Andreu Ivars


Andreu Ivars i Cardona, in Spanish Andrés Ivars, was a Valencian Franciscan priest and historian.

Early years

He went to the Franciscan convent of Sant Esperit from Gilet, near Sagunt in 1900 and the next year he became officially Franciscan. In 1909 he became priest. Since he was a gifted student, he was sent to the Pontifical University Antonianum of Rome, where he studied Patristics and History of the Church. At the same time he studied Paleography and Diplomatics in the Public School of the Vatican Secret Archives. In 1913 he was sent to the historical research center that the Franciscan Order had in Quaracchi, near Florence, where he remained a year.

Career

In 1914 Jaime Sala died. He came from the same province as he, and he was one of the founders of the review called Archivo Ibero-Americano. Ivars replaced him as representative of the Franciscan province of Valencia, and since then he wrote in this review. In 1919 he became vice-director and, finally in 1928, director. He came back to his province for some time, where he did several tasks: Master of Students and Chronicler among others. From 1920 until 1936 he lived in Madrid, and he was devoted to historical research. Many of them were published in the already mentioned review AIA. He wrote then several articles or books, both in Spanish and Valencian. These works dealt with history or with culture in general, both about Franciscan and Valencian matters. The medieval Valencian author whom he devoted most of his works was Francesc Eiximenis.

Death

On 20 July 1936, just after the Spanish Civil War outburst, members of the Republican militia set the Cardinal Cisneros College to fire. It was the headquarters of the review AIA, and the Franciscans were caught by the militia. Andreu Ivars was not there on that moment, but his library, archive and everything that he had gathered after years of research was set to fire. He went first to the "Villa Luz" clinic, where he was chaplain. Afterwards he moved to the house of some friends of him, and finally he decided to go with his family. When he was going to Benissa, he was recognized and arrested in Denia. Next morning, on 8 September 1936, his corpse appeared near Gata de Gorgos, since he had been shot. There is a beatification process of him owing to this fact.

Works

Books