Remembering Leona Vicario at Mexico’s Independence Day

Today is September 16th, México’s Independence Day, which coincides with the start of Hispanic Heritage Month on September 15. In México and here in the United States, there are festivals for El Grito de Dolores. El grito (the cry) of Fray Miguel Hidalgo is a symbol of the Mexican struggle for independence. Another prominent figure of the Mexican battle for independence is María de la Soledad Leona Camila Vicario Fernández de San Salvador, better known as Leona Vicario. Orphaned at 18, she was the ward of her uncle, the lawyer Agustín Pomposo Fernández de San Salvador. She was unusually well educated for her time, studying the liberal arts and political science; she spoke several languages. She also attracted the attention of her future husband, who was clerking for her uncle. She was providing support to the insurgents when one of her letters to them was intercepted in 1813, and she was imprisoned in El Colegio de Belén in Mexico City. Andrés Quintana Roo, along with several others, came to help her escape. In disguise, she and Quintana Roo journeyed to Michoacán, where they married. She wrote in support of the independence movement for newspapers, including El Ilustrador Americano and Quintana Roo’s El Semanario Patriótico Americano. She helped to finance the rebellion. She and her husband moved with their family and lived in hiding in Toluca; her assets were seized, and they had little money. Eventually, she was pardoned and was awarded a house by the Congress as compensation. She and her husband were buried with other heroes of the revolution under the Monumento a la Independencia (Column of Independence), commonly known as El Ángel (the angel) on Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City. Today, Vicario is known as Benemerita y Dulcisima Madre de la Patria (Meritorious and Sweetest Mother of the Nation).

The Library’s collections include not only the national gazette for Mexico, but also the gazettes for many of the 31 states. Among these is the gazette for Quintana Roo, the state named after Andrés Quintana Roo, Leona Vicario’s husband and fellow revolutionary. We are always working to increase our Mexican gazette content, such as the new issues of the Guanajuato gazette we added this year. Celebrate the independence of our neighbor by checking out our collections of Mexican laws and gazettes. You can also read more about Mexico’s foundational documents in Francisco Macias’ posts here and here.

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