Lorenzo María Alier Cassi (1878–1942) was a Spanish Catalan lawyer and politician. In jurisprudence he is known as the author and co-author of few encyclopedic works and as dean of the Barcelona Colegio de Abogados in 1939–1942. In politics he remained a Carlist throughout all his life. In 1907-1910 he served one term in the lower chamber of the Cortes, and in 1934-1936 he was leader of the regional Catalan branch of the Carlist organization, Comunión Tradicionalista.
Family and youth
Lorenzo M. Alier Cassinot to be confused with Lorezno María Alier Ochoa, a Catalan painter (1924-2014); it is not clear whether there was any family relationship between the two descended from a bourgeoisie Catalan family. His paternal grandfather Lorenzo Alier originated from Vichsee Certificado de defunción de Lorenzo Alier y Sala, [in:] PostImg service, available here but he settled in Barcelona and briefly served as corregidor in alcaldia of the city;El Lloyd Español 26.10.1864, available here however, he made his name mostly as an entrepreneur. He owned a mid-size Barcelona metalworking company, which specialized in casting and manufacture of iron products;Carles Puig-Pla, Desarollo y difusion de la construccion de maquinas e instrumentos cientificos; el caso de Barcelona, siglos XVIII-XIX, [in:] Scripta Nova. Revista Electronica de Geogrtafia y Ciencias Sociales 69 (2000), available online here, also Manuel Sauri, Guia general de Barcelona. Manual histórico topográfico, Barcelona 2004, , p. 388 its business climax fell on the mid-19th century. Following his premature death the enterprise was inherited by his son and Alier Cassi's father, Lorenzo Alier Sala (1845-1911), though it seems that in the 1860s the business was rather managed by his relativesa Ramona Alier y Sala engaged in manufacture of iron products in 1863, Anuario general del comercio, de la industria y de las profesiones de la magistratura y de la administración, Madrid 1863, p. 1157 and went into decline;Francisco J. Orellana, Reseña completa descriptiva y crítica de la exposición industrial y artística de productos del principado de Cataluña, Barcelona 1860, pp. 26, 129. In 1872 the company “Alier” still operated though at one more different location, Alberto del Castillo, La maquinista terrestre y maritima. Personaje histórico, Barcelona 1955, p. 113 in the 1880s “Alier y Compañia” faced legal problems yet it continued to operate.La Vanguardia 05.05.1885, available here
Alier Sala early engaged in the legitimist cause; in the late 1860s he set up Amigos del Pueblo, a society intended to counter secular influence, and founded a weekly of the same name; in 1872 he published El Partido carlista y la revolución española, a Traditionalist political pamphlet.full title El Partido Carlista y la Revolución Española: o sea consideraciones sobre la actual situación de España, Barcelona 1872, available online here Already prior to the Third Carlist War he had to flee Spain; during the warfare he served in the Carlist Cuerpo de Administración Militár. Following the legitimist defeat he spent a brief spell on exile in France and then returned to Barcelona. At the turn of the centuries he grew to high positions in the Catalan Carlist structures; as treasurerLa Cruz 18.02.10, available here he became member of the regional executiveLa Bandera Regional 21.01.11, available here and vice-president of Círculo Tradicionalista of the city, noted also as “fundador é impulsor de muchas sociedades y periódicos”.El Restaurador 18.01.11, available here He continued operating the metalworking manufacture and got involved in insurance business.1899 a “Lorenzo Alier” was nominated representative of Sociedad General de Seguros for Catalonia and Baleares; it is not clear whether the person in question was Lorenzo Alier Sala or Lorenzo Alier Cassi, Revista Ilustrada de Bancos, Ferrocarriles, Industria y Seguros 25.10.99, available here, Anuario-Riera 1902, available here
Alier Sala married María Gracia Cassí (died 1924);La Vanguardia 20.01.1924, available here close to nothing is known of her or her family. The couple had 6 children, of whom Lorenzo was the oldest one.Antonio, José María, Maria Gracía and Matilde outlived their brother Lorenzo, see La Vanguardia 22.01.42, available here; María de los Dolores passed away in 1926, La Vanguardia 03.06.26, available herel None of the sources consulted provides any details on his early education; at unspecified time though probably in the late 1890s he commenced law studies at the Barcelona University.La Vanguardia 15.01.42, available here He graduated shortly before or in 1901, as this is the year when Alier Cassi entered Colegio de Abogados of Barcelona and started practicing.Aram Monfort i Coll, La depuració franquista dels advocats de Barcelona (1939–1945). Una aproximació a l’Iŀustre Coŀegi d’Advocats de Barcelona de la postguerra, [in:] Franquisme & transició 1 (2013), p. 137
At unspecified time though prior to 1912 Alier Cassi married Rosa Espada y Bertrán (died 1926); there is no closer information on her or her family available.La Vanguardia 06.07.26, available here The couple settled in Barcelona and had 7 children,La Vanguardia 06.07.26, available here born between 1912 and the early 1920s. None of them became a public figure; the third son José María died in infancy,La Vanguardia 26.06.17, available here while his two older brothers Lorenzoa lawyer, Lorenzo Alier Espada (born 1912) was killed on September 9, 1936, in Barcelona, César Alcalá, La represión politica en Cataluña (1936-1939), Madrid 2005, , p. 116 and Antonio Alier Espada,a dentist, Antonio Alier Espada (born 1915) was killed on January 19, 1937, also in Barcelona, Alcalá 2005, p. 116 in the Republic days engaged in Carlist politics,El Cruzado Español 01.07.32, available here were executed by the Republicans during the Civil War; the only son who – like his 3 sistersMercedes Alier Espada married Francisco Millet Sensat and had one daughter, María Rosa Millet Alier, La Vanguardia 24.10.56, available here; Concepción Alier Espada lived at least until 2012, La Vanguardia 20.03.12, available here; Montserrat Alier Espada married Rafael P. Berenguer, La Vanguardia 27.05.44, available here - outlived his father was the youngest one, also José María.José María Alier Espada (1919-2012) married Dolores Alcrudo Fernández, La Vanguardia 09.07.07, available here The best known of Alier Cassi's grandchildren is María Rosa Millet Alier, a publisher and translator;see e.g. Lino Sardos Albertini, El más allá existe, Barcelona 1994, , or Albert Salvado, Abre los ojos y despierta, Barcelona 2012, , both translated from Italian by María Rosa Millet Alier two grandsons practiced as recognized Barcelona dentists.for José María Alier Alcrudo see e.g. his Facebook account, available here; for Lorenzo María Alier Alcrudo see Alier Alcrudo Lorenzo Maria entry, [in:] Yelp service, available here A paternal uncle of Alier Cassi, Andreu Alier Sala, was a locally known poet, associated with vigatanisme.Miquel S. Salarich i Torrents, Poesia vigatana del segle XIX, [in:] Ausa 5/47 (1964), p. 22
Early public career
Alier Cassi was raised in a Carlist family; he inherited his Traditionalist political outlook from his father, witnessed his political engagements, and was growing up in a house visited by Catalan Carlist heavyweights. He got involved in party politics as a teenager and himself was first noted in 1898, when delivering an address during inauguration of a Carlist circle in the town of Castellar del Vallés.Jordi Canal i Morell, El carlisme català dins l’Espanya de la Restauració: un assaig de modernització politica (1888–1900), Barcelona 1998, , p. 220. At that time Alier tried his hand also in letters, see e.g. his brief piece La Ciencia in Calvario, [in:] El Norte 07.04.98, available here In 1902, at an unusually early age of 24, he became secretary of the Carlist regional Catalan executive, a nominally technical position which however placed him in the centre of regional party politics.Monfort i Coll 2013, p. 137 In 1904 he served as vice-president of the Barcelona branch of Juventud Carlista.El Correo Español 26.05.04, available here According to some authors he was climbing the party hierarchy ladder fast and already in the mid-1900s grew to president of Círculo Tradicionalista de Barcelona;Albert Balcells, Joan B. Culla, Conxita Mir, Les eleccions generals a Catalunya de 1901 a 1923, Barcelona 1982, , p. 525 the information is by no means certain as other sources suggest that the person in question might have been rather his father, also “Lorenzo Alier”.El Correo Español 19.09.08, available here
In the mid-1900s the Catalan Carlists were divided by the question of would-be partnership with republicans and nationalists; the coalition, named Solidaritat Catalana, was supposed to oppose government-sponsored legislation which curtailed some press liberties and in the region was widely perceived as aimed against Catalonia. Eventually the Traditionalists joined the Solidaritat electoral alliance prior to the 1907 elections. In unclear circumstances Alier Cassi, at the time a relatively junior party politician known mostly as the son of his father, was nominated by the Carlist regional jefatura to run for the Cortes ticket in Cervera, where he stood as a joint Solidaritat candidate. His bid proved hugely successful, as Alier smashed the conservative candidate Rafael Roig Torres and gathered 99,62% of all votes cast, enjoying support of 56,63% of all these entitled to vote.Balcells, Culla, Mir 1982, p. 525 In the chamber Alier joined the 14-member Carlist minority yet he remained a rather passive MP; neither the official Cortes service nor the press of the era listed his name in relation to any legislation or debate.
As member of the Carlist parliamentary contingent Alier came to know nationwide party moguls; according to some sources he even befriended two consecutive formal party leaders, Matías Barrio Mier and Bartolomé Feliú Pérez, and the key party theorist, Juan Vázquez de Mella.El Siglo Futuro 05.04.34, available here In 1909 he took part in funeral of Barrio;La Bandera Regional 03.07.09, available here a few times he took part in other Traditionalist rallies, be it in Catalonia or far beyond it, e.g. in Madrid or in the Basque Zumarraga.El Siglo Futuro 05.04.34, available here The same year the Carlist Catalan leader, Erasmo Janer Gironella, appointed him member of Junta Regional;La Cruz 13.04.09, available here it is not clear whether his father resigned or whether the two formed a fairly unique case of the father and the son serving in the Carlist regional executive. However, Alier Cassi was only moderately involved in politics and tended to focus rather on his juridical career. When his Cortes term expired in 1910 he chose not to stand for re-election;Balcells, Culla, Mir 1982, p. 170 as it would turn out in the future, he thus terminated his parliamentary career.a local Cervera daily suggested that Alier got trapped in crossfire between a local Lerida leader Antonio de Nuix and the Catalan regional leader Duque de Solferino, El Ciervo 05.05.10, available via Xacpremsa service here
Political detachment