VALVERDE TÉLLEZ, EMETERIO

Mexican bishop and bibliographer; b. Villa del Carbón, Mexico, March 1, 1864; d. León, Dec. 26, 1948. He was a seminarian in Mexico City from 1876 to 1887, and professor in the seminary (1882–90). After ordination in 1887, he contributed to many newspapers and journals. He became vicar-general in 1903. As bishop of León, Guanajuato (1909–48), he promoted the development of the seminary and of Catholic education of youth. He organized catechetical, missionary, sociological, and Eucharistic congresses, as well as congresses devoted to Our Lady of Guadalupe and to Christ the King. His 52 pastoral letters are a summary of the substance of his teaching and his episcopal work. Valverde's writings are numerous and varied; but his most noted ones are on philosophy, mystic theology, and bibliography. In philosophy three stand out: Apuntaciones históricas sobre la filosofía en México, Crítica filosófica, and Bibliografía filosófica mexicana. The principal value of these resides in the careful material contribution to the philosophical history of Mexico. Any future investigation in this field would have to start on this base. In mystical theology his Poema del amor divino is outstanding. According to his biographers, Valverde reveals in this work his own spirituality and the inner force that induced him to spread devotion to Christ the King and to erect a statue and a chapel to Him at the top of Cerro del Cubelete, at the geographic center of Mexican territory. Paul VI, as acting secretary of state to Pius XII, wrote to Valverde on Feb. 27, 1948, in the name of the pope, praising him for his devotion to Christ the King. Bio-bibliografía eclesiástica mexicana (1821–1943), is his outstanding work on bibliography (3v. Mexico City 1949). In this work Valverde refers only to writers (bishops and priests) of independent Mexico. The biographies are short; the bibliographies, on the other hand, are complete. In the preface of this posthumously published work, there is a 15-page bibliography of Valverde's published and unpublished works, including his pastoral letters and the names of the newspapers and journals to which he contributed, as well as a select number of publications in which Valverde and his works have been discussed.

[e. gÓmez-tagle]