Desideria Quintanar de Yáñez (1814–1893) was the first woman baptized into

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

(LDS Church) in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Family life

Desideria Quintanar was born in 1814 in Nopala, Hidalgo,

. She married Rafael Yáñez and had three children: José María, Manuel, and Tereza. Her livelihood was that of providing for her family by growing

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

and

legume A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock f ...

s. Between 1840 and 1850, her family prospered financially; they owned several properties in San Sebastián, a town in Nopala and close to

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

, where they raised goats, sheep, and other livestock. She lived through the reign of the emperor Maximillian I. Her son, José María, had fought in the anti-monarchical army as a commander against the French intervention in Mexico in the 1860s in Hidalgo. Desideria was eventually widowed. She died in 1893 at the age of 79.

Baptism into the LDS Church

In February 1880, Desideria claimed to have a dream about a pamphlet called "Una Voz de Amonestación" being published by foreigners in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. Missionaries from LDS Church were, in fact, in Mexico City in the process of publishing a Spanish translation of

Parley P. Pratt Parley Parker Pratt Sr. (April 12, 1807 – May 13, 1857) was an early leader of the Latter Day Saint movement whose writings became a significant early nineteenth-century exposition of the Latter Day Saint faith. Named in 1835 as one of the first ...

's pamphlet, "A Voice of Warning," which contained introductory information to the Church. This dream had a great effect on her, and she felt very strongly that this pamphlet would help her spiritually. Because of poor health, she was unable to travel to Mexico City to investigate the veracity of her dream. Her son, José María, went in her place, and was able to meet the apostle

Moses Thatcher Moses Thatcher (February 2, 1842 – August 21, 1909) was an apostle and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He was one of only a few members of the Quorum of the Twelve to ...

and other missionaries that had accompanied him, including a Spaniard, , who had assisted in the translation of Church materials into Spanish, and James Z. Stewart. José María returned to the village where his mother lived with news of the foreign missionaries and their pamphlet. Since "A Voice of Warning" was still being translated (in part by

Plotino Rhodakanaty Plotino Constantino Rhodakanaty ( el, Πλωτίνος Ροδοκανάτης) was a Greek and Mexican socialist and anarchist, as well as a prominent early member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Mexico. He is k ...

, a Greek convert living in Mexico City), the missionaries sent other pamphlets back with José María. In 1880, Desideria received the translated "A Voice of Warning," as well as the newly published Spanish translation of selections from

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude date ...

. Desideria was baptized by Melitón González Trejo into LDS Church in April 1880 in her village of Nopala. She was the 22nd person to be baptized into the Church in Mexico, as well as the first woman. Her oldest son, José María and his wife, as well his daughter, Carmen, were also baptized that day. In the following months, various other family members were baptized into the LDS Church and a small congregation, called a branch, was established in Nopala. José María was ordained as its bishop. However, the LDS Church was facing difficulties regarding

plural marriage Polygamy (called plural marriage by Latter-day Saints in the 19th century or the Principle by modern fundamentalist practitioners of polygamy) was practiced by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) for more tha ...

back in the United States, and as a result, fewer missionaries were sent to Mexico. Because of the lack of contact with American missionaries, the small congregation in Nopala struggled, and its bishop, still José María, ended up renouncing his priesthood. In 1886, Desideria was severely beaten and robbed in her home. Apostle

Erastus Snow Erastus Snow (November 9, 1818 – May 27, 1888) was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1849 until his death. Snow was also a leading figure in Mormon colonizati ...

gave her a blessing while he visited Mexico on church business. Snow was interested to learn that Desideria was a descendant of

Cuauhtémoc Cuauhtémoc (, ), also known as Cuauhtemotzín, Guatimozín, or Guatémoc, was the Aztec ruler (''tlatoani'') of Tenochtitlan from 1520 to 1521, making him the last Aztec Emperor. The name Cuauhtemōc means "one who has descended like an eagle" ...

, and saw Desideria's conversion as fulfilling the

prophecy to show the "great things the Lord hath done for their fathers" to the "remnant of the

House of Israel The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel ...

." In 1886, the entire Book of Mormon was translated into Spanish, and the Mexico mission president at the time, Horace Cummings, mentioned this to Desideria. Desideria was anxious to receive it, so Cummings sent for an unbound volume, which she was "much pleased" with. When missionaries returned to Nopala in 1903, José María explained that his mother had died completely faithful in the LDS Church, even though others had left the church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quintanar de Yanez, Desideria 1814 births 1893 deaths Mexican Latter Day Saints People from Hidalgo (state) Women and religion Harold B. Lee Library-related 19th century articles