Cassià Maria Just i Riba (; 22 August 1926 – 12 March 2008) was a Catalan (Spanish) cleric and the

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

of Santa Maria de Montserrat from 1966 to 1989.

Biography

Early life

He was born on 22 August 1926 in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. At the age of nine, he joined the '' Escolania de Montserrat'' to study music. He became a member of the

Order of Saint Benedict The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

as a

novice A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession with no prior experience. Religion Buddhism ...

of Santa Maria de Montserrat on 6 August 1943. On 27 August 1950 he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

a priest. His music studies, focused on the

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

, continued in Rome and Paris until 1956. His studies allowed him to compose several polyphonic pieces. From 1957 to 1964 he was the

master of novices In the Christian Church, a novice master or master of novices (), is a member of an institute of consecrated life who is responsible for the training and government of the novitiate in that institute. In religious institutes for women, the novic ...

of Montserrat.

Abbot of Montserrat

In 1964 he was elected

prior The term prior may refer to: * Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery) * Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case * Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics * Prio ...

of Montserrat abbey. He became abbot in 1966, to replace Aureli Maria Escarré, who had had to go on exile during

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

's dictatorship because of some public statements against the regime. He continued the path his predecessor had begun. Just gave Montserrat his open-minded and peaceful style, which made him take in believers and non-believers and people from all ideologies in the abbey. During this time, Cassià kept solid ties with

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

. His management of the abbey is notable because it took place during an era of changes in Spain and in Catholicism, it was a few years after the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

and the last years of Franco's dictatorship and the

Spanish transition to democracy The Spanish transition to democracy, known in Spain as (; ) or (), is a period of History of Spain, modern Spanish history encompassing the regime change that moved from the Francoist dictatorship to the consolidation of a parliamentary system ...

Later life

After ending his job as abbot he was involved in several humanitarian causes. In 1989 he formed a foundation against unemployment and to help disabled people. In 1994, he created a foundation with his name to help people with risk of being excluded from society to find a job. In 1991 he was given the Cross of St. George award by the

Generalitat de Catalunya The Generalitat de Catalunya (; ; ), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia is self-governed as an autonomous community of Spain. It is made up of the Parliament of Catalonia, the President of the Govern ...

Death

Late in December 2007, he suffered a stroke which required him to be admitted to hospital Sant Joan de Déu de Manresa. On 9 March he suffered another stroke, recovering from which would have been almost impossible. Cassià died on 12 March 2008 in the infirmary of the monastery.

Reactions to death and funeral

More than 1,500 persons attended Cassià's funeral. Amongst them were the last three presidents of the Generalitat,

Jordi Pujol Jordi Pujol i Soley (, born 9 June 1930) is a retired Catalan politician who was the leader of the party Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) from 1974 to 2003, and President of the Generalitat de Catalunya from 1980 to 2003. Early life ...

Pasqual Maragall Pasqual Maragall Mira (; born 13 January 1941) is a Spanish retired politician and former President of Generalitat de Catalunya. He had previously been Mayor of Barcelona, from 1982 to 1997, and helped run the city's successful Olympic bid. ...

and

José Montilla José Montilla Aguilera (; born 15 January 1955 in Iznájar, Andalusia, Spain) is a Spanish politician who is currently a member of the Spanish Senate. He was the 128th President of Generalitat de Catalunya. He became the First Secretary of ...

; Marius Rubiralta, the vice-chancellor of the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

; the former archbishop of

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

, Jaume Camprodon and Josep Caminal, the former director of the

Gran Teatre del Liceu Gran may refer to: People *Grandmother, affectionately known as "gran" * Gran (name) Places * Gran, the historical German name for Esztergom, a city and the primatial metropolitan see of Hungary * Gran, Norway, a municipality in Innlandet coun ...

Political and religious views

The abbot was always a defender of human rights. and showed support for

left-wing politics Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

as well as

Catalan nationalism Catalan nationalism promotes the idea that the Catalan people form a distinct nation and national identity. A related term is Catalanism (, ), which is more related to Regionalism (politics), regionalism and tends to have a wider meaning, most pe ...

. He opposed the

Francoist Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

regime. This made him be known as the "''abad rojo''" (red abbot). He was a strong critic of some official positions of the Church. For him most part of the leaders of the Church were locked in ideas from the past which had to change. He believed the sexual morals of the Roman Catholic Church were outdated, and showed a favourable position towards the use of contraceptives. Cassià Maria also asked the Church to review its positions on homosexuality,

euthanasia Euthanasia (from : + ) is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different Legality of euthanasia, euthanasia laws. The British House of Lords Select committee (United Kingdom), se ...

, and abortion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Just, Cassia Maria 1926 births 2008 deaths Abbots from Catalonia Spanish abbots Spanish Benedictines Musicians from Barcelona Benedictine abbots 20th-century Spanish musicians 20th-century Christian abbots