The mummy of Fray Servando

Without knowing that a life of raids, cells and prisons awaited him, and that history would remember him as “the insurgent friar”, more than 250 years ago, on October 18, 1763, José Servando Teresa de Mier Noriega came into the world and War.

Born in present-day Monterrey, then called Nuevo Reino de León, Servando grew up surrounded by brothers and comforts, convinced that he was a descendant of Aztec royalty and the first conquerors. He did his first studies in his native land, but in 1770, his father sent him to the capital with the Dominican friars to complete his training. With some hesitation, he took the Dominican habit, studied philosophy and theology at the Colegio de Porta Coeli and in 1787 he went to the convento grande de Santo Domingo as Regent Master of Studies. Later, he was ordained a priest in the convent of La Piedad. It is said that when he received the degree of Doctor of Theology he distinguished himself among all his Dominican colleagues for his liveliness, intelligence and certain bawdy libertarian concepts in his speech. However, his love of reading, writing and his gift for oratory made him famous as a great preacher. As a reward for his rhetorical ability, he was appointed to preach on the funeral anniversary of Hernán Cortés and later to prepare the sermon that would be delivered on December 12, 1794 in the Collegiate Church of Guadalupe. An honor that, according to the old Mexican ecclesiastical custom, only the most notable men of the church obtained. Such merit would change his life forever.

In his sermon, divided into 4 parts, Fray Servando denied the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe as tradition held. He added that, if anything, the vision of the Virgin had manifested itself in the cape of Saint Thomas and not in the cloak of Juan Diego. The scandal was such that the next day a trial was opened, his licenses to confess and preach were withdrawn, he was stripped of his doctor’s degree and locked up in a cell in the convent of Santo Domingo. The final sentence condemned him to exile and to spend 10 years in seclusion in the very cold and austere convent of Nuestra Señora de las Caldas in Spain. Before embarking, he was taken prisoner to the castle of San Juan de Ulúa. After him, he was driven to Cádiz, where he remained locked up for a few months, to later go to his prison in Las Caldas, but as soon as he arrived, he fled. It was the first time and of course he was apprehended.

However, he kept insisting that his process be reviewed, writing letters and reports to the higher authorities of the church, while seeking persecution, dragging his books and perfecting his ability to escape. All this without silencing his libertarian ideas, his very long tongue and his explosive speeches. He spent a lot of time between town and town, from country to country, writing, declaring and twisting roads. And so his life became a series of legendary adventures. Bear witness, dear reader: with the help of a French smuggler clergyman he went to Paris where he met Simón Rodríguez, the teacher of Simón Bolívar. He decided to leave the habits and fled to Rome to obtain the secularization that was granted to him by the Pope, he returned to Spain and enrolled in a volunteer battalion to combat the French invasion, he was in Cádiz, when the Cortes were in session, he joined the lodge member of the Rational Knights, he met José de San Martín and other knights who had the objective of “looking for the good of America” ​​and was in London to propagate the idea of ​​Independence, published “Letters from an American” and wrote his most notable work: “History of the Revolution of New Spain, formerly Anahuac.” It is known that with Francisco Xavier Mina he returned to Mexico and that as soon as he disembarked, he was apprehended again but escaped again. He was in Philadelphia and once independence was achieved he returned to Mexico, protected by Guadalupe Victoria. An enemy of Iturbide, Servando was once again imprisoned in the convent of Santo Domingo, where he fled for the seventh and last time.

Already very ill, but recognized as a hero of the insurgency, in November 1827, Servando personally invited several friends to attend the administration of his holy oils. A crowd came to the ceremony and they say that he still had time to read his speech “The Prophecies”. He died a few days later, on December 3, 1827, but his story was not over yet.

Fray Servando’s body was exhumed in 1842 and his body was found perfectly mummified. He remained exhibited in the ossuary of Santo Domingo, along with 12 other deceased turned into mummy, until, in 1861, it was decided that they would all be sold to the owner of a circus. It is said that he took them first to Buenos Aires and then to Europe and that it was in Belgium where, for the last time – to the admiration of all and with the tongue intact – the mummy of Fray Servando appeared.