ANEIROS, LEÓN FEDERICO

18th bishop, and 2d archbishop of Buenos Aires; b. Buenos Aires, Aug. 28, 1828; d. there, Sept. 4, 1894. He was appointed bishop of Aulon in partibus in 1870, and chosen archbishop on July 24, 1873; he remained in that capacity until his death. He was educated at the San Ignacio College when it was directed by the Jesuits. In 1848 he received his doctorate in theology and civil and Canon Law. After having taught at the University of Buenos Aires, he was simultaneously a delegate for the province of Buenos Aires and the secretary of Bishop Escalada. One of his major concerns was to foster the Catholic press. In 1853 he founded the newspaper La Religión and in 1855, El Orden, both directed by Félix Frias. Aneiros contributed to them until 1858 and 1861, when they ceased publication. From the time he occupied the See of Buenos Aires, he was obliged to combat secularism, which was gaining ground. His need of clergy led him to be lenient in receiving unworthy priests from France, Italy, and especially Spain who in the end did more harm than good. He fostered Catholic education and facilitated the establishment of the colleges of San José and of El Salvador. In 1878, because he wished to return the church of San Ignacio to the Jesuits, a mob led by a renegade Spanish priest tried to set fire to the archiepiscopal curia, and did in fact burn El Salvador College. When a persecution against the Church and its institutions was initiated in 1883–84, Archbishop Aneiros endorsed the brave and determined action of the Catholic delegates, who personally upheld Christian interests in the Parliament, but he did little himself. It was said that he did not wish to offend the men who governed the country at that time. He was a holy man but rather short–sighted and not very energetic.

Bibliography: r. d. carbia, Mons. León Federico Aneiros (Buenos Aires 1905). e. lamarea, "Mons. León F. Aneiros," Archivum: Revista de la Junta de Historia Ecclesiástica Argentina 2 (1944) 165–173.

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