QUEVEDO Y QUINTANO, PEDRO. - Cardinal, b. 12 Jan. 1736 at Villanueva del Fresno (diocese of Badajoz), d. 28 March 1818 at Orense. He took degrees in law and theology at Salamanca; on 15 Apr. 1776 Pius VI named him bishop of Orense, a see he retained until his death despite several offers of the archbishopric of Seville.
Especially zealous in his ministry, in 1790 he gave refuge to French priests fleeing the Revolution. In May 1808 he was appointed by the Madrid governing junta to the national junta that was to convene at Bayonne to ratify Napoleon’s usurpation of the Spanish throne. On 29 May, citing his advanced age (he was then 73) and frail health, he declined to attend that assembly, but at the same time declared that he could not accept the Emperor’s policy toward Spain. On 29 Jan. 1810 Quevedo was elected to the Regency, but when he reached Ciudad Rodrigo in May he refused to recognize the sovereign authority of the Cortes and resigned both his regency and his seat as deputy. Since he refused to swear the Constitution, he was stripped of Spanish citizenship on 17 Aug. 1812 and withdrew to Portugal. In 1818 Pius VII created him cardinal. In his diocese he earned lasting gratitude for founding a hospice, an orphanage, and the conciliar seminary of St Ferdinand.