Career
Torras and the Catalan traditions
He was convinced that the Catalan nation had to be Christian in order to establish itself as something enduring and meaningful in the future, his words "Catalunya serà cristiana o no serà" (Catalonia will be Christian or will not be) are engraved at the gate of Santa Maria de Montserrat abbey. Torras was very interested in the study of the seny, a virtue often considered a Catalan cultural symbol, and encouraged others, like Josep Abril i Virgili and Jaume Raventós, to do southern Based on good sense and wisdom, seny was perceived by Torras to originate in the traditional Catalan rural farm (casa pairal or masia).
The life in the traditional non-urban setting with its frugality, hard work and religious piety was the right ground for the development of the values and social norms embodied in the Catalan seny.
Ecclesiastical work
In 1882 Torras became counselor of bishop of Barcelona J. M. Urquinaona. Specializing in conflict-solving among Catholics, he also was the censor of some newspapers that were compromised in certain inner troubles (procesos canónicos) of the Spanish Church at the time.
Years later, in 1888, Josep Torras, after analyzing the growing secularization of Spanish society, had written the book El clero en la vida social moderna in Spanish. Torras was promoted to become archbishop of Burgos in 1906 and Valencia in 1913, but he declined because he didn"t want to put a distance between himself and the mission he was committed to in the heart of Catalonia.