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Juan Soldevilla y Romero

His Eminence

Juan Soldevilla y Romero
Cardinal, Archbishop of Zaragoza
ChurchRoman Catholic
ArchdioceseZaragoza
Installed1901
Term ended4 June 1923
PredecessorVicente Alda Sancho
SuccessorRigoberto Doménech Valls
Other post(s)Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria del Popolo
Previous post(s)Bishop of Tarazona (1889–1901)
Orders
Ordination28 December 1867
Consecration28 April 1889
Created cardinal15 December 1919
by Benedict XV
RankCardinal-Priest
Personal details
Born(1843-10-20)20 October 1843
Fuentelapeña, Spain
Died4 June 1923(1923-06-04) (aged 79)
Zaragoza, Spain
BuriedBasilica of Our Lady of the Pillar
NationalitySpanish
Styles of
Juan Soldevilla y Romero
Reference styleHis Eminence
Spoken styleYour Eminence
Informal styleCardinal
SeeZaragoza

Juan Soldevilla y Romero (29 October 1843 – 4 June 1923) was a Spanish Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Zaragoza from 1901 until his death, and was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 1919.

Biography

Juan Soldevilla y Romero was born in Fuentelapeña, and studied at the seminaries in Valladolid and Toledo before being ordained to the priesthood on 28 December 1867. He obtained his doctorate in theology from the Central Seminary of Santiago de Compostela in 1868, and then studied canon law at the seminary in Tuy.

Soldevilla served as a curate in three parishes in the Archdiocese of Valladolid, and became secretary to the Archbishop, Cesáreo Rodrigo y Rodríguez (1875), a cathedral canon (1883), and an archpriest (1887). Along with sitting on the Provincial Junta of Beneficence and on the Diocesan Junta for the Reconstruction of Churches, he was the Royal Preacher and a Knight of the Royal American Order of Isabel la Católica,[1] a secretary capitular, and synodal examiner. In 1885, he was a member of the Junta for the assistance of victims of a cholera epidemic.

On 14 February 1889 Soldevilla was appointed Bishop of Tarazona[1] by Pope Leo XIII; during this time he became senator for that region. He received his episcopal consecration on the following April 28 from Archbishop Benito Sanz y Forés, with Bishops Mariano Alguacil y Fernández and Cesáreo Rodrigo y Rodríguez. Soldevilla was Apostolic Administrator of Tudela from 1889 to 1901, and was promoted to Archbishop of Zaragoza on 16 December 1901.[2][3]

Pope Benedict XV created him Cardinal Priest of Santa Maria del Popolo in the consistory of 15 December 1919. He received his cardinal's biretta from King Alphonse XIII on Christmas Day of that same year. Soldevilla was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 1922 papal conclave, which selected Pope Pius XI.

At age 79, Cardinal Soldevilla was assassinated by the anarchist group Los Solidarios[4][5] in Zaragoza. The apparent motive for the killing was the fact that the Cardinal had been implicated by the anarchists in the hiring and protection of pistoleros who had carried out a campaign of employer-sponsored terrorism against Spanish union members.[6] He is buried at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar.

References

  1. ^ a b Real Academia de la Historia website, Juan Soldevilla Romero
  2. ^ Bishops of Zaragoza.Hierarchia Catholica.
  3. ^ Archdiocese of Zaragoza.
  4. ^ Google Books website, The SAGE Encyclopedia of War: Social Science Perspectives, edited by Paul Joseph, page 63
  5. ^ Google Books website, Really Free Culture, edited by Lee Tusman, page 87
  6. ^ Paz, Able (2007). Durruti in the Spanish Revolution. Oakland, CA: AK Press. pp. 44& 45. ISBN 978-1-904859-50-5.


Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Bishop of Tarazona
1889–1901 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Archbishop of Zaragoza
1901–1923 		Succeeded by
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