Fray Antonio Alcalde
(Antonio Alcalde y Barriga; Cigales, Valladolid, 1701-Guadalajara, México, 1792) Spanish Dominican religious who was bishop of the Mexican dioceses of Yucatán and Guadalajara, the latter city in which is especially remembered for the projects he promoted, such as the founding of the Hospital Real de San Miguel (today Hospital Civil) and the University of Guadalajara.
Fray Antonio Alcalde
Fray Antonio Alcalde held the position of prior in several convents of the order in Spain before moving to Mexico.King Carlos III appointed him bishop of the diocese of Yucatán, based in the city of Mérida, a position he held from January 25, 1762 to January 27, 1772, the date on which he held the same ecclesiastical position in the Mexican diocese of Guadalajara.He remained in this second diocese until his death.
From the pastoral work of Fray Antonio Alcalde highlighted his initiatives aimed at the construction of churches, convents and schools.Influenced by the eminently university eagerness of the Dominican order, he worked so that Guadalajara could have a university, for whose foundation he finally obtained, in 1791, the necessary authorization from the new monarch, Carlos IV.
The economic problems that had to be faced for this company were solved with the monetary endowment of the Bishop Mayor, who however could not see his work completed, since he died a few months before the inauguration day (November 2, 1792).In the new University of Guadalajara, then called Royal and Literary University of Guadalajara, the chairs of Canons, Laws, Medicine, Surgery and Theology were established; While it did not have its own constitution, it was governed by that of the University of Salamanca.
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