Historian Fernando García de Cortázar, National History Prize 2008, dies

• Interview Fernando García de Cortázar: "Nationalism has not passed through the court of history"

• History Fernando García de Cortázar: "When I saw the poster for 'Patria' I wanted to cry"

The

winner of the National Prize for History in 2008, has died this Sunday, July 3 "unexpectedly" at the age of 79, as reported in a statement by the Society of Jesus.

The death occurred at 5:00 in the morning, at the Luz hospital, according to the statement.

García de Cortázar had been admitted last Thursday for an intestinal perforation.

He underwent surgery, but

has been the cause of his death.

His body will be transferred to the San Isidro Park Mortuary (Madrid) at 2:00 p.m., where a Eucharist will be celebrated at 7:30 p.m.

Pending confirmation of the schedule, he will be buried on Tuesday at the

.

That same day, at 7:00 p.m., his funeral mass will be celebrated in the Church of the Sacred Heart of Bilbao, according to the Jesuits.

Fernando García de Cortázar y Ruiz de Aguirre was born in Bilbao on September 4, 1942. He entered the Society of Jesus on August 26, 1959, was ordained a priest at Loyola on July 10, 1971 and made his last vows at Loyola on February 2, 1978.

Within his training as a Jesuit, he completed the Novitiate in Orduña (1959-61), the Juniorate in Villagarcía de Campos (1961-62).

(1962-63) and at Loyola (1963-1966).

The so-called teaching stage - in which the Jesuits spend two years in pastoral work, generally in schools, in the middle of their training - was carried out in Pamplona between 1966-67.

He studied Theology in Madrid (1968-72) and at the end he began to prepare his Doctorate in History (72-73) and in Theology (73-75).

Between 1975-76 he was assigned to Bilbao as director of the Colegio Mayor Deusto and Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters (FyL) of the University of Deusto (UD), positions that he would hold at various stages of his life.

In addition to being a professor of Contemporary Spanish History at said faculty, he would be its dean (81-82),

and professor emeritus at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences from 2007 to this year 2022. .

García de Cortázar has been recognized for his

who has been able to transmit his love for history from a language close to the public, which has earned him great success in his publications, which have been widely distributed.

Disciple of historian Miguel Artola, he has been awarded numerous prizes such as the 2008 National History Prize for his work 'History of Spain from art' (2007).

He had also directed the Vocento Foundation.

García de Cortázar

and also encyclopedias such as the monumental ten-volume work 'La Historia en su Lugar'.

He has contributed to the popularization of the history of Spain through his numerous articles in the press (such as Vida Nueva or the ABC newspaper) and various television series such as 'Memoria de España'.

In his work he has dedicated special dedication to researching the history of the Basque Country, the History of Spain and the History of the Church.

On May 19, 2021, he received the Bravo 2020 Award, which is granted by the Episcopal Commission for Social Communications (CECS) for the work with which he "brings his penetrating view of the history of Spain to various press stands, rescuing it from reductions" and because "its articles raise the substantial contribution of the Christian tradition and enter into a serious and considered debate on the place of the Christian fact in our current culture".

Picking it up, he expressed his desire "to make the religious message public, especially at this time, when we have to speak not only to those who share the same faith as us, but also to those we might call cultural Christians, who see in religion and Christianity, a fact that they hope will help maintain principles and convictions that this world needs".

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

• Religion