Background
Ramón José de Arce was born in Selaya, Cantabria in 1757.
archbishop priest Grand Inquisitor
Ramón José de Arce was born in Selaya, Cantabria in 1757.
University of Salamanca.
He was educated at the Colegio Mayor de Cuenca of the University of Salamanca. After university he became an official in the Finance Ministry of the Real Junta de Juros. He was appointed Archbishop of Burgos on December 18, 1797, and was appointed Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition at the same time.
He was consecrated as a bishop on March 4, 1798.
He was translated to the Archbishopric of Zaragoza on July 20, 1801. He was appointed Patriarch of the West Indies on August 26, 1806.
Spain was invaded by the First French Empire in 1808, becoming a client state of the French Empire. A series of sermons that Arce delivered during the occupation were widely believed to be pro-French.
As such, after Spain regained its independence during the Peninsular War in 1814, there was pressure on Arce to resign.
He resigned his archbishopric and patriarchate on July 15, 1816. He subsequently lived in exile in Paris, where he died on February 16, 1844.
He then became a member of the Council of Castile.
