Manuel Arteaga y Betancourt (December 28, 1879 – March 20, 1963) was a
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
n prelate of the
Catholic Church
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 ...
who served as
Archbishop of Havana
In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdioc ...
from 1941 to 1963. He raised to the rank of
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 ...
in 1946.
Biography
He was born in
Camagüey
Camagüey () is a city and municipality in central Cuba and is the nation's third-largest city with more than 333,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Camagüey Province.
It was founded as Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe in 1514, by Sp ...
, Cuba, to Rosendo Arteaga Montejo and his wife Delia Betancourt Guerra.
Baptized
Baptism (from ) is a Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three ...
Manuel Francisco del Corazon de Jesus on April 17, 1880, by Father Vigilio Arteaga, he was
confirmed
In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. The ceremony typically involves laying on of hands.
Catholicis ...
by Archbishop
José María Martín de Herrera y de la Iglesia
José María Martín de Herrera y de la Iglesia (26 August 1835 in Aldeadávila de la Ribera, Spain – 8 December 1922 in Santiago de Compostela, Spain) was a long-serving cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church in the early years of the twent ...
on November 17, 1882. His paternal uncle, the
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...
Ricardo Arteaga Montejo, who had emigrated to Venezuela for political reasons, took Manuel there in 1892.
Arteaga obtained his bachelor's in philosophy on June 15, 1898, from
Universidad Central de Venezuela
Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to:
Places
* Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico
* Universidad (Madrid)
Football clubs
* Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala
...
convent
A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community.
The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...
in
Caracas
Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...
in 1900. For reasons of health, he left the convent and entered the Seminary of Santa Rosa de Lima in Caracas on April 12, 1901.
Arteaga 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 ...
pastoral
The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...
work in
Cumaná
Cumaná () is the capital city of Venezuela's Sucre State. It is located east of Caracas. Cumaná was one of the first cities founded by Spain in the mainland Americas and is the oldest continuously-inhabited Hispanic-established city in Sout ...
, Venezuela, from 1906 to 1912, and then in Camagüey until 1915. Arteaga was named provisor and
vicar general
A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vica ...
of the Archdiocese of Havana 1915 and became Canon Schoolmaster in 1916. He was raised to the rank of
Domestic Prelate of His Holiness
A Prelate of Honour of His Holiness is a Catholic prelate to whom the Pope has granted this title of honour.
They are addressed as Monsignor (typically abbreviated 'Mgr') and have certain privileges as regards clerical clothing.
on May 31, 1926, and
Vicar Capitular
A diocesan administrator (also known as archdiocesan administrator, archiepiscopal administrator and eparchial administrator for the case, respectively, of an archdiocese, archeparchy, and eparchy) is a provisional ordinary of a Catholic part ...
of Havana on January 3, 1940.
On December 28, 1941, Pope Pius appointed him
Archbishop of Havana
In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdioc ...
. 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 ...
on February 24, 1942, from Archbishop Giorgio Caruana, the Apostolic Nuncio to Cuba, with Archbishop Manuel Zubizarreta y Unamunsaga OCD and Bishop Eduardo Martínez y Dalmau CP serving as
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 ...
.
Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...
made him
cardinal priest
A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. Ca ...
of
San Lorenzo in Lucina
The Minor Basilica of St. Lawrence in Lucina ( or simply ; ) is a Roman Catholic parish, titular church, and minor basilica in central Rome, Italy. The basilica is located in Piazza di San Lorenzo in Lucina in the Rione Colonna, about two blocks ...
in 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 February 18, 1946; he was the first Cuban member of the
College of Cardinals
The College of Cardinals (), also called the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. there are cardinals, of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Appointed by the pope, ...
.
Arteaga suffered a wound to his forehead in August 1953, reported by the censored press as the result of a fall in his residence, and required twenty stitches. In a
pastoral letter
A pastoral letter, often simply called a pastoral, is an open letter addressed by a bishop to the clergy or laity of a diocese or to both, containing general admonition, instruction or consolation, or directions for behaviour in particular circu ...
that September, he explained that his injury was "a common criminal attempt" by a group of strangers, putting to rest the suspicions that he had been
pistol-whipped
Pistol-whipping or buffaloing is the act of using a handgun as a blunt weapon, wielding it as an improvised club. Such a practice dates to the time of muzzle loaders, which were brandished in such fashion in close-quarters combat once the weap ...
by government agents who were searching his residence for hidden revolutionaries or weapons.
He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the
1958 papal conclave
A papal conclave was held from 25 to 28 October 1958 to elect a pope to succeed Pius XII, who had died on 9 October 1958. Of the 53 eligible cardinal electors, all but two attended. On the eleventh ballot, the conclave elected Cardinal Angelo ...
, which elected
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 ...
. Persecuted by the
Communist regime
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...
of
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...
Holy See
The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...
in 1961 and 1962, when he was hospitalized at San Juan de Dios Hospital in
Havana
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Colon Cemetery.
Trivia
*Arteaga was a proponent of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, whom he and other laypersons congratulated on taking power
*He vehemently disapproved of tight and low-cut women's fashions, even forbidding such attire at weddings under pain of the ceremony's suspension.TIME Magazine Word from the Cardinal January 24, 1949