Leona Vicario

Biography

Leona Vicario was an only child, the daughter of a wealthy businessman from Castilla la Vieja, Spain. Her mother was Camila Fernandez de San Salvador, from Toluca. Leona acquired an extensive education in the sciences, fine arts, painting, singing, and literature.

Upon the death of her parents in 1807, she remained in the custody of her uncle and legal guardian Agustín Pomposo Fernández de San Salvador, a well-known lawyer from Mexico City and an enthusiastic supporter of the Spanish crown. Her uncle allowed her to live alone but bought a property adjacent to hers, something scandalous in the custom of the time. Her uncle arranged an engagement to Octaviano Obregon, a lawyer and colonel, but he was sent to Spain as a deputy to the Cortes of Cádiz.

Following her liberal political ideas—and despite her tutor's pro-royalist leanings—Leona soon began to be in contact with groups that advocated—and eventually began to fight for—Mexico's independence. In 1809 Leona met Andrés Quintana Roo, whom she would later marry in 1815. Quintana Roo was also an important figure in the Mexican independence process.

She worked with a secret society called Los Guadalupes to receive and distribute insurgent correspondence for the independence movement. She served as a messenger, helped fugitives, sent money and medicine, and helped in all she could. Leona also had an important role as a propagandist of insurgent ideas. In 1812 she persuaded some of the armourers of Vizcaya to take the side of the rebels.

Leona Vicario and her husband are buried together at Independence Column in Mexico City. She was named the "Sweet Mother of the Motherland" (Benemerita y Dulcisima Madre de la Patria) by a special commission ordered by then President Antonio López de Santa Anna in August 1842, only days after her death. She was buried in Mexico City and is the only civilian woman to have received a State Funeral.

In 1910, Leona Vicario and Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez were the first women to be depicted on Mexican stamps and the second women to be depicted on stamps in Latin America.

In February 2010, seven months before Mexico celebrated its 200 years of independence, Mexican writer Carlos Pascual published the novel "La Insurgenta." In this novel, in which he uses historical facts and fictional events, Pascual tells the story of Leona Vicario as well as the story of many others who participated in the war for and against Mexican independence from the Spanish Empire. Vicario, Leona (1789–1842)

Statue of Leona Vicario located at a plaza on the corner of Republica de Brasil and Republica de Nicaragua in the historic center of Mexico City.

Her profile also appears on a version of the $5 Mexican coin, surrounded by the words "BICENTARIO DE LA INDEPENDENCIA", meaning "Bicentennial Anniversary of Independence."