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Ricard Torrents i Bertrana, the founder and first rector of the University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia and the Eumo Editorial publishing house, died last Saturday in Barcelona at the age of 86. Ricard Torrents i Bertrana was a visionary leader who was committed to higher education. He founded the Balmes University School of Teachers, the cornerstone of our University, with a clear commitment to serve the public and contribute to the country's development. His legacy will live on in this university's history.
A life dedicated to knowledge
Torrents was born in Folgueroles in 1937, and was a writer, translator and scholar of the poet Jacint Verdaguer. He was educated at the Vic Seminary (1947-1959), where he came into contact with the group of poets featured in the anthology Estudiants de Vic 1951 [Students of Vic 1951]. He continued his studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University (1959-1961) and the Biblical Institute in Rome (1962-1964), at the University of Tübingen (1964-1967) and at the University of Barcelona (1978-1980). He taught Literature and Philosophy at the College of Sant Miquel dels Sants in Vic (1967-1970), and Holy Scripture at the Vic Seminary (1967-1968).
He was appointed director of the College of Sant Miquel dels Sants in Vic in 1970, where he fostered a spirit of educational renewal linked to the Catalan language and pedagogical tradition which were at that time oppressed by the Francoist regime.
The founder of the Balmes University School of Teachers, the source of today's UVic-UCC and the Eumo Editorial publishing house
At the College of Sant Miquel dels Sants, in 1977 he established the team that founded the Balmes University School of Teachers, where he taught Catalan language and literature, and made it the driving force behind Vic University Studies, of which he was the director (1977-1997), until the University of Vic received legal recognition from the Parliament of Catalonia (1997), and he was elected its first rector.
At the same time, in 1979 he founded the Eumo publishing house (an acronym for Osona University School of Teachers), which split into two companies, Eumogràfic and Eumo Editorial, in 1989. It was established as a university publishing house which published collections of teaching and educational material, poetry and history, some of which he edited.
A scholar of Verdaguer
He was one of the founders of the poetry magazine Reduccions (1976) and of the Verdaguer Society (1988), which organised the Verdaguer Colloquiums, published the Complete Works of Verdaguer and the Anuari Verdaguer magazine. An expert in Romanticism literature, his specialist knowledge of Jacint Verdaguer's life and work led to his publication of the bibliographic monograph entitled Verdaguer: un poeta per a un poble [Verdaguer: a poet for a people] (Blume, 1980, and Eumo, 1995, with several reprints); Ruta verdagueriana de Folgueroles [The Folgueroles Verdaguer route] (Eumo, 1992); the extensive collection of literary criticism entitled Verdaguer: estudis i aproximacions [Verdaguer: studies and approaches] (Eumo, 1995); the critical edition and study of Verdaguer's poem Dos màrtirs de ma pàtria, o siga Llucià i Marcià: poema en dos cants [Two Martyrs of my Country, or Llucià and Marcià: a poem in two hymns] (Societat Verdaguer, Eumo, 1995), and the poem La Pomerola. Primavera [The pome. Spring], with M. Angels Verdaguer (Verdaguer Edicions, 2013); the Spanish edition of L’Atlàntida [Atlantis] (Planeta, 1992); the compilation and edition of the work of Josep M. de Casacuberta entitled Estudis sobre Verdaguer [Studies on Verdaguer] (Eumo/Barcino/Institute of Catalan Studies, 1986). A la claror de Verdaguer. Nous estudis i aproximacions, [In the clearing of Verdaguer. New studies and approaches] with a foreword by Joan Triadú, (Eumo, 2005); Art, poder i religió. La Sagrada Família en Verdaguer i en Gaudí [Art, power and religion. The Sagrada Família in Verdaguer and Gaudí], with a foreword by Daniel Giralt-Miracle (Enciclopèdia Catalana/Proa, 2006), the winner of the twenty-sixth Carles Rahola Essay Prize. A les envistes del Ter. Jacint Verdaguer i Miquel Martí i Pol [At the viewpoints of the Ter. Jacint Verdaguer and Miquel Martí i Pol] (Eumogràfic, 2008); Pàtries. Poemes de Jacint Verdaguer [Homelands. Poems by Jacint Verdaguer] (Verdaguer Editions, 2014), and Verdaguer llegit per Segimon Serrallonga [Verdaguer read by Segimon Serrallonga] (edition and introductory study by R. Torrents, Verdaguer Chair of Literary Studies, UVic-UCC, 2015). An example of his keen interest in contemporary poetry is the anthology by Miquel Martí i Pol entitled Amb els ulls oberts [With eyes open] (Proa, 1982, revised in 1999).
Torrents the translator
As a translator he worked on a wide range of authors, from children's literature in Italian and German to books of the Bible in Hebrew and Greek. His translations include Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Gospel of Saint John; the Bible of the Catalan Bible Foundation (Editorial Alpha, 1968); Monopoly Capital: An essay on the American economic and social order, by Paul A. Baran and Paul Sweezy (Anagram, 1966); Beneath the wheel by Hermann Hesse (Lumen, 1981); Hyperion or the hermit in Greece, by Friedrich Hölderlin (Eumo, 1982); Letter to His Father, by Franz Kafka (Lumen, 1974; Eumo, 1989); Wilhelm von Humboldt's Treatise "On the internal and external organization of the higher scientific institutions in Berlin / On the basis of the classification of the higher scientific establishments and their various types," in Què és la Universitat o de la conveniència de rellegir Humboldt [What is University, or the usefulness of re-reading Humboldt], pub. University of Vic Publications Service, 2007.
In the realm of education, he was involved in various projects and periodicals, and in the anthology Els grans autors i l’escola [The great authors and the school] (Eumo, 1987). He wrote a significant amount of essays, lectures and articles on higher education, which were included in Les raons de la universitat [The reasons for university] (Eumo, 1993), Noves raons de la Universitat. [New reasons for University. An essay on the Catalan university space] (Eumo, 2002) and La meva aposta per la universitat. Una història per al futur [My belief in University. A history for the future] (Eumo, 2017).
He was awarded the Serra d'Or Critics Prize in 1996 and 1997; and in 2005, he won the Carles Rahola Essay Prize for Art, poder i religió. La Sagrada Família en Verdaguer i en Gaudí [Art, power and religion. The Sagrada Família in Verdaguer and Gaudí]. He was awarded the Cross of Saint George and the National Prize for Scientific Thought and Culture by the Government of Catalonia in 2007. During the 2006-2007 academic year, the University of Vic decided to officially name its library the Ricard Torrents Library in recognition of his work. He received the Gold Medal of the City of Vic in 2009.
He was a full member of the Institute of Catalan Studies, where he delivered the reception speech entitled "El segle XX en la Universitat" [The twentieth century in universities] (1999).
He was appointed president of the Consultative Council of the University of Vic in December 2010, and Eumo Editorial created the Ricard Torrents Essay Prize in his honour in 2020.