Posada y Gardüno, Manuel
POSADA Y GARDÜNO, MANUEL
Thirty-second archbishop of Mexico; b. San Felipe del Obraje, Mexico, Sept. 27, 1780; d. April 30, 1846. In 1818 he was appointed curate of the Sagrario in Puebla, later becoming vicar-general and diocesan administrator. In Mexico City in 1824 as senator from Puebla, he was named curate of the Sagrario and later doctoral canon there. When fonte was forced to resign the See of Mexico, Pope Gregory XVI proclaimed Posada archbishop in December 1839, and he was consecrated in Mexico City on May 31, 1840. Posada actively defended the rights and privileges of the clergy. In 1823 he vigorously rejected an attempt by the military governor of Puebla to silence him, and in the following year he successfully stood as a candidate for the senate. Because of his staunch clericalism, Posada was forced to spend a year in exile in the United States by the liberal and anticlerical Gómez Farías government in 1833 and 1834. His reign as archbishop proved somewhat anticlimactic. His participation and influence in Mexican politics were minimal and even in ecclesiastical matters he accomplished little of significance. He established Forty Hours devotions, introduced some modest reforms in the seminaries, and secularized a few mission churches.
Bibliography: e. valverde tÉllez, Bio-bibliografía eclesiástica mexicana (1821–1943), 3 v. (Mexico City 1949). j. trinidad basurto, El arzobispado de México (Mexico City 1901).
[k. m. schmitt]