Biography of John B. Torelló

Updated biography of John B. Torelló Barenys (Joan Baptista). He was born in Barcelona on November 7, 1920, and died in Vienna on August 15, 2011. Torelló was a Spanish Catholic priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei, theologian, neurologist, psychiatrist, writer and poet.

Throughout his life, he adapted his name to the country he lived in; in Catalonia, he was known as Mosen Torelló or Mosen Joan Baptista Torelló, in Spain as Don Juan Bautista Torelló, in Austria and Switzerland as Dr. Johannes Baptist Torelló, and in Italy as Don Gianbattista Torello.

He cultivated for many years a close friendship with the psychiatrist and philosopher Viktor E. Frankl.  In his works he emphasizes the unity of the human being in his physical, psychic and spiritual dimensions. Torelló was a professor at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, where there is a research center in psychology and spiritual life, which bears his name.

Table of contents: biography of John B. Torelló

• John B. Torelló’s family and early life
• University studies and vocation
• Priestly ordination
• Pastoral work in Vienna and new appointments
• Academic activity and friendships
• Publications
• Poetic work

John B. Torelló’s family and early life

John B. Torelló was the third of five children in a large Catalan family. Several of his siblings followed a vocation of total dedication to God: two of his brothers were Jesuits, and his younger sister was the prioress of the Monastery of the Discalced Carmelites of Santa María de Pedralbes in Barcelona. Her older sister married, maintaining a life dedicated to God in her married life as well, and had nine children.

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), Torelló suffered, like many of his contemporaries, the harsh persecution against the Church, which was particularly severe in Catalonia. As a good Christian, he tried to maintain his Christian identity by secretly practicing his religion.

Since he always had great artistic abilities, he helped many persecuted clergymen by forging identity documents. During the war, he completed high school.

University studies and vocation of John B. Torelló

After the civil war, he began his medical studies at the University of Barcelona, completing his doctorate at the University of Madrid with a thesis in psychology. He later specialized in neurology and psychiatry.

In 1940, he met Saint Josemaría Escrivá in Barcelona. Months later, in March 1941, the young Joan Baptista Torelló asked to be admitted as a numerary member in Opus Dei.

During his medical studies, he became involved in an underground group founded to defend Catalan culture called L’Estudi, which was against the Spanish government of Franco. It was composed of poets, intellectuals, painters, actors, and artists, including Ramón Aramón Serra, Salvador Espriu, and Josep Lleonart Maragall. In this group, they cultivated Catalan culture and language, which were prohibited at that time by the Spanish political administration.

From a young age, he developed many of the passions that characterized his entire life: love of freedom, a profound understanding of man from an anthropological and psychological point of view, and a deep resistance against all types of authoritarianism. A great reader and lover of art, he knew how to put all his talents at the service of others. As a poet, painter, and amateur magician, he was able to win great friendships with his talent.

Priestly ordination

On June 6, 1948, he was ordained as a priest by the auxiliary bishop of Madrid, Mons. Casimiro Morcillo, in the parish church of the village of Barajas (Madrid). After celebrating his first Mass in Barcelona, he moved to Rome on June 17 of that year. There he obtained his doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Angelicum (Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas).

Between 1949 and 1956, he moved to Palermo (Sicily), where he carried out his pastoral activity. In 1956, he moved to Zurich, returning to Italy two years later when he was appointed Regional Vicar of Opus Dei in that country.

Pastoral work in Vienna and new appointments

He moved to Vienna In 1964, and two years later he was appointed Regional Vicar of Opus Dei in Austria. Besides his work as regional vicar, he served as rector of the Church of St. Peter in Vienna, having been appointed to that position by Cardinal Franz König.

In 1989, Rev. John B. Torelló was appointed prelate by Pope John Paul II. In 1995, he was replaced as rector of Peterskirche.

His extensive pastoral work in the Austrian capital, focused on the message of the universal call to holiness, made him known as an excellent pastor of souls and a tireless preacher. He was invited many times to give courses and conferences in Italy, Croatia, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, and Spain.

It is surprising how he managed to take to heart the countries where he lived. The correct learning of Italian and German allowed him to publish some of his works originally in those languages. He was known for feeling at home everywhere: in St. Peter’s Church in Vienna, a Baroque jewel, he adapted his homilies and meditations to the parishioners, and his style also became a little more Baroque.

Academic activity and friendships

Academically, John B. Torelló taught psychology as a guest professor at the universities of Palermo and Milan. He was a professor at the Ecclesiastical Convictorio and the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Palermo. He also taught at the Cristoforo Marzoli Higher Education Institute in Palazzolo sull’Oglio (Brescia).

From 2000 to 2008, Torelló was an associate professor of Spiritual Theology at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, giving lectures also during the summer semesters. His academic contributions to this institution led to the establishment of a study center for psychology and spirituality named after him.

The Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Franz König, turned to him as an advisor. Among his friends were Vienna Mayor Helmut Zilk and his wife Dagmar Koller, psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl, and Caritas President in Vienna, Monsignor Leopold Ungar.

Rev. John B. Torelló died in his residence, the old rectory of the Church of St. Peter in the center of Vienna, on August 15, 2013, and was buried in the Ottakringer Friedhof.

Photo of Frankl and Torelló in Rome, 1970

Publications by John B. Torelló

He published numerous articles and books, almost always in the language of the country where he was located. Since he lived most of his life in Italy and Austria, many of his works were written in Italian or German and translated into Spanish, English, Portuguese, and French.

Among his publications are the following:

• Sobre la espiritualidad de los laicos, Rialp, Madrid, 1965, 37 pp. Colección “O crece o muere” ISBN: 978-84-321-0566-1
  • German: Die Welt erneuern: zur Spiritualität d. Laien; Adamas-Verlag; Colonia; 1970; 35 pp
• Psicanalisi e confessione; Nuova Accademia; Milano; 1965; 238 pp. Altra Edizione: Psicanalisi e/o confessione; Ares; Milano; 2007; 160 pp; IBAN: 9788881553846
  • Catalan: Psicoanalisi i confessió; Rialp, Madrid; 1967; ISBN: 978-84-321-1042-9
  • Spanish: Psicoanalisis y confesion; Rialp, Madrid, 1975; 216 pp; ISBN: 978-84-321-1806-7
  • German: Psychoanalyse und Beichte; Fassbaender; Wien; 2005; 164 pp., ISBN: 978-3-900538-82-8
• Psicología abierta, Rialp, Madrid 1972, 221 pp.; 2. Ed: 1998; ISBN: 9788432131905
• Zölibat und Persönlichkeit oder die affektive Reife des Priesters; Adamas; Colonia; 1973; 30 pp.
• Sexo y personalidad; EUNSA; Pamplona; 1975; 32 pp. ISBN: 978-84-313-0413-3
• Erziehung und Tugend; Adamas; Colonia; 1979; 32 pp. ISBN: 978-3-920007-52-6
• Dalle mura di Gerico. Note di psicologia spirituale; Ares, Milano; 1988; 280 pp.; IBAN: 9788881551125
• Sexualität und Person; Adamas; Colonia; 1990; 27 pp. ISBN: 978-3-925746-38-3
• Sexualität, Liebe und Hingabe; Verl. Kultur in die Familie; Linz; 1992; 32 pp. ISBN: 978-3-900891-12-1
• Psychologie des Alltags: Modelle für das Leben; Verl. Kultur in die Familie; Linz; 1994; 334 pp.; ISBN: 978-3-900891-19-0
• Wer ist wer in der Familie, Kultur in die Familie, Linz, 1995; 240 pp. ISBN: 978-3-900891-31-2
  • Second edition: Fassbaender Verlag; Wien, 2016; 216 pp ISBN: 978-3-902575-71-5
  • Italian: La famiglia: personaggi & interpreti; Ares; Milano; 1997; 175 pp; ISBN: 88-8155-138-1
  • Spanish: Quien es quien en la familia, Ediciones Cristiandad, Madrid, 2015, 222 pp. ISBN: 9788470576171

Some of the latest publications of Torelló

• Psicología y vida espiritual, Rialp, Madrid, 2008, 256 pp. ISBN: 9788432136900.
• Von Gott zuerst geliebt: Betrachtungen zur Einkehr; Fassbaender Verlag; Wien, 2006; 204 pp ISBN: 978-3-900538-91-0
  • Spanish: Él nos amó primero; Ediciones Cristiandad; Madrid; 2014; 238 pp.; ISBN: 978-84-7057-597-6
  • French: Il nous a aimés le premier; Le Laurier; Paris; 2018; 206 pp; ISBN: 978-2-86495-442-2
• Impazziti di luce. Scritti di psicologia spirituale (Curatore: Massimo Bettetini); Ares; Milano; 2017; 232 pp.; IBAN: 9788881557226
• Celibacy, Personality, and the Gift of Self, Booklet nº 207, Scepter, New York, 1997 (2019 second edition): Available for free download.

Poetic work in the biography of John B. Torelló

Rev. John B. Torelló published also poems, mainly in Catalan. His compositions have been included in the anthologies of Catalan culture: Les mil millors poesies de la llengua catalana.

In addition, he has published several articles on poetry, including the following:

“La poesía nella Spagna di oggi” (Poetry in present-day Spain), Pagine nuove, Rome, 1949.

“La poesía catalana contemporánea” (Contemporary Catalan poetry), Arbor, Madrid, 1949.

“Cincuenta años de poesía italiana” (Fifty years of Italian poetry), Arbor, Madrid, 1951.”