Joaquín Larraín Gandarillas (October 13, 1822 - September 26, 1897) was a

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an priest,

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Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

, professor, writer and first president of the

Pontifical Catholic University of Chile The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (''PUC or UC Chile'') ( es, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) is one of the six Catholic Universities existing in the Chilean university system and one of the two pontifical universities ...

Early life

He was born in

, the sixth of 15 children of Juan Francisco Larraín Rojas and of Mercedes Gandarillas Aránguiz. He studied at the prestigious Instituto Nacional, in Santiago and from there he went to the Santiago

Seminary 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 ...

. In 1844 he graduated in

Theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...

and Law. After a long discernment, he decided to embrace the ecclesiastical career. Before entering the priesthood, the young Joaquín had written several impassioned articles dealing with apologetics and other religious subjects, in catholic magazines. Larraín Gandarillas was of Basque descent.

Priesthood

After having fulfilled all the necessary stages, he was ordained as a priest and celebrated his first mass in the Church of the company (Santiago) on April 4, 1847. His priesthood and subsequent episcopate were characterized by the untiring energy and initiative that he applied on all his missions and in the exercise of his ministry. He lived in the U.S. for some time, where he took part in the Plenary Council of North America as a delegate of the bishop of

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. In 1853 he was appointed Rector of the Santiago Seminary. One year earlier, Larraín Gandarillas had become a member of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Chile. In 1877 he was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Santiago archdiocese. He was the first president ("rector") of the

, which was founded June 21, 1888 through a decree issued by the Santiago

Archbishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

Other assignments

In 1864 Larraín Gandarillas was elected as a

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(''diputado'') for the (now extinct)

electoral district An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

of Rere, near Concepción. During his parliamentary tenure he was vocal in manifesting his strong religious convictions. He left

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

, in 1867. Monsignor Joaquín Larraín Gandarillas died in

in 1897, at the age of 75.

Summary of ecclesiastical life

References

External links

Bio at Catholic hierarchy

1822 births 1897 deaths People from Santiago Chilean people of Basque descent 19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Chile Joaquin Roman Catholic bishops of Santiago de Chile {{Chile-RC-bishop-stub