Enrique de la Lama, Professor Emeritus of the School of Theology at the University of Navarra, died on August 17 in Logroño at the age of 87. A priest, with a doctorate in History and Theology, he was a professor from 1982 until his retirement in 2006, and Deputy Director of yearbook of Church History since it was founded in 1992.

He was born in Logroño on May 23, 1936. He entered the Conciliar seminar of the diocese of Calahorra where he studied the programs of study of Humanities and Philosophy until, in 1955, he moved to the Pontifical University of Comillas to fill in his programs of study of Theology. He was ordained a priest in 1959 by the then nuncio to Spain, Hildebrando Antoniutti and, shortly after, he asked for admission to the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross where his love for the priesthood and priests, for his diocese and for the whole Church intensified.

He was a formator and professor at seminar minor and major of Logroño from his ordination to the priesthood until 1971, when he moved to Pamplona to complete the licentiate degree in History. In 1972 he was appointed Ecclesiastical Counselor of the Spanish Embassies to the Holy See and to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (1972-1974), in Rome. 

In 1982, after returning to Pamplona definitively after some years of ministerial work in Bilbao, he defended his doctoral thesis in History, which he had been preparing for some time under the direction of Professor Federico Suárez. That same year he joined School as a professor of Theology. From the beginning, he combined his teaching tasks and his research interests with an intense pastoral activity, particularly in the field of the students of the recently begun Cycle I of the School (high school Mayor Albaizar and high school Mayor Echalar).

In 1986 he defended his second thesis , specialization program of historical theology, obtaining the extraordinary award of doctorate. Professor de la Lama has left notable works of a historical nature. The nunciature of Giustiniani, which he studied in the four volumes of his doctoral thesis in history, as well as the figure of the enlightened Juan Antonio Llorente, placed him among the specialists in the history of the Church in Spain in the 19th century. His last published work(Visiones políticas, Eunsa) appeared in 2020. In addition to these works, Professor de la Lama is the author of works of a theological and spiritual nature, such as La vocación sacerdotal ampliamente difundida.

In his work as a teacher of life, Enrique applied some principles such as the one that training requires a relationship staff, of friendship if possible, that commits the formator and the one being formed. Another principle is that training does not take place in times of limited dedication, but is a continuous task. A further one is the approach of training as a way of being, its own, original, in which the formator is a witness and a friend who goes ahead.

In this way, in addition to its fruitful academic activity, the School of Theology has benefited from the ministry of Enrique de la Lama who has effectively contributed to his students being motivated, intellectually ambitious and prepared to lead the Church of our time. In this way, the University of Nava