page_title: Joan Roca i Caball
section_title: Family and youth
hierarchical_section_title: Joan Roca i Caball / Family and youth
caption_attribution_description: Español: Político tradicionalista
context_page_description: Joan Baptista Roca i Caball was a Catalan Carlist and Christian-Democratic politician. He is known as co-founder of Unió Democràtica de Catalunya and recognized as representative of a "Third Spain", the group which emerged during the Spanish Civil War and claimed to have stood in-between the warring factions. He is also counted among leaders of the Catalan opposition to Francoism.
context_section_description: The Roca family has traditionally owned vineyards in the Barcelona province; heavily hit by the phylloxera plague in the mid-19th century, it was driven out of business. Joan's paternal grandfather, Antonio Roca Calvet (1840-1917), inherited nothing but clothes and had to build his position in mid-ranks of the Barcelona bourgeoisie, the task facilitated by his marrying into an established Masferrer family. His son and Joan's father, Ramon Roca Masferrer (1861-1932), became a prestigious personality within the realm of Barcelona editors, arts and culture. He is best known as co-founder and one of the key people behind Instituto Catalán de las Artes del Libro (also known as Societat de les Arts del Llibre), an organization of Barcelona publishers; he was member of its managing board. Apart from typical corporative activities Instituto managed a school and published reviews and other prints itself, contributing in particular to development of the Catalan graphical art. Roca Masferrer was also engaged in charity, active in Centro Benéfico Social Parthenon and Centro Católico Obrero, the interest passed later on to his offspring. He married María Baus Rocabruna, with whom he had 3 children. Widowed in 1894, in 1895 he married María Caball Fargas (1862-1938); the couple settled in the university quarter at the intersection of Rosellon and Aribau streets; they had two children, Joan and Trinidad.
  The young Joan received his first education in the very prestigious Barcelona Jesuit college known as Colegio de Caspe; he entered the school in 1908 and received his bachillerato in 1914. The same year he entered Faculty of Law at the University of Barcelona, where he joined as unenrolled student. During his studies he worked in an unnamed "oficina comercial" and practiced law as an intern in the office of Salvador Ariza and in the civil section of the municipal court of the Hospital district, where he served as a secretary. Brought up in fervently Catholic ambience, he also engaged in lay Catholic and charity organizations, like congregations of Sant Joan Berchmans and the Immaculada, acting as a catechist in the nearby Centre Montserrat-Xavier. The exact year of his graduation is unclear, though in 1921 he is known as already pursuing a law career on his own. In 1923 he married Montserrat Junyent Quintana (1905-1985), daughter of Miguel Junyent Rovira, the leader of Catalan Carlism and editor-in-chief of the daily El Correo Catalan. The couple had 7 children, 5 daughters, and 2 sons. One of them, Miquel Roca i Junyent, was active in anti-Francoist opposition and made his name nationwide as a moderate Catalanist politician; he is considered one of the fathers of the 1978 Spanish constitution. Apart from being a scholar, he is also heading a major law firm, considered one of the most influential ones in Spain. Montserrat Roca Junyent was distinguished figure in the realm of Catalan librarians and archivists.
caption: Miguel Junyent
exif: {}