Francisco Peralta y Ballabriga (15 August 1911 – 23 August 2006) was a Spanish

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 ...

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 ca ...

. At the time of his death, aged 95, he was one of the oldest bishops in the Church and one of the oldest bishops in Spain.

Biography

Lafuente was born in Híjar in 1911 and was ordained a priest on 28 March 1936. He had his first pastoral chargement as parson of Jatiel, Castelnou and La Puebla de Híjar. He was also professor at the seminar and at the

University of Zaragoza The University of Zaragoza, sometimes referred to as Saragossa University () is a public university with teaching campuses and research centres spread over the three provinces of Aragon, Spain. Founded in 1542, it is one of the oldest universiti ...

. Appointed Bishop of Vitoria on 9 January 1955, he was consecrated on the following March 20 by Archbishop

Ildebrando Antoniutti Ildebrando Antoniutti (3 August 1898 – 1 August 1974) was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as prefect of the Congregation for Religious from 1963 to 1973, and was elevated to the cardinalate by Pope John XXIII in 1 ...

, apostolic nuncio in Spain. He participated in all four sessions of 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) ...

and promoted in his diocese the liturgical reforms by the council. He resigned on 10 July 1978 and died on 23 August 2006,Francisco Peralta, obispo emérito de Vitoria
/ref> eight days after his was ninety-fifth birthday.

Bibliography

* Mariano Laborda, ''Recuerdos de Híjar'', Centro de Iniciativas Turísticas del Cuadro Artístito de Híjar, 1980. * Mariano Laborda, ''Recuerdos de Híjar 2'', Centro de Iniciativas Turísticas del Cuadro Artístito de Híjar, 1993.

References

External links

Official website of the Diocese of Vitoria

Francisco Peralta y Ballabriga's obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peralta y Ballabriga, Francisco 1911 births 2006 deaths People from the Province of Teruel 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Spain