Francisco Vidal y Barraquer

infobox cardinalstyles
cardinal name=Francisco Cardinal Vidal y Barraquer
dipstyle=His Eminence
offstyle=Your Eminence
relstyle= Cardinal
deathstyle=
See=Tarragona

Francisco de Asís Cardinal Vidal y Barraquer (October 3 1868 – September 13 1943) was a Spanish prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Tarragona from 1919 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1921.

Biography

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 September 17 1899. On September 24 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 November 10 1913, Vidal was appointed Apostolic Administrator of Solsona and Titular Bishop of "Pentacomia". He received his episcopal consecration on April 26 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 May 7 1919.

Pope Benedict XV created him Cardinal Priest of "S. Sabina" in the consistory of March 7 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 denied appointments to Zaragoza and to the Roman Curia. Following the Republican government's exile of Pedro Cardinal 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.

During the Spanish Civil War, Vidal remained in a position of neutrality, unlike the majority of the Spanish bishops, who supported Generalissimo Franco. [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,772205-4,00.html Where Is He?] December 26 1938] When the Revolution of 1936 broke out, the Cardinal found his life in danger and fled to Poblet, Barcelona, and then the Carthusian monastery of Farneta in Lucca, Italy. After the death of Pius XI, he participated in the conclave of 1939, which resulted in the election of Pope Pius XII. However, the Cardinal's Catalonianism, good relations with the Republican authorities of Catalonia, and his refusal to sign the joint letter of the Spanish episcopate during the civil war caused Generalissimo Franco to forbid him from returning to his archdiocese in the Cardinal's lifetime; he nevertheless refused to renounce his post. Pius XII was outraged to hear that Franco desired to send Vidal, as a man hostile to Franco's regime, into exile. [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,762834,00.html Proud Vaunt] November 20 1939]

Franco lifted his ban on Vidal in 1941, after he and the Vatican reached a concordat. [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,772852,00.html Cardinals & Dictator] December 15 1941] However, the Cardinal remained in Italy, and in 1943, the German occupation of Italy forced him to move to Switzerland.

Cardinal Vidal died in Fribourg, at the age of 74. He was initially buried at a Carthusian monastery in Valsainte, but his remains were transferred, in accord with his will, to Tarragona in May 1978. Vidal is buried beside his former auxiliary, Bishop Manuel Borràs, who was assassinated during the civil war while Vidal was in exile.

Trivia

*Vidal was an enthusiastic champion of collegiality and Catholic Action.

References

External links

* [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios-v.htm#Vidal2 Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church]
* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bviba.html Catholic-Hierarchy]
* [http://www.grec.net/cgibin/hecangcl.pgm?&USUARI=&SESSIO=&NDCHEC=0070419&PGMORI=E Catalan Hyperencyclopaedia]