08/03/2016

Three professors from the Faculty of Humanities work together to edit a book on Torras i Bages

A book entitled Torras i Bages. L’home de l’eternitat was recently presented.  It was edited by the Diocese of Vic, as part of a project entitled Escopus: la actualidad de un gran legado. The two professors from the Faculty of Education Xavier Baró and Magdalena Bosch both authored chapters in the book, and Marta Crispí, the Director of the Master's Degree in Cultural Management at UIC Barcelona, acted as coordinator.

On 7 February centenary celebrations were held for Josep Torras i Bages, who was Bishop of Vic for seventeen years.  Within this context, within the “Episcopus: la actualidad de un gran legado” project for the Bishopric of Vic, the aim was to dedicate a whole year to recovering and presenting this important figure in the prelate.

"His solid intellectual and theological education and passion for the truth - says Professor Crispí- led him to take an active part in the public life of his time, seeking to provide a consistent Christian response to the social and political challenges of his time, in a political and social period that was extremely tumultuous.  In fact he is known as one of the spiritual patriarchs of Catalonia, a prolific writer of books, pastoral writing and publications with a prestige that goes beyond the Diocese of Vic, and made a large impact on intellectuals and politicians of the time, throughout the whole of the XX century.

According to Professor Xavier Baró, an author of one of the book chapters, "his pastoral letters are particularly interesting in terms of the contemporary issues of his time - such as Tragic Week or the First World War – as well as those which deal with timeless issues, such as a Christian attitude to pain and suffering".

The book, which is divided into eight chapters written by different authors and deals with various aspects of the life and work of Torras i Bages, demonstrates the "breadth and depth of his written work - Crispí continued- and the strong mark that he made as an intellectual, on the public life of his time".

Magdalena Bosch, Professor of Philosophy at the Faculty of Humanities, also wrote a chapter dealing with the aesthetic thought of Torras i Bages based on a corpus of speeches given in the Artistic Circle of San Lucas, in the Provincial Academy of Fine Arts in Barcelona and at the First Conference on Christian Art, as well as fragments taken from conferences and other reflections.

Torras i Bages. L’home de l’eternitat was presented on 3 March at an event attended by various authorities, such as the Bishop of Vic, Romà Casanova, Laura Vilagrà, Appointed Delegate from the Catalan Government, Emilio Ablanedo Assistant Appointed Delegate from the Catalan government; the Rector of the University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia and Enric Vendrell, the General Director for Religious Affairs.