Alemany was born in Vic, Catalonia,[1] on July 3, 1814, to Antoni Alemany i Font and Miquela dels Sants Conill i Saborit.
Alemany entered the Dominican Order in 1821 and pursued his theological studies at the convents of Trumpt and Garona.[1] His solemn profession of religious vows made in September 1831, the same year that his protégé, Patrick Manogue was born in Ireland. He was then sent to Rome to study at the College of St. Thomas in Rome, the future Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, commonly referred to as the Angelicum, where in 1840 he was made Lector in Theology.[2]
In 1850 his abilities attracted the attention of the papal court during his presence at the general chapter of the order.[4] Summoned to Rome, Alemany met on June 11, 1850, with CardinalGiacomo Filippo Fransoni, informed of his appointment as Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Monterey in California. Alemany replied, "No." Pope Pius IX ordered Alemany to a private audience on June 16. Pope Pius told Alemany, "You must go to California....Where others are drawn by gold, you must carry the Cross." Fransoni consecrated Alemany as Bishop of Monterey on June 30, 1850, in Rome; thus, becoming the first American bishop in California.[5]
Monterey
Before leaving Europe, Alemany determined that he would need the help of a community of religious women for the education of the children of his new territory. He traveled around, visiting various monasteries of Dominican nuns. When he arrived in Paris, he went to the Monastery of the Cross there, where he presented his request for volunteers among the Dominican Sisters. He had one recruit, Sister Mary of the Cross Goemaere, O.P., a Belgian novice.
Leaving Rome immediately, he brought to his new see religious of both sexes, with whose aid he founded various institutions of learning in California.[4]
When the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco was erected July 29, 1853, Alemany was appointed by Pope Pius as its first archbishop. Alemany arrived in San Francisco finding three established Catholic parishes Mission Dolores (San Francisco de Asís) (1776), St. Francis of Assisi (1849) and St. Patrick (1851). As Archbishop of San Francisco, Alemany presided over what became a multinational diocese, owing to the influx of people during the California Gold Rush, and parishes were established for San Francisco's Italian, Irish, French, German and Mexican communities.[7]
As Bishop of Monterey Alemany had filed a petition with the Public Land Commission on February 19, 1853, for the return of all former mission lands in California. As Archbishop of San Francisco he sought Fee Ownership of 1,051.44 acres (for all practical intents being the exact area of land occupied by the original mission buildings, cemeteries, and gardens) was subsequently conveyed to the Church, along with the Cañada de los Pinos (or College Rancho) in Santa Barbara County comprising 35,499.73 acres (143.6623 km2), and La Laguna in San Luis Obispo County, consisting of 4,157.02 acres (16.8229 km2).[8] The scope of his authority was large, as the Diocese of Monterey originally encompassed the entire area of the former Mexican province of Alta California, while the Archdiocese of San Francisco encompassed all of the state of California north of Monterey Bay as well as territories that would become Nevada and Utah. However, Alemany wished to return to missionary work and requested a coadjutor bishop. In 1883, Bishop Patrick William Riordan was appointed by Pope Leo XIII coadjutor, and would succeed Alemany upon the latter's resignation as archbishop in 1884.
After his resignation, Alemany left San Francisco in May 1885 to return to his homeland. In the course of the journey east he toured New York, was presented by Catholic General William Rosecrans to President Grover Cleveland. He arrived in Italy, having an audience with Pope Leo XIII and was appointed titular archbishop of Pelusium.
Alemany returned to Catalonia in a Valencian convent, intending to devote the remainder of his life to the rehabilitation of the Dominican order in Spain, and he died there on April 14, 1888.[4] He was buried in the Church of Sant Domènec in his native Vic.
^"Upon the completion of his studies, he was awarded the degree of Lectorate in Theology at the Minerva, one of the venerable centers of Dominican life and culture." Mission West: The Western Dominican Province 1850-1966, 1995, Western Dominican Province Oakland, California, "Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on May 22, 2014. Retrieved May 22, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Accessed May 21, 2014.
^"...on March 11, 1837, though one year shy of the sacerdotal canonical age, he was ordained a priest in San Lorenzo Cathedral in Viterbo by Archbishop (later Cardinal) Gaspar Bernard Pianetti of that
city." Mission West: The Western Dominican Province 1850-1966, 1995, Western Dominican Province Oakland, California, "Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on May 22, 2014. Retrieved May 22, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Accessed May 21, 2014
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