Francisco de Guruceaga Iturriza

Life

Francisco de Guruceaga Iturriza studied at the Colegio La Salle in Valencia , then law at the Universidad Simón Bolívar . After studying philosophy and theology in Rome , he received his doctorate in law at the Angelicum in 1958 with a thesis on canon law on the legal status of the Church in Venezuela . He graduated in Journalism from the University of Navarra . He joined the community of Opus Dei and was ordained a priest on August 14, 1960 in the Papal Basilica of San Miguel in Madrid . In 1963 he returned to Venezuela and became a chaplain in the Venezuela Military Academy.

Pope Paul VI appointed him on March 31, 1967 titular bishop of Villa Regis and appointed him auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Ciudad Bolívar . The Archbishop of Caracas, Santiago de Venezuela , Cardinal José Humberto Quintero Parra , donated him episcopal ordination on May 21, 1967 ; Co- consecrators were Críspulo Benítez Fontúrvel , Archbishop of Barquisimeto , and Crisanto Darío Mata Cova , Archbishop of Ciudad Bolívar . On June 18, 1969, he was appointed the first bishop of the Margarita diocese on Margarita Island. After four years Paul VI appointed him. on October 2, 1973 Bishop of the Diocese of La Guaira . In 1978 he was appointed honorary professor at the Universidad Simón Bolívar .

On October 18, 2001, Pope John Paul II accepted his resignation for health reasons.

^ Francisco de Guruceaga Iturriza
^ "Profesorado Honorario" ( Memento of May 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Universidad Simón Bolívar (CENDA), April 12, 1978

predecessor	Office	successor
---	Bishop of Margarita 1969–1973	Tulio Manuel Chirivella Varela
Marcial Augusto Ramírez Ponce	Bishop of La Guaira 1973-2001	José de la Trinidad Valera Angulo

personal data
SURNAME	Guruceaga Iturriza, Francisco de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Roman Catholic bishop
DATE OF BIRTH	January 28, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH	Valencia
DATE OF DEATH	February 10, 2012
Place of death	Caracas