View source for Enrique Alvear Urrutia

{{Short description|Chilean Roman Catholic prelate}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Bishop
| honorific_prefix = [[Servant of God]]
| name = Enrique Alvear Urrutia
| honorific_suffix =
| title = [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de Chile|Auxiliary Bishop of Santiago]]
| image =
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| native_name =
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| church = [[Roman Catholic Church]]
| archdiocese =
| province =
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| diocese = Santiago
| see = Santiago
| elected =
| appointed = 9 February 1974
| term =
| term_start =
| term_end = 29 April 1982
| quashed = <!-- or | retired = -->
| predecessor =
| successor =
| opposed =
| other_post = [[Diocese of Sita|Titular Bishop of Sita]] (1974-82)
<!---------- Orders ---------->| ordination = 20 September 1941
| ordained_by = [[José María Caro Rodríguez]]
| consecration = 21 April 1963
| consecrated_by = [[Raúl Silva Henríquez]]
| cardinal =
| created_cardinal_by =
| rank = Bishop
<!---------- Personal details ---------->| birth_name = Enrique Alvear Urrutia
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1916|01|31}}
| birth_place = [[Cauquenes]], [[Chile]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1982|04|29|1916|01|31}}
| death_place = [[Santiago, Chile|Santiago]], Chile
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| previous_post = {{unbulleted list|Titular Bishop of Columnata (1963-65)|[[Roman Catholic Diocese of Talca|Auxiliary Bishop of Talca]] (1963-65)|[[Roman Catholic Diocese of San Felipe, Chile|Bishop of San Felipe]] (1965-74)}}
| education =
| alma_mater = [[Pontifical Catholic University of Chile|Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile]]
| motto = ''El Señor me envió a evangelizer a los pobres''
| signature =
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| coat_of_arms_alt = <!---------- Sainthood ---------->
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{{Expand Spanish|topic=bio|Enrique Alvear|date=April 2024}}
'''Enrique Alvear Urrutia''' (31 January 1916 &ndash; 29 April 1982) was a [[Chilean people|Chilean]] [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] [[prelate]] who served as the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of San Felipe, Chile|Bishop of San Felipe]] from 1965 until 1974 when he was made one of the two [[Auxiliary bishop|auxiliaries]] for the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de Chile|Santiago de Chile archdiocese]]. He was a vocal critic during the [[dictatorship]] of [[Augusto Pinochet]] and braved potential detention and [[death threats]] to condemn [[human rights abuses]] and other atrocities the regime undertook.
The process for his potential beatification opened in 2012 and he is titled as a [[Servant of God]]. He has also been referred to as the "bishop of the poor" for his dedication to the poor and oppressed.<ref name=archives>[https://www.vicariadelasolidaridad.cl/testimonios-y-homenajes/monsenor-enrique-alvear-1916-1982 "Monseñor Enrique Alvear (1916- 1982)", Archives of the Vicariate of Solidarity, Archdiocese of Santiago]</ref>
==Life==
Enrique Alvear Urrutia was born on 31 January 1916<ref>Some sources suggest he was born on 29 January.</ref> in [[Cauquenes]] in [[Chile]] as the eighth of eleven brothers to Clorindo Alvear Zurita and Teodorinda Urrutia Pérez.
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 [[Pontifical Catholic University of Chile|Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile]]. In one spiritual retreat of [[Monsignor]] Carlos Casanueva Opazo he discovered his call to the [[priesthood]] and he began his ecclesial studies.<ref name=Don>[https://www.donenriquealvear.cl/bio_breve.php "Brief Biography", Don Enrique Alvear]</ref>
He received his [[ordination]] to the priesthood in the [[Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral|Santiago Cathedral]] on 20 September 1941 from [[José María Caro Rodríguez]] and then started pastoral work in archdiocese. He was engaged in an active apostolate in parishes, in Catholic Action, in catechism and in the popular missions.<ref>[https://ediciones.uc.cl/autores/fundacion-obispo-enrique-alvear-urrutia.html "Autores", ''Ediciones UC'', Pontifical Catholic University of Chile]</ref> He was a professor on the faculty of Theology of the Catholic University in addition to being a [[spiritual director]] for [[seminarians]]. " In 1961 he was appointed Vicar General of Santiago.
==Bishop==
At the request of Bishop [[Manuel Larraín Errazuriz]], [[Pope John XXIII]] appointed him in 1963 as a bishop assigned as one of the [[Auxiliary bishop|auxiliaries]] for the [[Talca]] diocese while making him the Titular Bishop of Columnata. He received his [[episcopal consecration]] at the [[Basilica of Lourdes, Santiago|Basilica of Lourdes]] a month after the appointment from [[Raúl Silva Henríquez]]; the [[co-consecrators]] were Manuel Larraín Errazuriz and Eladio Vicuña Aránquiz.  He chose as his motto "The Lord sent me to evangelize the poor".<ref name=Don/>
In 1965 he was appointed as the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of San Felipe, Chile|Bishop of San Felipe]]; he held that position until he resigned in 1974. But since he was under the retirement age [[Pope Paul VI]] named him as one of the two auxiliaries for the Santiago archdiocese as well as the [[Diocese of Sita|Titular Bishop of Sita]]. He was active in the Episcopal Conference of Chile<ref name=Don/> and served as a [[Council Father]] in the [[Second Vatican Council]] in the second to fourth sessions.<ref name=vida>[https://www.vidanuevadigital.com/oscar-alvear-don-enrique-hizo-carne-su-lema-episcopal/ "Oscar Alvear: My Uncle Enrique fleshed ut his episcopal motto", ''Vida Nueva'', October 19, 2023]</ref>
He opposed [[human rights abuses]] during the [[Augusto Pinochet|Pinochet]] [[dictatorship]] and defended the regime's victims all the while braving potential detention and [[death threats]]. 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 of Chile|President]] [[Salvador Allende]]. There was also one occasion where bombs were placed in his office in a failed attempt to intimidate him into silence. "There are multiple documents, letters, homilies, and reflections found in the Documentation and Archive Center of the Vicariate of Solidarity and that express his particular form of courage and serenity when defending the persecuted."<ref name=archives/> He later became involved with the [[Latin American Episcopal Conference|Episcopal Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean]].
He died of lymphoma on 29 April 1982 and his remains were interred in the Marian shrine Nuestra Señora de Lourdes in [[Quinta Normal]] until their transferral on 13 April 2008 to the San Luis Beltrán church. [[Pope Francis]] - during his trip to Chile in 2018 - made an unscheduled visit to the late bishop's tomb for some brief moments of reflection.<ref name=vida/>
==Beatification process==
Alvear's documentation and teachings are preserved by the Bishop Enrique Alvear Foundation. 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 (Catholic Church)|cardinal]]) [[Ricardo Ezzati Andrello]] 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<ref name=vida/> and closed it later on 3 December 2014; during 2013 the [[Congregation for the Causes of Saints]] declared "[[nihil obstat]]" (no objections) to the cause.
The current [[postulator]] for the cause is the [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] priest Pascual Cebollada Silvestre.
==Notes and references==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://newsaints.faithweb.com/year/1982.htm Hagiography Circle]
* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/balvurr.html Catholic Hierarchy] [[Wikipedia:SPS|{{sup|[''self-published'']}}]]
* [http://www.donenriquealvear.cl Official website]
{{Canonization}}
{{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= Chile |portal4= Saints}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvear Urrutia, Enrique}}
[[Category:1916 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Chile]]
[[Category:Auxiliary bishops]]
[[Category:Bishops appointed by Pope John XXIII]]
[[Category:Chilean people of Basque descent]]
[[Category:Participants in the Second Vatican Council]]
[[Category:People from Cauquenes]]
[[Category:Pontifical Catholic University of Chile alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Roman Catholic titular bishops]]
[[Category:Chilean Servants of God]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic bishops of San Felipe, Chile]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Talca]]