Andrés Vázquez de Prada


Andres Vazquez de Prada y Vallejo was a Spanish historian, lawyer, professor, diplomat and writer.

Life

He studied law in Valladolid and Seville, where he was later professor of Governmental Law. In 1947, his doctoral thesis, General Theory of De Facto Governments, obtained the prize for outstanding work at the University of Madrid.
Later he focussed his professional efforts in the field of diplomacy and moved to London, where he worked in the Spanish embassy as embassy attaché while also carrying out a notable literary work. He has published several studies on important figures in the English Catholic Church, including The dream of an old man on John Henry Newman.
He played an active role in the start and growth of Opus Dei's apostolic work in the United Kingdom. He met Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer in the first Center of Opus Dei in Valladolid. On September 28, 1942 he requested admission as a Numerary. From 1977 on he devoted himself full-time to researching the life of St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer which resulted in his three-volume biography of the founder of Opus Dei. In the 1990s, during the writing of this biography, he lived in Rome. After completing the work, he returned to Spain. After a long sickness he died in Madrid on August 27, 2005.

Selected list of works