Crisanto Luque Sánchez (February 1, 1889 – May 7, 1959) was a Colombian cardinal of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He served as Archbishop of Bogotá from 1950 to 1959, and was elevated to the

cardinalate The College of Cardinals, or more formally the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. its current membership is , of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Cardinals are appoi ...

in 1953 by Pope Pius XII.

Biography

Crisanto Luque Sánchez was born in

Tenjo Tenjo is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Central Savanna Province, part of the department of Cundinamarca. The urban centre is located at an altitude of on the Bogotá savanna. Tenjo is part of the Metropolitan Area of Bogotá and bor ...

to Heliodoro Luque and Natalia Sáchez. After studying in

Tabio Tabio is a municipality and town of Colombia in the department of Cundinamarca. It is located at from Bogotá. The town was officially founded April 8, 1603, by Diego Gómez de Mena, on grounds that were the property of the native Muisca who in ...

, he attended the

Major Seminary of Bogotá The Theological Seminary of Bogotá, commonly known as the Major Seminary of Bogotá (Spanish: ''Seminario Conciliar de Bogotá; Seminario Mayor de Bogotá'') is a Roman Catholic major seminary located in Bogotá, Colombia, and serving both the Arc ...

, alongside his future successor as archbishop of the same,

Luis Concha Córdoba Luis Concha Córdoba (November 7, 1891—September 18, 1975) was a Colombian priest and Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Cardinal Concha served as Archbishop of Bogotá from 1959 to 1972, before his elevation to the cardinalate in ...

. Luque was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

to the priesthood by Archbishop

Bernardo Herrera Restrepo Bernardo is a given name and less frequently an Italian, Portuguese and Spanish surname. Possibly from the Germanic "Bernhard". Given name People * Bernardo the Japanese (died 1557), early Japanese Christian convert and disciple of Saint Franc ...

on October 28, 1916, and then did pastoral work in Bogotá until 1931. During that period, he served as a hospital chaplain,

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

, and

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

. On January 16, 1931, Luque was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of

Tunja Tunja () is a city on the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, in the region known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 130 km northeast of Bogotá. In 2018 it had a population of 172,548 inhabitants. It is the capital of Boyacá departmen ...

and

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox ...

of Croae. He received his

episcopal consecration A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

on the following May 3 from Archbishop

Paolo Giobbe Paolo Giobbe (10 January 1880 – 14 August 1972) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as Papal Datary in the Roman Curia from 1959 to 1968, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1958. Biography Giobbe was born in Rom ...

, with Bishops José Ignacio López Umana and Luis Adriano Díaz serving as co-consecrators, in the Cathedral of Bogotá. Luque served as

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop' ...

and

apostolic administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic adm ...

before becoming

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

of Tunja on September 9, 1932. He was later named Archbishop of Bogotá on July 14, 1950. On that same date, he was also made the first

Apostolic Vicar Apostolic may refer to: The Apostles An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission: *The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles *Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Chur ...

of the Colombian

Military Ordinariate A military ordinariate is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church, of the Latin or an Eastern church, responsible for the pastoral care of Catholics serving in the armed forces of a nation. Until 1986, they were called "military ...

. Pope Pius XII created him

Cardinal Priest A cardinal ( la, Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalis, literally 'cardinal of the Holy Roman Church') is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. Cardinals are created by the ruling pope and typically hold the title for life. Col ...

of ''

Santi Cosma e Damiano The basilica of Santi Cosma e Damiano is a titular church in Rome, Italy. The lower portion of the building is accessible through the Roman Forum and incorporates original Roman buildings, but the entrance to the upper level is outside the Foru ...

'' in the

consistory Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to: *A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church * Consistor ...

of January 12, 1953. Luque, the first Colombian cardinal, was papal legate to the third National Marian Congress in 1954, and attended the first general conference of the

Latin American Episcopal Conference Based in Bogotá ( Colombia), the Latin American Episcopal Council ( es, Consejo Episcopal Latinoamericano; pt, Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano), better known as CELAM, is a council of the Roman Catholic bishops of Latin America, created i ...

in 1955. In 1951, he formally asked the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

to remove José Rodriguez's paintings, which contained nude subjects, from the National Museum. Luque also played a prominent role in the civil and political crisis that affected his country from 1949 to 1958, and participated in the 1958 papal conclave that selected

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 ...

. An opponent of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Gustavo Rojas Pinilla Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (12 March 1900 – 17 January 1975) was a Colombian Army general, civil engineer and dictator who ruled as 19th President of Colombia as from June 1953 to May 1957. Rojas Pinilla gained prominence as a colonel during L ...

, the Colombian primate condemned Rojas' " Third Force" political movement,''Time''
Church v. Dictatorships
July 1, 1957 and denounced an

oath Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to g ...

of loyalty he demanded from his

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

in June 1957 as "illicit" and his party "dangerous". To the

military junta A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...

that replaced Rojas, he also threatened to withdraw the Church's support if it did not turn over power in free elections. Luque warned his flock of incurring

excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

for sending their children to

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

-run

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

s, which were considered to be of high quality. The cardinal died from a

pulmonary hemorrhage Pulmonary hemorrhage (or pulmonary haemorrhage) is an acute bleeding from the lung, from the upper respiratory tract and the trachea, and the pulmonary alveoli. When evident clinically, the condition is usually massive.

''Time''
Milestones
May 18, 1959 in Bogotá, at age 70. He is buried in the metropolitan

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

of that same city.

References

External links

Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luque Sanchez, Crisanto Cardinals created by Pope Pius XII 1889 births 1959 deaths Colombian cardinals Roman Catholic archbishops of Bogotá 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Colombia Respiratory disease deaths in Colombia Deaths from pulmonary hemorrhage Major Seminary of Bogotá alumni People from Cundinamarca Department Burials at the Primatial Cathedral of Bogotá Roman Catholic bishops of Tunja