Enrique Alvear Urrutia (31 January 1916 – 29 April 1982) was a Chilean

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...

who served as the Bishop of San Felipe from 1965 until 1974 when he was made one of the two

auxiliaries Auxiliaries are support personnel that assist the military or police but are organised differently from regular forces. Auxiliary may be military volunteers undertaking support functions or performing certain duties such as garrison troops, u ...

for the Santiago de Chile archdiocese. He was a vocal critic during the

dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship are ...

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

and braved potential detention and

death threats A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a deat ...

to condemn

human rights abuses Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...

and other atrocities the regime undertook. The process for his potential beatification opened in 2012 and he is titled as a

Servant of God "Servant of God" is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression "servant of God" appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in th ...

. He has also been referred to as the "bishop of the poor" for his dedication to the poor and oppressed.

Life

Enrique Alvear Urrutia was born on 31 January 1916Some sources suggest he was born on 29 January. in

Cauquenes Cauquenes, a city and commune in Chile, is the capital of the Cauquenes Province and is located in the Maule Region. History According to the historical records of Alonso de Ercilla, Cauquenes was originally inhabited by an indigenous community o ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

as the eighth of eleven brothers to Clorindo Alvear Zurita and Teodorinda Urrutia Pérez; his brother was Eduardo. He spent his education first in his hometown and then in the Luis Campino Humanities Institute before he pursued a law degree from 1934 in the Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile. In one spiritual retreat of

Monsignor Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...

Carlos Casanueva Opazo he discovered his call to the priesthood and he began his ecclesial studies. He received his

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorization, authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominational ...

to the priesthood in the Santiago Cathedral on 20 September 1941 from

José María Caro Rodríguez José María Caro Rodríguez (June 23, 1866 – December 4, 1958) was a Chilean Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Santiago from 1939 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1946 by Pope Pius ...

and then started pastoral work in archdiocese. He first worked as a professor in addition to being a

spiritual director Spiritual direction is the practice of being with people as they attempt to deepen their relationship with the divine, or to learn and grow in their personal spirituality. The person seeking direction shares stories of their encounters of the di ...

for

seminarians A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

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 1963 as a bishop assigned as one of the

for the

Talca Talca () is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune in Chile located about south of Santiago, Chile, Santiago, and is the capital of both Talca Province and Maule Region (7th Region of Chile). As of the 2012 census, the ...

diocese while making him the Titular Bishop of Columnata. He received his

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

a month after the appointment from

Raúl Silva Henríquez Raúl Silva Henríquez SDB (27 September 1907 – 9 April 1999) was a Chilean prelate of the Catholic Church, a cardinal from 1962. He served as Archbishop of Santiago de Chile from 1961 to 1983 and as Bishop of Valparaíso from 1959 to 1961. ...

; the

co-consecrators A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches, ...

were Manuel Larraín Errazuriz and Eladio Vicuña Aránquiz. In 1965 he was appointed as the Bishop of San Felipe; he held that position until he resigned in 1974. But since he was under the retirement age

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 ...

named him as one of the two auxiliaries for the Santiago archdiocese as well as the Titular Bishop of Sita. He served as a

Council Father An ecumenical council, also called general council, is a meeting of bishops and other church authorities to consider and rule on questions of Christian doctrine, administration, discipline, and other matters in which those entitled to vote are ...

in 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) ...

in the second to fourth sessions. He opposed

during the

Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean Captain general#Chile, general who ruled Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990), Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Gover ...

and defended the regime's victims all the while braving potential detention and

. In the evening on 11 September 1973 - against the advice of his aides - he went to prisons to inquire about people who were rounded up in a wave of arrests as part of Pinochet's coup against the sitting

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 ful ...

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...

. There was also one occasion where bombs were placed in his office in a failed attempt to intimidate him into silence. He later became involved with the Episcopal Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean. He died on 29 April 1982 and his remains were interred in the Marian shrine Nuestra Señora de Lourdes in

Quinta Normal Quinta Normal is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. It is named after a large park in the area. Demographics According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Quinta Normal spans an a ...

until their transferral on 13 April 2008 to the San Luis Beltrán church.

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

- during his trip to Chile in 2018 - made an unscheduled visit to the late bishop's tomb for some brief moments of reflection.

Beatification process

The beatification process was initiated in the Santiago archdiocese; initial steps towards opening the cause came on 16 December 2011 when the then-Archbishop (now

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

)

Ricardo Ezzati Andrello Ricardo Ezzati Andrello (, ; born 7 January 1942) is an Italian-Chilean prelate of the Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Santiago de Chile from December 2010 to March 2019 and has been a cardinal since February 2014. He previously served ...

named the Enrique Alvear Urrutia Foundation as the official actor for promoting the cause. Ezzati later inaugurated the diocesan phase for the cause on 9 March 2012 and closed it later on 3 December 2014; during 2013 the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, pa ...

declared "

nihil obstat ''Nihil obstat'' (Latin for "nothing hinders" or "nothing stands in the way") is a declaration of no objection that warrants censoring of a book, e.g., Catholic published books, to an initiative, or an appointment. Publishing The phrase ''ni ...

" (no objections) to the cause. The current

postulator A postulator is the person who guides a cause for beatification or canonization through the judicial processes required by the Roman Catholic Church. The qualifications, role and function of the postulator are spelled out in the ''Norms to be Obse ...

for the cause is the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

priest Pascual Cebollada Silvestre.

Notes and references

External links

Hagiography Circle

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvear Urrutia, Enrique 1916 births 1982 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Chile Auxiliary bishops Bishops appointed by Pope John XXIII Chilean people of Basque descent Participants in the Second Vatican Council People from Cauquenes Pontifical Catholic University of Chile alumni 20th-century Roman Catholic titular bishops Chilean Servants of God Roman Catholic bishops of San Felipe, Chile Roman Catholic bishops of Talca