Alfons de Requesens

Alfons de Requesens y Fenollet OFM (1570 – 8 April 1639) was a Spanish prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the bishop of Barbastro from 1627 to 1639.

Before his service in Toledo, de Requesens held several duties in Franciscan provinces in Germany and Austria and also served as a diplomat for Emperor Ferdinand II.

[1] De Requesens was at first a member of the Low German Franciscan Province, which had friaries in present-day Netherlands, Belgium and northern Germany.

[1] At the same time, on 12 December 1603,[1] de Requesens was appointed the general commissioner for Upper Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Hungary, Poland and Croatia[2] by the Franciscan Curia.

Testimonials from Tyrolean Provincial Bernard Rast praised his observant adherence to rules, discipline, and religious zeal and described his lifestyle as saintly.

He was allowed to resign, with the condition of leading chapters in the Upper German and Tyrolean Provinces, though he couldn't attend the latter in 1610 due to receiving episcopal honours.

[1] For his services,[2] he was awarded the nomination as the titular bishop of Duvno by Emperor Mathias,[1] and received papal confirmation on 30 August 1610.

[5] In this office in 1613, he consecrated the castle chapel in Frohsdorf and the altars in the Church of St. Blasie in Klein-Wien (present-day Paudorf and Furth bei Göttweig).

In 1618, he also consecrated several altars for the Göttweig Abbey in the churches of St. Philipp and Jakobus in Brunnkirchen, St. John in Hellerhof and St. Wolfgang in Fürth.

He was probably commissioned by Philip III of Spain to support his son Ferdinand, who had become cardinal and archbishop of Toledo on 1 March 1620 at the age of ten.