Roman Catholic Cardinal. Born in Ferroñes, Francisco Álvarez Martínez moved to Oviedo alongside his family following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, returning eventually to their village at the end of the conflict. Frequenting the seminaries of Valdediós and Oviedo, he furthered his studies at the Pontifical Universities of Salamanca and Comillas, earning a doctorate in canon law. Ordained to the priesthood in Oviedo on June 11, 1950, he served as private secretary to the local ordinary, Msgr. Francisco Javer Lauzurica y Torralba before being named chancellor and pro-vicar general of the archdiocese. Elected bishop of the the diocese of Tarazona by Pope Paul VI, he received his episcopal consecration on June 3, 1973 from Archbishop Luigi Dadaglio, then Apostolic Nuncio in Spain. Transferred to the see of Calahora y La Calzada-Logroño on December 20, 1976 and to that of Orihuela-Alicante on May 12, 1989, he went on to be promoted to the metropolitan and primatial see of Toledo on June 23, 1995. During his episcopate in the primatial see, he reorganized the diocesan administration, creating new territorial vicariates and reconfiguring the curia; encouraged the secular apostolate with the empowerment of the Catholic Action and pursued the development of the diocesan media with the creation of the Diocesan Television Channel in 1997. He also took special care of the Diocesan Caritas, inaugurating in the year 2000 a home for the care and assistance of AIDS patients. Also through his initiative, two years later, the Holy See approved the statutes of the San Ildefonso de Toledo Higher Institute of Theological Studies, added to the Faculty of Theology of the San Dámaso Ecclesiastical University, while as a channel for the development of theological research and Church history, he promoted the creation of the "Toletana" journal. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of February 21, 2001 with the title of Santa Maria Regina Pacis a Monte Verde by Pope John Paul II, he resigned the pastoral government of his see on October 24 of the following year. Moving to Madrid, he died in one of the city's hospitals after battling a long illness at the venerable age of 96 years. Known throughout his long life for his humbleness and simplicity, the latter was demonstrated even in his death through the austerity of his casket. The Cardinal had yet one particular request, which although quite unusual and unprecedented was granted to him by the archdiocese. Upon his burial, the remains of his parents and of his only sibling who died in her childhood, were placed inside his same vault. Furthermore, the Brotherhood of Charity, the oldest one in Spain, characterized his burial by throwing a shovelful of earth as was customary in older times when accompanying the burials of the poor or the executed. Therefore, continuing with this tradition, the Brotherhood added also grams of soil to the tomb of the late Cardinal prior to its sealing.