Enrique Alvear Urrutia (31 January 1916 – 29 April 1982) was a Chilean

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

who served as the Bishop of San Felipe from 1965 until 1974 when he was made one of the two

auxiliaries Auxiliaries are combat support, support personnel that assist the military or police but are organised differently from regular army, regular forces. Auxiliary may be military volunteers undertaking support functions or performing certain duties ...

for the Santiago de Chile archdiocese. He was a vocal critic during the

dictatorship A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...

and braved potential detention and

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to condemn

human rights abuses Human rights are universally recognized moral principles or norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both national and international laws. These rights are considered inherent and inalienable, meaning t ...

and other atrocities the regime undertook. The process for his potential beatification opened in 2012 and he is titled as a

Servant of God Servant of God () is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression ''Servant of God'' appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...

. He has also been referred to as the "bishop of the poor" for his dedication to the poor and oppressed."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 in Cauquenes in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

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 Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile. In one spiritual retreat of

Monsignor Monsignor (; ) is a form of address or title for certain members of the clergy in the Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" can be abbreviated as Mons.... or Msgr. In some ...

Carlos Casanueva Opazo he discovered his call to the priesthood and he began his ecclesial studies."Brief Biography", Don Enrique Alvear
/ref> He received his

ordination 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 ...

to the priesthood in the 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."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 Spiritual direction is the practice of being with people as they attempt to deepen their relationship with the divinity, divine, or to learn and grow in their personal spirituality. The person seeking direction shares stories of their encounters ...

for

seminarians A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clerg ...

. " In 1961 he was appointed Vicar General of Santiago.

Bishop

At the request of Bishop Manuel Larraín Errazuriz,

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...

appointed him in 1963 as a bishop assigned as one of the

for the

Talca Talca () is a city and commune in Chile located about south of Santiago, and is the capital of both Talca Province and Maule Region (7th Region of Chile). As of the 2012 census, the city had a population of 201,142. The city is an important ...

diocese while making him the Titular Bishop of Columnata. He received his

episcopal consecration A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

at the Basilica of Lourdes a month after the appointment from

Raúl Silva Henríquez Raúl Silva Henríquez Salesians of Don Bosco, SDB (27 September 1907 – 9 April 1999) was a Chilean prelate of the Catholic Church, a Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal from 1962. He served as Archbishop of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San ...

; the

co-consecrators A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churche ...

were Manuel Larraín Errazuriz and Eladio Vicuña Aránquiz. He chose as his motto "The Lord sent me to evangelize the poor". In 1965 he was appointed as the Bishop of San Felipe; he held that position until he resigned in 1974. But since he was under the retirement age

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 ...

named him as one of the two auxiliaries for the Santiago archdiocese as well as the Titular Bishop of Sita. He was active in the Episcopal Conference of Chile and served as a Council Father in 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 ...

in the second to fourth sessions."Oscar Alvear: My Uncle Enrique fleshed ut his episcopal motto", ''Vida Nueva'', October 19, 2023
/ref> He opposed

during the

Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader of the military junta, which i ...

and defended the regime's victims all the while braving potential detention and

. 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 President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 1970 until Death of Salvador Allende, his death in 1973 Chilean coup d'état, 1973. As a ...

. 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." He later became involved with the 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 Quinta Normal is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. It is named after Quinta Normal Park, which lies directly on the border between Quinta Normal and Santiago Centro, although the park itself is locat ...

until their transferral on 13 April 2008 to the San Luis Beltrán church.

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

- during his trip to Chile in 2018 - made an unscheduled visit to the late bishop's tomb for some brief moments of reflection.

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 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 ...

)

Ricardo Ezzati Andrello Ricardo Ezzati Andrello (, ; born 7 January 1942) is an Italian-born Chilean prelate of the Catholic Church who has lived and worked in Chile since the age of 17. He was Archbishop of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de Chile, Santiago fr ...

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 and closed it later on 3 December 2014; during 2013 the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, passi ...

declared "

nihil obstat (Latin for 'nothing hinders' or 'nothing stands in the way') is a phrase traditionally used by Catholic Church authorities to formally declare that there is no objection to the publication of a book. It also has other uses. Publishing The ...

" (no objections) to the cause. The current

postulator A postulator is the person who guides a cause for beatification or canonization through the judicial processes required by the Catholic Church. The qualifications, role and function of the postulator are spelled out in the ''Norms to be Observed i ...

for the cause is the

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priest Pascual Cebollada Silvestre.

Notes and references

External links

Hagiography Circle

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvear Urrutia, Enrique 1916 births 1982 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Chile Auxiliary bishops Bishops appointed by Pope John XXIII Chilean people of Basque descent Participants in the Second Vatican Council People from Cauquenes Pontifical Catholic University of Chile alumni 20th-century Roman Catholic titular bishops Chilean Servants of God Roman Catholic bishops of San Felipe, Chile Roman Catholic bishops of Talca Chilean Roman Catholics