Ciriaco María Sancha y Hervás

Ciriaco María Sancha y Hervás Cardinal ( born June 17, 1833 in Quintana del Pidio in Burgos, † February 26, 1909 in Toledo) was archbishop of Toledo and primate of Spain.

Ciriaco María Sancha y Hervás studied at the University of Salamanca, where he received a licentiate in theology. He was ordained priest on 27 June 1858. Sancha y Hervás worked as a lecturer in philosophy at the Seminary of Osma. From 1862 to 1876 he worked as an office secretary in the Archdiocese of Santiago de Cuba and was at the local seminary professor of moral theology. He founded on August 5, 1869 an Order of the Sisters of Charity. During the vacancy of the archbishopric in 1868, the Spanish Government appointed without the approval of the Vatican's brother Pedro Miguel Llorente as the successor of the local archbishop. Both Monsignor José María Carrión Orberá, the Vikarkapitular of the Archdiocese, as well as his secretary Sancha opposed this decision and were then imprisoned. The local schism ended in 1874 and both were then released.

Bishop

Sancha was instituted by Pope Pius IX. appointed on 28 January 1876 Titular Bishop of Areopoli and Auxiliary Bishop of Toledo. He received his episcopal consecration on March 12, 1876, the Archbishop of Toledo, Juan de la Cruz Ignacio Moreno y Maisanove. Sancha was appointed on 27 March 1882 Bishop of Avila, on 10 June 1886, for the Bishop of Madrid, and finally on July 11, 1892 Archbishop of Valencia.

Cardinalate

Pope Leo XIII. appointed him on 18 May 1894 on the Cardinal Priest of San Pietro in Montorio. On 24 March 1898 he was appointed Archbishop of Toledo and was associated with this official title of Patriarch of the West Indies. Sancha participated in the conclave of 1903 that elected Pope Pius X..