DÍAZ Y BARRETO, PASCUAL

Mexican archbishop; b. Zapopan, Jalisco, June 22, 1875; d. Mexico City, May 19, 1936. He studied at the Tridentine Seminary of Guadalajara and was ordained Sept. 17, 1899. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1903 and was sent to the Colegio Máximo in Oña, Spain, to perfect his philosophical studies and then to Enghien, Belgium, for further theology; at the latter institution he received the doctorate. On his return to Mexico he taught logic at Tepozotlán for a time, was prefect of the Colegio de Mascarones in 1913 and chaplain in the Holy Family Church from 1915 to 1922. He was consecrated bishop of Tabasco in 1923, but lived only a short time in his see. During the rebellion there he saved the life of Tomás Garrido Canabal, but when Garrido Canabal recovered the governorship, he expelled the bishop. Díaz y Barreto went to Mexico City, where he served as secretary for the Episcopal Committee organized to unify measures taken to protect the Church from the persecution under Pres. Plutarco Elías calles. He was exiled in January 1927. Much of his exile was spent in the U.S. In 1929 he accompanied Abp. ruÍz y flores to Mexico for the meeting with Pres. Portes Gil at which a modus vivendi was arranged. In June of that year the Holy See appointed Diáz y Barreto archbishop of Mexico, a heavy responsibility in that period of internal and external difficulties for the Church. Persecution increased; the state restricted severely the number of churches and the number of clergy in his diocese. He himself had to perform all sorts of activities. Eventually these weakened his health. His funeral was marked by a moving demonstration of grief on the part of the Catholic population, which continued through the procession that accompanied his remains to their burial at Tepeyac.

Bibliography: a.m. carreÑo, El Exmo. Sr. Dr. Pascual Díaz y Barreto (Mexico City 1936). e. j. correa, Pascual Díaz, S.J. el Arzobispo Mártir (Mexico City 1945).

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