Juan José Eguiara y Eguren (2 February 1696, Mexico City – 29 January 1763 Mexico City) was a Mexican Catholic scholar and bishop. He is the author of ''Bibliotheca mexicana'', "a pioneering bibliographical work for Mexico."

Life

Eguiara y Eguren was of

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

heritage, with his father an immigrant merchant and his mother a first-generation American-born Basque. He was a brilliant student, ultimately earning a doctorate in theology, and he became a faculty member at the

University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

. He was elected rector in 1749. His learning was extensive, covering theology, canon law, philosophy, mathematics, and letters; and he was a gifted orator. Eguiara was elected

Bishop of Yucatán A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

, but did not take the post claiming ill health. He continued his literary work in Mexico City. He has been called "the initiator of the history of ideas in Mexico."Juan Hernández Luna quoted in Warren, "Juan José de Eguiara y Eguren (1696-1763)," p. 88.

Works

Eguiara y Eguren published his ''Biblioteca Mexicana'' in response to the text of the Dean of Alicante,

Manuel Martí Manuel Martí (1663–1737) was a Spanish archaeologist, Renaissance humanism, humanist, writer, and hellenism (Academia), Hellenist. Born near Valencia in 1663, He published a collection of poems, entitled ''Amalthea Geographica'', and made s ...

, which denigrated the attainments of the men of letters of the New World in his "epistolas latinas" printed in Madrid in 1735. He published the first volume, which comprised the letters A, B, and C, and left in manuscript many biographies down to J. In the preface he refutes the charges of Dean Martí with much spirit and patriotism. The ''Biblioteca Mexicana'' is written in Latin and, besides the fact that it is incomplete, a pompous style detracts from it. It was, though, the first work of its kind published in Mexico and perhaps in the whole of Spanish-America. The complete title is ''Biblioteca Mexicana sive eruditorum historia virorum qui in America Boreali nati, vel alibi geniti, in ipsam domicilio aut studiis asciti, quavis lingua scripto aliquid tradiderunt. Ferdinando VI Hispaniarum Regi Catholico, Nuncupata Mexici 1755''. He also published "Panegiricos", printed separately in Mexico (1727–57); "Elogios fúnebres" (1755–66); "Praelectiones" (Mexico, 1746); fourteen volumes in theological and juridical questions; twenty volumes of sermons and instructions; and several other treatises.

Notes

References

;Attribution * The entry cites: ** Beristain, ''Biblioteca hispano-americana'' (Amecameca, 1883); **''Diccionario enciclopedico hispano-americano'' (Barcelona, 1893) ** {{DEFAULTSORT:Eguiara, Juan Jose 1696 births 1763 deaths Mexican male writers 18th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Mexico Mexican people of Basque descent Writers from Mexico City

Life

Works

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