He was a Jesuit priest and dedicated his life to historical research, wrote more than 70 books and directed more than sixty doctoral theses
Jesuit priest and historian Fernando Garcia de Cortazarwinner of the National Prize for History in 2008, has died this Sunday, July 3 “unexpectedly” at the age of 79, as reported in a statement by the Society of Jesus.
The death occurred at five o’clock this morning, at the Luz hospital, according to the statement. García de Cortázar had been admitted last Thursday for an intestinal perforation. He underwent surgery, but a postoperative complication has been the cause of his death.
Her body will be transferred to the Parque de San Isidro Mortuary (Madrid) at 2:00 p.m. this Sunday, where a Eucharist will be celebrated at 7:30 p.m. Pending confirmation of the schedule, he will be buried on Tuesday in the Loyola sanctuary. That same day, at 7:00 p.m., his funeral mass will be celebrated in the Church of the Sacred Heart of Bilbao, according to the Jesuits.
Fernando García de Cortázar y Ruiz de Aguirre was born in Bilbao on September 4, 1942. He entered the Society of Jesus on August 26, 1959, he was ordained a priest at Loyola on July 10, 1971 and made his last vows at Loyola on February 2, 1978.
inside of youu formation as a Jesuit, He completed the Novitiate in Orduña (1959-61), the Juniorate in Villagarcía de Campos (1961-62). He studied Philosophy and Letters at Salamanca (1962-63) and at Loyola (1963-1966). The so-called teaching stage – in which the Jesuits spend two years in pastoral work, generally in schools, in the middle of their training – was carried out in Pamplona between 1966-67. He studied Theology in Madrid (1968-72) and at the end he began to prepare his Doctorate in History (72-73) and in Theology (73-75).
Between 1975-76 He was assigned to Bilbao as director of the Colegio Mayor Deusto and Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters (FyL) of the University of Deusto (UD), positions that he would hold at various stages of his life. In addition to being a professor of Contemporary Spanish History at said faculty, he would be dean of the same (81-82), an important collaborator throughout his life and professor emeritus at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences from 2007 to this year 2022 .
García de Cortázar has been recognized by his extraordinary work as a historian who has been able to transmit his love for history from a language close to the public, which has earned him great success in his publications, which have been widely distributed. Disciple of historian Miguel Artola, he has been awarded numerous prizes such as the 2008 National History Prize for his work ‘History of Spain from art’ (2007). He had also directed the Vocento Foundation.
García de Cortázar has written more than 70 books and also encyclopedias such as the monumental work ‘La Historia en su Lugar’, of ten volumes. He has contributed to the popularization of the history of Spain through his numerous articles in the press (such as Vida Nueva or the ABC newspaper) and various television series such as ‘Memoria de España’. In his work he has dedicated special dedication to researching the history of the Basque Country, the History of Spain and the History of the Church.
On May 19, 2021, he received the Bravo 2020 Award, which is granted by the Episcopal Commission for Social Communications (CECS) for the work with which “he takes his penetrating look at the history of Spain to various press forums, rescuing it from reductions” and because “his articles raise the substantial contribution of the Christian tradition and enter into a serious and considered debate on the place of the Christian fact in our current culture”.
Picking it up, he expressed his desire to “make public the religious messageespecially at this time, when we have to speak not only to those who share the same faith as us, but also to those who we could call cultural Christians, who see in religion and Christianity a fact that they hope will help to maintain principles and convictions that this world needs”.