SPAIN, 2004, special show cancel from Hernani, birthplace of Fr. Kardaberaz

Fr. Agustin de Kardaberaz y Elorriaga, an important Basque writer and preacher of the 18th century, was born in Hernani, in the province of Guipúzcoa, December 28, 1703, and died in Castelo de San Giovanni (Bologna, Italy) October 18, 1770. After studying philosophy and law in Pamplona and Valladolid, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1721. By the time he was 26 he was already ordained a priest and was professor of grammar in a Jesuit school in Bilbao. His fame as a preacher spread throughout the Basque Country, especially Guipúzcoa  and Bizkaia. He retired to Loyola in 1755 because of poor health, but continued preaching missions in the Basque Country. When the Jesuits were expelled by Charles III in 1767, he moved to Italy, where he died at the age of almost 67.

His teacher and guide as a writer was Jesuit Father Manuel Larramendi. Kardaberaz wrote many books, the majority of them in Basque, mostly on religious subjects. But his Euskararen berri onak (1761) was of special interest as a contribution to making the Guipuzcoan dialect of Basque a language of culture.

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