal was one of the cardinal electors in the 1922 papal conclave, which selected Pope Pius XI, and later rejected Pope Pius's offer of the primatial see of Toledo. He also refused appointments to Zaragoza and to the Roman Curia. Following the Republican government's exile of Cardinal Pedro Segura y Sáenz, Vidal became the leading prelate of the Spanish Church. He made fruitless attempts to mitigate the dispositions of the constitutional project which affected the rights of the Church, and to have the Vatican accept Luis Zulueta y Escolano as its Spanish ambassador.
