Octavio Beras Rojas

His Eminence Octavio Beras Rojas
Archbishop Emeritus of Santo Domingo
Church	Roman Catholic Church
Archdiocese	Santo Domingo
See	Santo Domingo
Appointed	10 December 1961
Term ended	15 November 1981
Predecessor	Ricardo Pittini
Successor	Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez
Other post(s)	Cardinal-Priest of San Sisto (1976-90)
Previous post(s)	Titular Archbishop of Euchaitae (1945-61) Coadjutor Archbishop of Santo Domingo (1945-61) Apostolic Administrator of Santiago de los Caballeros (1953-56) Apostolic Administrator sede plena of Santo Domingo (1960-61) President of the Dominican Episcopal Conference (1961-79) Apostolic Administrator of the Military Vicariate of the Dominican Republic (1961-62) Military Vicar of the Dominican Republic (1962-82
Orders
Ordination	13 August 1933
Consecration	12 August 1945 by Manuel Arteaga y Betancourt
Created cardinal	24 May 1976 by Pope Paul VI
Rank	Cardinal-Priest
Personal details
Born	Octavio Antonio Beras Rojas 16 November 1906 Saint Lucía, El Seibo, Dominican Republic
Died	1 December 1990(1990-12-01) (aged 84) Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Alma mater	Pontifical Gregorian University
Motto	In hoc signo vinces
Signature
Coat of arms

Styles of Octavio Beras Rojas
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Santo Domingo (emeritus)

Octavio Antonio Beras Rojas (16 November 1906 – 1 December 1990) was a Dominican cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Santo Domingo from 1961 to 1981, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1976.

Octavio Beras Rojas was born in Santa Lucía, in El Seibo Province, as the eldest of the three children of Octavio Beras Zorrilla, congressman and governor of El Seibo, and Teresa Rojas Santana (a great-granddaughter of Ramón Santana). He received his first Communion from Archbishop Adolfo Alejandro Nouel, and studied at the Seminary of St. Thomas Aquinas, in Santo Domingo from 1923 to 1926. He was then sent to Rome, where he studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University whilst residing at the Pontifical Collegio Pio Latino Americano.

Later returning to the Santo Domingo seminary for health reasons, Beras was ordained to the priesthood on 13 August 1933 and then did pastoral work in Santiago de los Caballeros until 1935, whence he was transferred to Santo Domingo. Whilst there, from 1935 to 1945, he served successively as secretary general of archdiocese; director of the ecclesiastical bulletin, weekly newspaper Verdad Católica, and of the Catholic radio station; president of the ecclesiastical tribunal; and organizer of the archdiocesan synod. He also founded the Federation of Catholic Youth, and was named an honorary canon of the metropolitan chapter, pro-vicar general, and pastor of the metropolitan cathedral.

On 2 May 1945 Beras was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Santo Domingo and Titular Archbishop of Euchaitae by Pope Pius XII. He received his episcopal consecration on the following 12 August from Archbishop Manuel Arteaga y Betancourt, with Archbishop Enrique Pérez Serantes and Bishop Aloysius Willinger, CSSR, serving as co-consecrators. After becoming Apostolic Administrator sede plena of Santo Domingo, Beras acted as the secretary general of the first conference of the Latin American Episcopal Conference, from 25 July to 2 August 1955, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

He later succeeded the late Ricardo Pittini Piussi, SDB, as Archbishop of Santo Domingo, and thus Primate of the Dominican Republic, on 10 December 1961. Beras was appointed Military Vicar for the Dominican Republic on 8 December 1962, and was a member of the Central Preparatory Commission of the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965. In 1965, he was also made President of the Episcopal Conference of Dominican Republic.

Pope Paul VI created him Cardinal Priest of S. Sisto in the consistory of 24 May 1976. Beras, the first cardinal from the Dominican Republic, was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the conclaves of August and October 1978, which selected Popes John Paul I and John Paul II respectively. He resigned as his post as Archbishop on 15 November 1981, after nearly twenty years of service, and his post in the military vicariate a year later, on 15 November 1982. Beras lost the right to participate in any conclaves upon reaching the age of eighty on 16 November 1986.

The Cardinal died in Santo Domingo, at age 84. He is buried at the primatial and metropolitan cathedral of the same, the Catedral de Santa María la Menor.

• Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church
• Catholic-Hierarchy