Blessed Buenaventura García de Paredes

Buenaventura García de Paredes (April 19, 1866 in Castañedo de Valdés – August 12, 1936) was a Dominican priest and Master of the Order of Preachers. Paredes was born and baptized on April 19, 1866 in Castañedo de Valdés, near Luarca (Asturias). As a young boy he took care of his father’s sheep. Paredes' brother was a priest. Paredes began his primary studies in his hometown and in a preceptory at the behest of the Dominican priest Esteban Sacrest, he entered the Apostolic School or the Minor Seminary of Corias (Asturias), where he continued his studies for two years, but his precarious health forced him to go home and rest. Later Paredes studied at the Apostolic School of Ocaña (Toledo) making his profession on August 31, 1884. Paredes studied philosophy at Ocaña, and theology at the convent of Santo Tomás at Ávila. After these initial studies he obtained his bachelor's degree in Civil Law from the University of Salamanca in 1891, the year of his ordination to the priesthood in Ávila on July 25. Later he continued his studies in Philosophy and Letters, in Valencia and Madrid receiving a doctorate in philosophy and letters in 1897 with a dissertation entitled Santo Tomás y la Estética moderna. Necesidad de restaurar el pensamiento estético del angélico doctor en la ciencia de lo bello. Paredes received a doctorate in Civil Law in 1898 with a dissertation entitled La Iglesia y el Estado en la Teoría jurídico-social de santo Tomás comparada con las Teorías modernas sobre el mismo asunto. In 1899 Paredes became a university lector in Manila, and in 1900 he became Professor of Political and Administrative Law at the University of Santo Tomás in Manila. In 1901 Paredes took over the editorship of the Catholic Daily "Libertas" and defended the case of Bernardino Nozaleda, the Archbishop of Manila. Paredes was elected Prior of Santo Tomás de Ávila (1901), Rector of the College of Santa María de Nieva (Segovia), and Prior de Ocaña (1910).