Dr. Pablo de la Llave (1773–1833) was a Mexican

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, and

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

. He was born to a wealthy family and grew up in

Córdoba, Veracruz Córdoba, known officially as Heroica Córdoba, is a city and the seat of the municipality of the same name in the Mexican state of Veracruz. It was founded in 1618. The city is composed of 15 barrios (neighborhoods) bounded to the north by Ixhu ...

. After a brilliant university career, he became a teacher in the national college of St. John Lateran and doctor of theology at what was then 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 a famous

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who Open-air preaching, preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach com ...

and made some translations from

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

. He went to Europe and lived for some time in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. After this he became deputy director of the

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Museum of Natural History under the Bonapartist kingdom. In 1811 and 1812 he assisted

José Mariano Mociño José Mariano Mociño Suárez Lozano (24 September 1757 – 12 June 1820), or simply José Mariano Mociño, was a naturalist from Mexico. After having studied philosophy and medicine, he conducted early research on the botany, geology, and anthro ...

in organizing the collections of the Nueva España Expedition (1787–1803) to survey the natural history of Mexico. In 1820 and 1821 he represented the state of

Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

in the Spanish legislature, where he was a liberal. On his return to Mexico after it declared independence, he held church positions including treasurer of the church at

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid; Otomi language, Otomi: ) is a city and municipal seat of the municipalities of Mexico, municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. It is both th ...

(then called Valladolid),

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, compose the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The stat ...

. By 1823 he was Minister of Justice and of Church Matters in the imperial administration of

Agustín de Iturbide Agustín Cosme Damián de Iturbide y Arámburu (; 27 September 178319 July 1824), commonly known as Agustín de Iturbide and later by his regnal name Agustín I, was the first Emperor of Mexico from 1822 until his abdication in 1823. An offi ...

. In 1824, the first president of Mexico,

Guadalupe Victoria Guadalupe Victoria (; 29 September 178621 March 1843), born José Miguel Ramón Adaucto Fernández y Félix, was a Mexican general and politician who fought for independence against the Spanish Empire in the Mexican War of Independence and afte ...

, named him to the new cabinet. He also held the office of senator for Veracruz. Politically, Llave has been considered a liberal and an obedient follower of the republican priest and politician Miguel Ramos Arizpe. In biology, he and his collaborator Juan José Martínez de Lejarza :es:Juan José Martinez de Lexarza (or Lexarza) were the first to systematically study the orchids of Michoacán. In 1824 they published a work describing about 50 species. He was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1826. In 1831 La Llave was designated to direct the National Museum of Natural History of Mexico. In 1832 and 1833 he published ornithological papers in a short-lived Mexican journal in which he described and named several birds, of which the rufous-tailed hummingbird and the much more famous resplendent quetzal were new to science. Because of the obscurity of the journal, he did not receive credit for a few decades, and some sources incorrectly give the date of the paper as 1871, possibly the date of a republication. Llave died in Córdoba in July, 1833. General Ignacio de la Llave was a nephew of his. The fern genus '' Llavea'' was named in his honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Llave, Pablo de la 1773 births 1833 deaths Members of the Senate of the Republic (Mexico) Mexican Roman Catholic priests Mexican biologists Mexican botanists Politicians from Veracruz International members of the American Philosophical Society