Roman Catholic Cardinal. A native of Calandra, Antonio María Cascajares y Azara belonged to a noble family, being a direct descendant of barons and marquises. Entering the artillery school of Segovia in 1846, he was promoted to lieutenant in the Fifth Cavalry Regiment ten years later. The following year however, he brought his promising career to an end in order to enter the priesthood, retiring with the rank of captain. Entering seminary in Zaragoza, he soon earned a licentiate in theology and another one in canon law, being ordained in February 1861. Obtaining benefices of two churches in Calanda and La Granja, he was named member of the cathedral chapters of Gerona, Zaragoza, Toledo and Burgos. Nominated to the episcopate by King Alfonso XII of Spain on January 25, 1882, Cascajares received his consecration with the titular see of Dora on June 4 that year at the royal chapel in Madrid. This appointment left the Holy See and the apostolic nuncio, Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro, in Spain in a hesitant manner in regards of his theological knowledge. Transferred to the see of Calahorra y La Calzada in 1884, the apostolic nuncio was forced to cease his remonstration by King Alfonso. Maria Christina of Austria, then Queen Regent of Spain, presented him to the Holy See as ordinary for the archdiocese of Valladolid. Pope Leo XIII accepted the nomination on December 17, 1891, he was officially promoted to the named metropolitan see by the Pope, who in the consistory of November 29, 1895, created him cardinal priest, receiving the title of Sant'Eusebio in June of the following year. In 1897, Queen Maria Cristina wanted to transfer him to the metropolitan and primatial see of Toledo but the idea was dropped off when he expressed his desire to remain in his see. Opting for title of Sant'Agostino in March 1898, the Cardinal was transferred to the metropolitan see of Zaragoza on April 18, 1901, but died before taking possession of the archdiocese.