Casilda Iturrizar (1818 – 22 February 1900), also known as the Epalza widow, was a Spanish philanthropist and businessperson from

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in the Basque Country. Iturrizar sought to help the most disadvantaged members of Bilbao society using her fortune for charity. The street where she lived, a hospital wing, and a city park were named after her.

Biography

Casilda Margarita de Iturrizar y Urquijo was born in

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, Spain. Her father, José Ylarión Iturrizar Basabe, was a merchant (b. 1799) and her mother was Eugenia Nicolasa Urquijo Ziurtegaray (or Siurtegaray). In 1833, after her father's death, Iturrizar joined the domestic staff serving one of the most prosperous merchants in Bilbao, Tomás José de Epalza (1798-1873), whom Iturrizar would later marry. Epalza initiated divorce proceedings from his first wife in 1849 and the businessman was granted an ecclesiastical divorce, but it came without an

annulment Annulment is a legal procedure within Law, secular and Religious law, religious legal systems for declaring a marriage Void (law), null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually ex post facto law, retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is c ...

of the marriage, so officially, he remained married to his first wife until she died in 1857.

Marriage

Iturrizar and Epalza finally married in 1859. By that time, Epalza was making his fortune as one of the founders of Banco de Bilbao (1857), along with his cousins Pablo de Epalza Lecanda and Domingo de Epalza Larraondo. His other financial positions were many, including the Bilbao-Tudela Railway as well as the first modern steel company in the Basque Country. After her husband died in 1873, Iturrizar took on the financial management of his assets. While she relinquished some of his holdings, she stayed involved with "banks and real estate, in addition to investing in railways (such as the Central de Vizcaya, the Bilbao to Portugalete or La Robla) or in coal mining (Hulleras de Sabero and Annexes)." She became the richest woman in Bibao after her husband's death.

Philanthropy

Iturrizar financed the construction of the Tivoli schools, later named in her honor, collaborated with the Bilbao Choral Society and created scholarships for outstanding students from the city's public schools. She also contributed to many Catholic organizations such as the Claretians of the San Francisco neighborhood, the Servants of Jesus de La Naja and the

Augustinians Augustinians are members of Christian religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13 ...

of Portugalete. She also invested in the Anonymous Society of the Bilbao New Theater, formed in 1885 and which built the Teatro Arriaga in 1890. She also joined the Catholic Foundation of Schools and Workers' Board of Trustees in 1891 to advance its goal of offering "completely free teaching, moralization, recreation and protection to the working class."

Death

Iturrizar died in Bilbao, on 22 February 1900. She had no children or direct descendants so 7.5 million pesetas of her fortune (which did not represent the full amount), was bequeathed to many social organizations after her death, including the Casa de Misericordia and the Civil Hospital. After her death, Iturrizar bequeathed her income to a scholarship fund for Bilbao public schools which was started in 1902 and still operates.

Memorials

In Bilbao's large Doña Casilda Iturrizar Park, named for her and located near the city center, there is a monument to Iturrizar created by the

Catalonian Catalans (Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; es, catalanes, Italian: ''catalani'', sc, cadelanos) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citizens ...

sculptor

Agustín Querol Agustín is a Spanish given name and sometimes a surname. It is related to Augustín. People with the name include: Given name * Agustín (footballer), Spanish footballer * Agustín Calleri (born 1976), Argentine tennis player * Agustín Cár ...

. One of the wings of Bilbao's Basurto Hospital was named in her honor. Iturrizar is also memorialized on the Bilbao street where she lived, Viuda de Epalza, with a plaque that says (in Spanish):

"Year MCDCCCC. City of Bilbao, to the memory of Doña Casilda de Iturrizar. Heaven gave her great riches, which she shared with a prodigal hand with the poor of the world."

References

External links

* Balparda, G .: ''Doña Casilda de Iturrizar, widow of Epalza'' , magazine "Euskal Erria", 1906, LV, pp. 230–235. {{DEFAULTSORT:Iturrizar, Casilda 1818 births 1900 deaths People from Bilbao Basque women Spanish philanthropists Patrons of schools 19th-century philanthropists 19th-century Spanish businesswomen 19th-century Spanish businesspeople 19th-century women philanthropists