Lorenzana y Buitrón, Francisco Antonio de (1722–1804)

Francisco Antonio de Lorenzana y Buitrón (b. 22 September 1722; d. 17 April 1804), Spanish intellectual, archbishop of Mexico (1766–1772), and cardinal-archbishop of Toledo, Spain (1772–1804). Born in León, Spain, Lorenzana studied under the Jesuits in that city. He served as bishop of Plasencia (1765–1766), then as archbishop of Mexico, where he founded the Home for Abandoned Children in 1767. Among his accomplishments was the Fourth Mexican Provincial Council, held in 1771. Known as a promoter of culture and charity, Lorenzana was elected a cardinal in 1789 and was named envoy extraordinary to the Holy See by Charles IV of Spain in 1797. He organized the conclave at Venice that in 1800 elected the successor to Pope Pius VI. He then accompanied the new pope, Pius VII, to Rome, where he resigned his archbishopric. Lorenzana died in Rome.

Lorenzana's writings include Concilios provinciales primero, y segundo (1769); Cartas pastorales y edictos (1770); Concilium mexicanum provinciale III (1770); Historia de Nueva España escrita por su esclarecido conquistador Hernán Cortés (1770); Missa gothica seu mozarabica (1770); and SS. PP. Toletanorum, 3 vols. (1782–1783).

See alsoCharles IV of Spain; Jesuits.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Luis Sierra Nava-Lasa, El cardenal Lorenzana y la ilustración (1975).

Francisco Sosa, El episcopado mexicano, edited by Alberto María Carreño (1962).

Additional Bibliography

Sánchez Sánchez, Isidro. El Cardenal Lanzana y la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha. Cuenca, Spain: Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, 1999.

Zahino Peñafort, Luisa. El Cardenal Lanzana y el IV Concilio Provincial Mexicano. México: Miguel Angel Porrúa, 1999.

                                  W. Michael Mathes