Francisco Javier Alegre (1729-1788) was a Mexican writer, philosopher, historian, theologian, and translator. He was known as Novohispano, due to the fact of having been born in the then territory conquered by the Spanish in America, under a viceroyalty, called New Spain.
Javier Alegre was a man of extensive knowledge. He mastered geography, grammar, history, philosophy, and mathematics. He was also knowledgeable in several languages, which allowed him to translate several texts written in different languages, such as: in Greek, English and Italian.
Francisco Javier Alegre's life was full of adverse circumstances. Among other things, he was taken prisoner for "treason", and also exiled from his land by orders of the monarch Carlos III. However, he had the courage to move on, and leave his name written in the history of the Hispanic world..
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Francisco Javier Alegre was born on November 12, 1729, in Puerto de Veracruz, formerly New Spain, what is now known as Mexico. Not enough information is known about their parents and families. However, due to the preparation he had, perhaps he came from a cultured and economically well-off family.
The first years of Francisco Alegre's education were spent in his hometown. Then he studied philosophy and humanities at a seminary in the state of Puebla. In 1747, at the age of eighteen, he joined the Society of Jesus.
With the Jesuits he learned about theology and canon law. He was also interested in learning science such as mathematics; He also leaned towards literature, world history, philosophy, and other subjects. As if this were not enough, he devoted himself to the study of several languages, including the Nahuatl language..
Alegre devoted himself to teaching for a time. In Veracruz, for example, he taught classes on humanities and linguistics. Some time later he crossed borders, and arrived in Havana, Cuba, where he taught philosophy. Later, between 1760 and 1763, he was a professor of canon law, in Yucatán, Mexico.
After having taught at the old Royal and Pontifical University of Mérida, in Yucatán, he went in 1764 to what is known as Mexico City. There he was commissioned to continue with the writing, begun a century earlier, of History of the province of the Society of Jesus of New Spain.
Apparently the actions carried out by the Society of Jesus in Mexico, then a colony of Spain, annoyed King Carlos III. So, in 1767, the monarch ordered that both the religious order and its members be expelled from the Aztec territory..
Alegre was stripped of his texts and writings, and along with his companions, he was accused of disloyalty to the monarchy. All were jailed, until they were taken out of Mexico. His destiny was to reach the then known Papal States in Italy, which were under papal authority..
Francisco Javier Alegre spent his exile in the city of Bologna, Italy. There he began to give free rein to his pen, and wrote a good part of his literary work. In addition, he made some translations, among them the work of the Frenchman Nicolás Boileau, known as the Poetic art.
The last years of Francisco Javier Alegre's life were in exile. He developed a writing on the Rhetorical art, that the Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote in the 4th century BC. C., on the ability to convince through the word, both written and spoken.
Alegre also devoted himself to adapting some verses from the Iliad, of the Greek writer and philosopher Homer. His work at that time dealt with various topics, one of them being Mexican geography. Finally, he died on August 16, 1788, on foreign soil.
The fact that Francisco Javier Alegre was a man of extensive knowledge allowed him to write on many topics. Although the exact number of his works is not known, those published were enough to leave testimony of his intelligence and legacy.
Some of his best known titles were:
- History of the province of the Society of Jesus of New Spain.
- Alexandrias or Alexandriadas (1775).
- Homeri illias latino carmine expresses (1776). Translation from Greek to Latin of Homer's work, the Iliad.
- Geographic chart of the Mexican hemisphere.
- Poetic art. Translation.
This work had been initially conceived by the priest Francisco de Florencia, in the seventeenth century. Subsequently, its continuity was entrusted to Francisco Javier Alegre. It was made known in its native Mexico, long after its completion, between 1841 and 1842..
As the title indicates, the writing was based on the development of the Jesuit order, within the territory of the Viceroyalty of Spain on Aztec soil. The work was characterized by being broad, in addition to being carefully elaborated from the linguistic and grammatical point of view.
The objective of History of the province of the Society of Jesus of New Spain it was, mainly, to expose the missionary work of the Jesuit priests. At the same time, he also tried to publicize the evangelistic process that they carried out throughout Mexico..
This work by Alegre was also known as Alexandriada or Alexandriadas. The writer began to produce it in his younger years, and over time it was enlarged. The writing was based on the conquering feat that the Macedonian king Alexander the Great had over the city of Tire.
This work was a translation into Latin that the writer Francisco Javier Alegre made on one of the greatest Greek texts, the Iliad of Homer. The Mexican achieved with her a high place in the history of literature, because several scholars have considered such a version about the wrath of Achilles audacity.
This work was a translation from French to Spanish. The original writing was authored by the French writer and poet Nicolás Boileau, who dealt with the profession of poetry, and what it entails. Alegre added some descriptive notes to it, and also did it without having the original writing at hand: he only used his memory.
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