Álvaro Eugenio de Mendoza Caamaño y Sotomayor (14 November 1671 – 23 January 1761) was a Spanish aristocrat and

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

priest who became Patriarch of the West Indies and a

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

Family

Álvaro Eugenio Cardinal de Mendoza Caamaño y Sotomayor was born on 14 November 1671 in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Spain and was baptized on 28 November 1671 in the parish of San Nicolás. His parents were Antonio Domingo de Mendoza, second Marquis of Villagarcía and viceroy of Valencia, and Juana Catalina de Rivera y Ronquillo. He studied at the University of Ávila and obtained a doctorate in theology.

Career

King

Charles II of Spain Charles II (6 November 1661 – 1 November 1700) was King of Spain from 1665 to 1700. The last monarch from the House of Habsburg, which had ruled Spain since 1516, he died without an heir, leading to a European Great Power conflict over the succ ...

granted Mendoza the habit of the

Order of Santiago The Order of Santiago (; ) is a religious and military order founded in the 12th century. It owes its name to the patron saint of Spain, ''Santiago'' ( St. James the Greater). Its initial objective was to protect the pilgrims on the Way of S ...

in 1699, and he was invested into this order on 21 April 1700. Mendoza was ordained priest in July 1715. He was appointed Archdeacon of

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...

and of

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...

. He was made Abbot ''nullius'' of

Alcalá la Real Alcalá la Real is a city in the province of Jaén, Spain. According to the 2024 INE figures, the city had a population of 21,581. Geography Alcalá la Real is situated from the provincial capital, Jaén, and from Granada, on the slopes of L ...

and of Burgohondo on 28 March 1734. He was Major chaplain of the Royal Monastery of La Encarnación, Madrid, and the king's ''Sumiller de cortina''. King

Philip V of Spain Philip V (; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was List of Spanish monarchs, King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to 14 January 1724 and again from 6 September 1724 to his death in 1746. His total reign (45 years and 16 days) is the longest in the ...

named him his almoner and major chaplain. The king nominated Mendoza to the

patriarchate of the West Indies The Patriarchate of the West Indies (, ) is a patriarchate of the Catholic Church with titular jurisdiction over the Latin Church in Spanish America. It was established in 1524 and held by the Military Vicar of Spain from the creation of that off ...

in November 1733. He was appointed Patriarch of the West Indies and Titular Archbishop of

Pharsalus Pharsalus may refer to: * ''Pharsalus'' (planthopper), a genus of insects in the family Ricaniidae * Farsala Farsala (), known in Antiquity as Pharsalos (, ), is a town in southern Thessaly, in Greece. Farsala is located in the southern part ...

on 20 January 1734. As patriarch he succeeded Carlos de Borja y Centellas, who had died on 8 August 1733. He was ordained bishop on 9 May 1734 at the Royal Monastery of La Encarnación, Madrid. His principal consecrator was Archbishop Domingo Valentín Guerra Arteaga y Leiba, Bishop of Segovia. His principal co-consecrators were

Benito Madueño y Ramos Benito Madueño y Ramos (1654 – 11 May 1739) was a Roman Catholic prelate who served as Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toledo, Auxiliary Bishop of Toledo (1698–1739).Ferdinand VI of Spain Ferdinand VI (; 23 September 1713 – 10 August 1759), called the Learned (''el Prudente'') and the Just (''el Justo''), was King of Spain from 9 July 1746 until his death in 1759. He was the third ruler of the Spanish Bourbon dynasty. He was the ...

requested Mendoza's promotion to the cardinalate. Mendoza attended 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 April 1747. On 10 April 1747 he was elevated to Cardinal. The king gave him the red biretta of this rank in a ceremony on 16 August 1747 in the church of San Jerónimo el Real in Madrid. He never traveled to Rome to receive the red hat from the Pope. He was unable to attend the

conclave A conclave is a gathering of the College of Cardinals convened to appoint the pope of the Catholic Church. Catholics consider the pope to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and the earthly head of the Catholic Church. Concerns around ...

of 1758 in which

Pope Clement XIII Pope Clement XIII (; ; 7 March 1693 – 2 February 1769), born Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 July 1758 to his death in February 1769. He was installed on 16 July 1758. ...

was elected. Mendoza died on 23 January 1761 in the

Buen Retiro Palace Buen Retiro Palace (Spanish: ''Palacio del Buen Retiro'') in Madrid was a large palace complex designed by the architect (c. 1590–1660) and built on the orders of Philip IV of Spain as a secondary residence and place of recreation (hence its ...

in Madrid, and was buried in his mother's tomb in the monastery of San Gil, Madrid. He was succeeded as Patriarch of the West Indies by Buenaventura Fernández de Córdoba Spínola, who was appointed on 6 April 1761.

Episcopal lineage

Mendoza's episcopal lineage or

apostolic succession Apostolic succession is the method whereby the Christian ministry, ministry of the Christian Church is considered by some Christian denominations to be derived from the Twelve Apostles, apostles by a continuous succession, which has usually been ...

was: * Archbishop Domingo Valentín Guerra Arteaga y Leiba (1726) * Cardinal Carlos de Borja y Centellas (1705) * Archbishop Francesco Acquaviva d’Aragona (1697) * Cardinal

Gaspare Carpegna Gaspare Carpegna (8 April 1625 – 6 May 1714) was an Italian Catholic Cardinal. Early life Gaspare was born in 1625 in Rome. His mother was from the Spada family. He was a relative of the Cardinal Ulderico Carpegna of the Holy Roman Catho ...

(1670) * Cardinal

Paluzzo Paluzzi Altieri degli Albertoni Paluzzo Paluzzi Altieri degli Albertoni (8 June 1623 – 29 June 1698) was an Italian Catholic Cardinal and Cardinal-Nephew to Pope Clement X. Biography Altieri was born Paluzzo Paluzzi degli Albertoni in Rome, the eldest of two sons to Antoni ...

(1666) * Cardinal Ulderico Carpegna (1630) * Cardinal

Luigi Caetani Luigi Caetani (July 1595 – 15 April 1642) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Biography Caetani was born in Piedimonte. Son of Filippo I Caetani, duke of Sermoneta, and Camilla Gaetani dell'Aquila d'Aragona, of the duk ...

(1622) * Cardinal

Ludovico Ludovisi Ludovico Ludovisi (22 or 27 October 1595 – 18 November 1632) was an Italian Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal and statesman of the Roman Catholic Church. He was an art connoisseur who formed a famous collection of antiquities, housed at the ...

(1621) * Archbishop Galeazzo Sanvitale (1604) * Cardinal Girolamo Bernerio, O.P. (1586) * Cardinal Giulio Antonio Santorio (1566) * Cardinal

Scipione Rebiba Scipione Rebiba (3 February 1504 – 23 July 1577) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church, a protégé of Gian Pietro Carafa, who became Pope Paul IV. He held a variety of positions in the Church hierarchy, including some of the most sen ...

Mendoza was the principal consecrator of: * Bishop Francisco Salgado Quirago (1734) * Bishop Miguel Aguiar (1738) * Bishop José Esteban Noriega (1738) * Bishop Pedro González García (1739) * Bishop Juan García Abadiano (1739)

Notes

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT: 1671 births 1761 deaths 18th-century Spanish cardinals