Joaquín Albareda y Ramoneda

Joaquín Albareda y Ramoneda was born in Barcelona to Vicente Albareda and his wife María Ramoneda. Entering the Order of Saint Benedict at Santa María de Montserrat in 1904, he took the name Anselmo María upon his profession on November 4, 1908. Ordained to the priesthood on July 7, 1915, Albareda then remained as a member of the Montserrat community until 1921. He furthered his studies from 1921 to 1923, attending the Athenaeum of St. Anselm in Rome and the Faculty of Palaeography and Archives in Freiburg. Returning to the Montserrat monastery, he served as its archivist from 1923 to 1936.

On June 19, 1936, Albareda was appointed Prefect of the Vatican Library by Pope Pius XI. He was made Titular Abbot of Santa Maria de Ripoll on May 5, 1950, receiving the traditional abbatial blessing from Cardinal Eugène-Gabriel-Gervais-Laurent Tisserant on August 26, 1951. Pope John XXIII created Albareda Cardinal Deacon of S. Apollinare alle Terme Neroniane-Alessandrine in the consistory of March 19, 1962, on which date Albareda resigned as Prefect.

The Cardinal was named by Pope John as Titular Archbishop of Gypsaria on April 5, 1962. He received his episcopal consecration on the following April 19 from Pope John, with Cardinals Giuseppe Pizzardo and Benedetto Aloisi Masella serving as co-consecrators, in the Lateran Basilica. Albareda stepped down as Titular Archbishop the next day, on April 20. From 1962 to 1965, he attended the Second Vatican Council, during the course of which he was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 1963 papal conclave that selected Pope Paul VI.

The Cardinal died in his native Barcelona, at age 74. He is buried at the Montserrat monastery.

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