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Octavio Beras Rojas

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Dominican cardinal In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Beras and the second or maternal family name is Rojas.
His Eminence
Octavio Beras Rojas
Archbishop Emeritus of Santo Domingo
ChurchRoman Catholic Church
ArchdioceseSanto Domingo
SeeSanto Domingo
Appointed10 December 1961
Term ended15 November 1981
PredecessorRicardo Pittini
SuccessorNicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez
Other post(s)Cardinal-Priest of San Sisto (1976-90)
Previous post(s)
Orders
Ordination13 August 1933
Consecration12 August 1945
by Manuel Arteaga y Betancourt
Created cardinal24 May 1976
by Pope Paul VI
RankCardinal-Priest
Personal details
BornOctavio Antonio Beras Rojas
16 November 1906
Saint Lucía, El Seibo, Dominican Republic
Died1 December 1990(1990-12-01) (aged 84)
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Alma materPontifical Gregorian University
MottoIn hoc signo vinces
SignatureOctavio Beras Rojas's signature
Coat of armsOctavio Beras Rojas's coat of arms
Styles of
Octavio Beras Rojas
Reference styleHis Eminence
Spoken styleYour Eminence
Informal styleCardinal
SeeSanto Domingo (emeritus)

Octavio Antonio Beras Rojas (16 November 1906 – 1 December 1990) was a Dominican cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Santo Domingo from 1961 to 1981, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1976.

Biography

Octavio Beras Rojas was born in Santa Lucía, in El Seibo Province, as the eldest of the three children of Octavio Beras Zorrilla, congressman and governor of El Seibo, and Teresa Rojas Santana (a great-granddaughter of Ramón Santana). He received his first Communion from Archbishop Adolfo Alejandro Nouel, and studied at the Seminary of St. Thomas Aquinas, in Santo Domingo from 1923 to 1926. He was then sent to Rome, where he studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University whilst residing at the Pontifical Collegio Pio Latino Americano.

Later returning to the Santo Domingo seminary for health reasons, Beras was ordained to the priesthood on 13 August 1933 and then did pastoral work in Santiago de los Caballeros until 1935, whence he was transferred to Santo Domingo. Whilst there, from 1935 to 1945, he served successively as secretary general of archdiocese; director of the ecclesiastical bulletin, weekly newspaper Verdad Católica, and of the Catholic radio station; president of the ecclesiastical tribunal; and organizer of the archdiocesan synod. He also founded the Federation of Catholic Youth, and was named an honorary canon of the metropolitan chapter, pro-vicar general, and pastor of the metropolitan cathedral.

On 2 May 1945 Beras was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Santo Domingo and Titular Archbishop of Euchaitae by Pope Pius XII. He received his episcopal consecration on the following 12 August from Archbishop Manuel Arteaga y Betancourt, with Archbishop Enrique Pérez Serantes and Bishop Aloysius Willinger, CSSR, serving as co-consecrators. After becoming Apostolic Administrator sede plena of Santo Domingo, Beras acted as the secretary general of the first conference of the Latin American Episcopal Conference, from 25 July to 2 August 1955, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

He later succeeded the late Ricardo Pittini Piussi, SDB, as Archbishop of Santo Domingo, and thus Primate of the Dominican Republic, on 10 December 1961. Beras was appointed Military Vicar for the Dominican Republic on 8 December 1962, and was a member of the Central Preparatory Commission of the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965. In 1965, he was also made President of the Episcopal Conference of Dominican Republic.

Pope Paul VI created him Cardinal Priest of S. Sisto in the consistory of 24 May 1976. Beras, the first cardinal from the Dominican Republic, was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the conclaves of August and October 1978, which selected Popes John Paul I and John Paul II respectively. He resigned as his post as Archbishop on 15 November 1981, after nearly twenty years of service, and his post in the military vicariate a year later, on 15 November 1982. Beras lost the right to participate in any conclaves upon reaching the age of eighty on 16 November 1986.

The Cardinal died in Santo Domingo, at age 84. He is buried at the primatial and metropolitan cathedral of the same, the Catedral de Santa María la Menor.

Ancestors of Octavio Beras Rojas
16. Francisco de Veras
8. José Veras Díaz
17. Felicita Díaz
4. Andrés Beras Trinidad (1841–?)
18. Salvador Trinidad
9. Juana Trinidad del Rosario
19. Ana del Rosario
2. Octavio Beras Zorrilla (1877–?)
10, Julián Zorrilla Betancourt
21, Jacinta Betancourt
5. Ana Zorrilla Álvarez
22, Isidro Álvarez
11, Altagracia Álvarez Cordero
23, Petronila Cordero
1. Octavio Antonio Beras Rojas (1906–1990)
6. José Ramón Rojas Duchesne
3. Teresa Armanda Rojas Santana
28. Ramón Santana Familia (1801–1844)
14. Rafael Santana Febles
29. Froilana Febles Rivera
7. Francisca 'Anita' Santana Bobadilla
30. Emilio Bobadilla
15. Paula Bobadilla de Castro
31. Candelaria de Castro
Source: Carlos Larrazábal Blanco. Familias Dominicanas.

External links

Catholic Church titles
Preceded byRicardo Pittini Piussi, SDB Archbishop of Santo Domingo
1961–1981 		Succeeded byNicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez
Preceded byRicardo Pittini Piussi, SDB Military Vicar of the Dominican Republic
1962–1982 		Succeeded byNicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez
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