Juan Bautista Cabrera Ibarz (sometimes spelled Ivars; 23 April 1837 – 18 May 1916) was the founding bishop of the

Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church , native_name_lang = , image = File:Sello-iere comunion784x1181.jpg , imagewidth = 150px , alt = , caption = Seal of Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church , abbreviation = SREC , ty ...

, originally the Spanish Reformed Church. He was also a

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, poet, theologian and translator, especially of

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

works.

Biography

Born on April 23, 1837, in

Benissa Benissa (, es, Benisa) is a small town in Spain in the province of Alicante, 275 m above sea level, and one of the oldest towns on the Costa Blanca. The municipality of Benissa has 4 km of coastline linking the towns of Moraira and C ...

, he was ordained a priest of the

Piarist The Piarists (), officially named the Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools ( la, Ordo Clericorum Regularium pauperum Matris Dei Scholarum Piarum), abbreviated SchP, is a religious order of clerics regular of the ...

order in 1853. Having been influenced by Protestant ideas through correspondence, he sought refuge in

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

in the summer of 1863. He married there and frequented both

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

and Anglican churches. After the

Revolution of 1868 The Glorious Revolution ( es, la Gloriosa or ) took place in Spain in 1868, resulting in the deposition of Queen Isabella II. The success of the revolution marked the beginning of the with the installment of a provisional government. Backgrou ...

he returned to Spain and pastored a church in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

. In 1880 a synod in Seville organized what would become the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church, which is today a member of the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

. The Church's liturgy incorporated Anglican and

Mozarabic Mozarabic, also called Andalusi Romance, refers to the medieval Romance varieties spoken in the Iberian Peninsula in territories controlled by the Islamic Emirate of Córdoba and its successors. They were the common tongue for the majority of ...

elements with some novel material composed by Cabrera himself. Throughout his career he composed lyrics for multiple existing tunes and translated other hymns to Spanish. In 1894, Cabrera was consecrated as a bishop by three bishops of the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

, including William Plunket,

Archbishop of Dublin The Archbishop of Dublin is an archepiscopal title which takes its name after Dublin, Ireland. Since the Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: one in the Catholic Church and the other in the Church of Irelan ...

. He served as bishop of the Spanish Reformed Church until his death and died in 1916 in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

References

1837 births 1916 deaths Converts to Anglicanism from Roman Catholicism Spanish Anglicans Spanish bishops Spanish Freemasons People from the Province of Alicante 19th-century Anglican theologians 20th-century Anglican theologians {{Anglican-bishop-stub

Biography

See also

References