Fallece el profesor José Orlandis, primer decano de Canónico y primer director del Instituto de Historia de la Iglesia de la Universidad de Navarra
Death of Professor José Orlandis, first Dean of Canon Law and first director of the high school of Church History at the University of Navarra
On December 24, Professor José Orlandis Rovira died at his home in Palma de Mallorca. Among other facets of his academic activity, he was the first Dean of the School of Canon Law and the first director of the high school of Church History of the University of Navarra.
Professor Orlandis was born on April 29, 1918 in Palma de Mallorca. After obtaining his doctorate in Law at the Central University of Madrid, in the school of García Gallo, he obtained the Chair of History of Law from the University of Murcia in 1942, when he was 24 years old. He extended programs of study in Rome from 1942 to 1946, living in the Italian capital for most of the years of the Second World War. There he obtained the doctorate by the pontifical Ateneo Angelicum.
In 1945 he moved his Chair to the University of Saragossa, where he would carry out a large part of his activity professor, also serving for a time as position of Associate Dean. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1949 and since then he has always been intensely dedicated to ministerial tasks, without abandoning the exercise of teaching and research. In 1959 he moved to Pamplona to teach at the University of Navarra, combining his new responsibilities with frequent stays to teach various academic activities at the University of Zaragoza.
He was Dean of the School of Canon Law of the University of Navarra from its origin, in 1959, until 1968, when he became director of the high school of History of the Church, position which he would carry out until 1990. His extensive activity professor in the Schools of Canon Law and Theology, as well as in the high school of Church History of the University of Navarra focused on the History of the ancient and medieval Church and the History of Canonical Institutions.
As a result of his research activity, Professor Orlandis wrote more than two hundred publications, including some thirty books. He has been recognized as the greatest specialist in the culture and institutions of Visigothic Spain, and his works also include programs of study on various social, cultural and religious topics. He is also the author of some writings on the beginnings of Opus Dei, which he joined in 1939, at the end of the Spanish civil war.