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 (, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countries. It also has 34 ...

. 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 member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

, 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 (19 July 166321 April 1737) was a Spanish Renaissance humanism, humanist scholar. Born near Valencia in 1663, he published a collection of poems, entitled ''Amalthea Geographica'', and made several translations from the Latin. He ...

, 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)

External links

{{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

See also

Notes

References

External links