Antonio Claudio Álvarez de Quiñones

Antonio Claudio Álvarez de Quiñones (1670s – 21 October 1736) was a Spanish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church in what is now the Dominican Republic and Colombia.

Born in Alcalá de Henares, he taught law before becoming vicar general of the Diocese of Sigüenza. He was appointed Archbishop of Santo Domingo in 1717, serving until 1725, when he was appointed Archbishop of Santafé en Nueva Granada (now the Archdiocese of Bogotá). Due to illness, he was unable to take control of the archdiocese until 1731, and he served as archbishop after that until his death in 1736.

Biography

Early life and education Álvarez de Quiñones was born in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. His exact date of birth is disputed, with different sources placing the year at 1666, 1674, and 1687. However, Quiñones' Licentiate of Canon Law certificate is dated at 1700, and because most people at that time would have received that degree at age 26, 1674 is perhaps the closest estimate to his actual birth year.

Archbishop of Santo Domingo In September 1711, Francisco del Rincón, the Archbishop of Santo Domingo, transferred to administer the Archdiocese of Caracas in what is now Venezuela, leaving the archdiocese without an archbishop. He complained that some of the archdiocese's priests "have a good part of mulatto" and made the accusation that they had "hidden" that their "progenitors had been slaves, and descendants of blacks that were introduced into this island from Guinea."

Death Álvarez de Quiñones died in Bogotá on 21 October 1736. He left a large estate, including the episcopal palace and a number of black slaves, and his successor as archbishop, Juan de Galavís, spent much of his short term as archbishop consolidating his will, which had 226 pages with 452 individual sections. In his will, he left "generous donations" to a variety of institutions.

Episcopal consecration Cardinal Guillaume d'Estouteville, OSB Pope Sixtus IV (1471) Pope Julius II (1481) Cardinal Raffaele Riario (1504) Pope Leo X (1513) Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (1519) Cardinal Francesco Pisani (1527) Cardinal Alfonso Gesualdo (1564) Pope Clement VIII (1592) Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini (1604) Bishop Laudivio Zacchia (1605) Cardinal Antonio Barberini, OFM Cap (1625) Cardinal Marco Antonio Franciotti (1637) Cardinal Giambattista Spada (1643) Cardinal Carlo Pio di Savoia (1655) Archbishop Jaime de Palafox y Cardona (1677) Cardinal Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero (1678) Patriarch Pedro Portocarrero y Guzmán (1691) Bishop Jerónimo Nosti de Valdés, OS Bas. (1704) Archbishop Antonio Claudio Álvarez de Quiñones (1718)