Adalberto Almeida y Merino ( Bachíniva, Chihuahua, June 6, 1916 – Chihuahua, Chihuahua, June 21, 2008) was a Mexican prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as

Bishop of Tulancingo The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tulancingo ( la, Archidioecesis Tulancingensis) is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico. The Archdiocese comprises the province of Hidalgo, and the archiepiscopal see is located ...

, 1956–1962; Bishop of Zacatecas, 1962–1969 and Archbishop of Chihuahua, 1969–1991.

Early life

He was born on June 6, 1916, in the village of Bachíniva, Chihuahua, the son of Luis Almeida Alderete and María Merino Sáenz. He received his early schooling in his home village before entering the Conciliar Seminary of Chihuahua in 1930, motivated by his parish priest, Vicente Hurtado Saldaña, who had asked for his admittance to the then Bishop of Chihuahua Antonio Guízar y Valencia.

Priesthood

He attended several seminaries: Chihuahua,

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí), is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and i ...

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

. He also attended the

Pontifical Gregorian University The Pontifical Gregorian University ( it, Pontificia Università Gregoriana; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana,) is a higher education ecclesiastical school ( pontifical university) located in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as ...

where he graduated in Philosophy, Dogmatic Theology and Canon Law. He was ordained on April 23, 1943, at the

Church of the Gesu Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Luigi Traglia Luigi Traglia (3 April 1895 – 22 November 1977) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Vicar General of Rome from 1965 to 1968, and Dean of the College of Cardinals from 1974 until his death. Traglia was elevated to ...

. In 1946 he returned to Chihuahua where he taught at the Conciliar Seminary.

Episcopate

On May 28, 1956, Almeida was appointed by Pope

Pius XII Pius ( , ) Latin for "pious", is a masculine given name. Its feminine form is Pia. It may refer to: People Popes * Pope Pius (disambiguation) * Antipope Pius XIII (1918-2009), who led the breakaway True Catholic Church sect Given name * Pius B ...

, succeeding

Miguel Darío Miranda y Gómez Miguel Darío Miranda y Gómez (December 19, 1895 – March 15, 1986) was a Mexican Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Mexico City from 1956 to 1977, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1969. Biography Miguel ...

(who in turn was appointed

Archbishop of Mexico The Archdiocese of Mexico ( la, Archidioecesis Mexicanensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church that is situated in Mexico City, Mexico. It was erected as a diocese on 2 September 1530 and elevated to ...

), and taking charge of one of the poorest

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

s in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

at that time. He was consecrated bishop on August 14, 1956, by Guízar of Chihuahua, who had earlier been responsible for his admittance to the seminary. Pope

John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...

appointed him in 1962, just before convening the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...

, as the ninth Bishop of Zacatecas. During his bishopric he attended all four sessions of the

, and celebrated the centennial of the Diocese. On August 24, 1969, Pope

Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

appointed him to succeed Guizar as second Archbishop of Chihuahua. Through his adaptation of the Social Christian Doctrine as elaborated by the

, he actively evangelized the less fortunate members of society, and established the permanent

Diaconate A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

in the archdiocese. He is also noted as having increased substantially priestly

vocations A vocation () is an occupation to which a person is especially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified. People can be given information about a new occupation through student orientation. Though now often used in non-religious co ...

, the establishment of new religious orders, and the founding of new parishes within Chihuahua. He resigned in 1991, becoming

Archbishop Emeritus In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of holy orders and is responsible for teaching doctrine, governing Catholics in his jurisdiction, sanctifying the world and representing the Chu ...

on June 24 during the celebrations of the centennial of the erection of the Diocese.

Later years

Almeida remained a beloved figure and active in the archdiocese after his retirement, celebrating daily

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

and ministering to the faithful until his death at age 92 on June 21, 2008. He is buried in the

crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...

of the

Cathedral of Chihuahua The Metropolitan Cathedral Church of the Holy Cross, Our Lady of Regla, and St Francis of Assisi is the main ecclesiastical building of the Catholic Church in Chihuahua City, Chihuahua, Mexico. It is considered perhaps the finest example of col ...

External links

Remembrances of Mons. Almeida (in Spanish)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Almeida Y Merino, Adalberto People from Chihuahua (state) 1916 births 2008 deaths Participants in the Second Vatican Council 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Mexico 20th-century venerated Christians 21st-century venerated Christians Mexican Servants of God Roman Catholic archbishops of Tulancingo Mexican Roman Catholic archbishops