Roman Catholic Archbishop. The third of twelve children, Joseph Alemany y Conill was born in Vic, Spain, and entering the Order of Preachers at the early age of fifteen, receiving the religious name of Sadoc, professed his vows in 1830. Two of his brothers would become priests for the diocese of Vic while two others likewise members of the Order of Preachers. Ordained priest in Viterbo, Italy, on March 27, 1837, he earned a lectorate in theology in early 1840 from the Dominican College of the Minerva in Rome. Appointed sub-master of novices shortly after his ordination and successively assistant rector of the Minerva church, being impossible for him to return to his native Spain due to the suppression of religious communities, fluent in Spanish, Latin, Italian, French and English, he developed an interest in the missionary activities of his Order, thinking at first of journeying to the Philippine Islands for such apostolic labor. However, the Master General of the Order, Father Dominicus Angelus Ancarani, assigned him to the Province of Saint Joseph in the United States of America, then centered principally at Saint Joseph's Priory in Somerset and Saint Rose's Priory in Springfield, Kentucky. Arriving in the United States sometime in early April 1840, he began a ten year period of intense labor, serving first in Somerset and later in Zanesville. Sent over to Cuba by his provincial in order to raise funds for Saint Joseph's church, Following his first years in Ohio, he was assigned to assist fellow Dominican, Bishop Richard Miles, in the expansive diocese of Nashville. First assigned to the cathedral in Nashville, in 1845 he was present in Memphis and the following year, when the Province of St. Joseph accepted Bishop Miles's invitation to accept a church in Memphis, Alemany was named its first superior. Shortly thereafter he was named the master of novices while the Master General, Father Vincent Ajello, appointed him provincial of St. Joseph's Province in 1848. When the Province of the Holy Name in California was formally erected on July 18, 1850, Alemany was appointed its first provincial. In this capacity however, he was to serve briefly, as while visiting Rome that same year, he was appointed the first bishop of the then newly erected diocese of Monterey in Upper California. Having sailed from New York to attend a general convocation of his Order in Rome, on his arrival he found that the gathering had been cancelled, yet being called by Cardinal Giacomo Fransoni, then prefect of the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda Fide, he learnt of his appointment and that the Pope was to receive him in five days' time. Determined not to accept the post, during the meeting the Pope spoke first: "You really must go to California; there is no alternative. Where others are drawn by gold, you must go to carry the cross. Do not ponder over what to say or do for the Lord will direct you at the proper time", told him Pius IX. Left with no choice but to accept this new office, Alemany received his episcopal consecration from Cardinal Fransoni on June 30, 1850 at the church of San Carlo al Corso in Rome. Heading towards Gold Rush California, he started travelling among the numerous towns and mining camps of his diocese, organizing parishes and Catholic institutions for his multi ethnic flock. At that period, his jurisdiction included both Californias, but since Lower California was under Mexican rule, it was soon realized that it should not be under an American bishop, Upper California being enough responsibility since it included the twenty one Franciscan Missions along with the newly appearing mining towns in many portions of northern California. Known for his personal humility, piety and asceticism, Alemany proved to be a tireless man in developing ecclesiastical institutions within his far-flung diocese, establishing among others, various national parishes in San Francisco, of which city he was appointed as its first archbishop on July 29, 1853. Laying the cornerstone of what is today known as Old St. Mary's Church on California Street and Grant Avenue, he founded St. Mary's College in 1863 as a college for boys, originally located above the avenue the presently carries his name at St. Mark's Park, later relocated to Oakland in 1889 and successively to Moraga in Contra Costa County in 1928. Always longing to serve on as a simple missionary priest, so bonded was he to the Order of Saint Dominic that from his episcopal appointment up until his death, he kept wearing the white habit of his Order and in letter and spirit adhered to the Rule of Saint Dominic as far as it was possible outside community life. Asking for a coadjutor, Bishop Patrick William Riordan was appointed in 1883. A few months later, after over thirty years of apostolic labours in California, he submitted his resignation, retiring to his native Spain. Named archbishop of the titular see of Pelusium, he ended his days as a simple friar, passing away from complications of a cerebral attack in Valencia where he had gone to reorganize his Order's Province of Aragon. Laid to rest in the church of Sant Domènec on the epistle side of the main altar in the chapel of Santo Domingo at his native Vic, to where his body was conveyed via train, various attempts were made decades later in order to transport his remains back to California. With the Spanish Civil War disrupting the plans, his vault luckily survived after family thought of removing his marker atop of his tomb in order to avoid possible desecration. The idea originally being that of reinterring him chapel of the College of Saint Albert the Great at the Dominican House of Studies in Oakland, his relatives at first did not concede to give their permission for such transfer, unless on grounds that a process of beatification would be taken up. Eventually consenting, Alemany's remains were transported to San Francisco on February 6, 1965 and there reinterred at Holy Cross Cemetery Mausoleum in Colma, next to the bodies of Archbishops Riordan, Hanna and Mitty, his successors in office. With Alemany Boulevard and the Alemany Maze in San Francisco, Bishop Alemany High School in Mission Hills, California, and the Archbishop Alemany Library at the Dominican University of California in San Rafael all named in his honor, Archbishop Alemany was a practical, diligent and deeply humble man, who being a pioneer through the mission fields, managed to provide both care and education to the people entrusted into his hands, fulfilling the goal of proving to be an excellent leader for both church and community in the history of California.