Valentín Zubizarreta y Unamunsaga

Manuel Zubizarreta y Unamunsaga was born on 2 November 1862 in Etxebarria, Bizkaia, Spain.[2][3] In 1879, he entered the novitiate of the Discalced Carmelites in Larrea, and upon first profession of vows, took the name of Valentín de la Asunción.[3]

Zubizarreta was ordained a priest at the Larrea novitiate on 18 December 1886, and celebrated his Mass in Marquina the next day.[2][3] In 1887, he was appointed professor of dogmatic theology at the Carmelite college in Burgos.[3][4] In 1892, he was elected prior of the monastery in Vitoria-Gasteiz.[3] In 1900, he was elected provincial of the Navarre Province of the Discalced Carmelites.[4] In 1903, he was appointed visitor of the order in Cuba and Chile.[3]

From 1907 to 1912, Zubizarreta lived in Rome, where he served as General Secretary, the assistant to the Superior General of the Discalced Carmelites.[3][4] In 1912, he returned to Spain, where he was reelected provincial of Navarre.[3]

It was during his term as Navarre provincial that Zubizarreta was raised to the episcopacy.[4] He was appointed Bishop of Camagüey by Pope Pius X on 25 May 1914.[3][4] His episcopal consecration took place in the Carmelites church of Nuestra Señora de La Merced in Camagüey.[3] His principal consecrator was Archbishop of Santo Domingo Adolfo Alejandro Nouel, and co-consecrators were Bishop of San Cristóbal de la Habana Pedro Ladislao González y Estrada and Bishop of Cienfuegos Antonio Aurelio Torres y Sanz, OCD.[2] Bishop of Pinar del Río José Manuel Dámaso Rúiz y Rodríguez preached the homily.[3]

On 3 January 1916 Zubizarreta was appointed apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Cienfuegos,[2] the episcopacy of which was vacant upon Bishop Antonio Torres y Sanz.[3] On 24 February 1922, Pope Pius XI appointed him Bishop of Cienfuegos.[2][4] On 28 January 1925, Bishop of Santiago de Cuba Feliz Ambrosio Guerra Fezza, SDB, resigned, and Zubizarreta was appointed apostolic administrator.[3] On 30 March 1925 he was appointed Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba and reverted to being apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Cienfuegos.[2][3][4] He was installed Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba on 28 June 1925.[2][3] He continued to also administer the Diocese of Cienfuegos were over 10 years, until the appointment of Eduardo Martínez Dalmau as bishop on 16 November 1935.[3]

On 13 July 1934, Zubizarreta was appointed Assistant at the Pontifical Throne by Pope Pius XI.[3] In 1936, he oversaw the Diocesan Eucharistic Congress, and the coronation of Our Lady of Charity on 20 December of that year.[3] He built the National Shrine of El Cobre and founded the Seminary of St. Basil the Great.[3] He was also a great patron of Catholic Action groups, and in 1943 and 1944, presided over induction ceremonies of the Catholic Youth and Catholic Knights organizations.[3] He was awarded the Order of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes of Cuba and named Honorary Citizen of the city of Santiago de Cuba.[3]

Despite his advanced age, Zubizarreta traveled extensively through his large archdiocese, and made frequent trips to Havana by plane.[3]

Valentín Zubizarreta y Unamunsaga died of bronchopneumonia on Thursday, 26 February 1948 in the sanatorium of Santiago de Cuba.[3] His decline in health was a quick one, having been working even the past Saturday.[3] He was buried on Saturday, 28 February at St. Ifigenia Cemetery in Santiago de Cuba, after a procession from the cathedral drawing crowds estimated at 40,000[3] to 85,000 people.[5]