Desideria Quintanar de Yáñez
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Comment: Would highly benefit from all additional significant sourcing overall. SwisterTwister talk 20:55, 19 April 2017 (UTC)
- Comment: At least one reference that is not associated with the LDS is requested. Robert McClenon (talk) 01:25, 10 December 2016 (UTC)
Desideria Quinatana de Yáñez (Nopala, Hidalgo, Mexico; 1814-1893) was the first woman baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church, in Mexico. She was also a descendant of the last Aztec emperor, Cuauhetemoc.[1]
Family Life
Desideria Quintanar was born in 1814 in the village of Nopala, Hidalgo, Mexico. She married Rafael Yáñez and had three children: José María, Manuel, and Tereza. Her livelihood was that of providing for her family. [1] She lived through the reign of the emperor Maximillian I, and her son, José María had fought in the anti-monarchical army of the state of Hidalgo.[2] She was eventually widowed, but lived a full life. She died in 1893 at the age of 79.[1]
Baptism into the LDS Church
In February of 1880, Yáñez had a dream about a pamphlet called "Una Voz de Amonestación" being published by foreigners in Mexico City. Unbeknownst to her, missionaries from LDS Church were, in fact, in Mexico City in the process of publishing a Spanish translation of Parley P. Pratt's pamphlet, "A Voice of Warning," which contained introductory information to the the Church. This dream had a great effect on her, and she felt very strongly that this pamphlet would help her spiritually, yet because of poor health, she was unable to travel to Mexico City to investigate the veracity of the dream. Her son, José María, went in her place, and was able to meet the apostle Moses Thatcher and other missionaries that had accompanied him, including a Spaniard, Melitón González Trejo, who had assisted in the translation of Church materials into Spanish, and James Z. Stewart. José María returned to the village where his mother lived with news of the foreign missionaries and their pamphlet.[1][3] Since "A Voice of Warning" was still being translated (in part by Plotino Rhodakanaty, a Greek convert living in Mexico city), the missionaries sent other pamphlets back with José.[4]: 467
In 1880, Yáñez received the translated "A Voice of Warning," as well as the newly published Spanish translation of selections from Book of Mormon.[4]: 469 Yáñez was baptized by Melitón González Trejo into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in April 1880 in her village of Nopala. She was the 22nd person to be baptized into the Church in Mexico, as well as the first woman. Her oldest son, José María Yáñez and his wife, as well his daughter, Carmen, were also baptized that day.[1][2] José fought as a commander against the French intervention in Mexico in the 1860s.[4]: 464 [5]
In the following months, various other family members we baptized into the Mormon Church and a small congregation, called a branch, was established in Nopala. José was ordained as its bishop. However, the LDS Church was facing difficulties regarding plural marriage back in the United States, and as a result, fewer missionaries were sent to Mexico. Because of the lack of contact with American missionaries, the small congregation in Nopala struggled, and its bishop, still José, ended up renouncing his priesthood.[1][4]: 471 In 1886, Desideria Yáñez was severely beaten and robbed in her home. Apostle Erastus Snow gave her a blessing while he visited Mexico on church business. Snow was interested to learn that Yáñez was a descendant of Cuauhtémoc, and saw Yáñez's conversion as fulfilling the Book of Mormon prophecy to show the "great things the Lord hat done for their fathers" to the "remnant of the House of Israel."[4]: 470
In 1886, the entire Book of Mormon was translated into Spanish, and the Mexico mission president at the time, Horace Cummings, mentioned this to Yáñez. Yáñez was anxious to recieve it, so Cummings sent for an unbound volume, which Yáñez was "much pleased" with.[3][4]: 470 When missionaries returned to Nopala in 1903, José María explained that his mother had passed away completely faithful in the LDS Church, even though others had fallen away.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Christensen, Clint. "Una pionera mexicana solitaria" (PDF). LDS.org. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
- ^ a b Tullis, F. LaMond (2016). "Desideria Quintanar de Yáñez: La primera mujer bautizada en México". LDS.org. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
- ^ a b Hickman, Aimee Evans; Hadfield, Molly Cannon (2017). Illuminating Ladies: A Coloring Book of Mormon Women. Exponent II.
- ^ a b c d e f Christensen, Clinton D. (2011). "Solitary Saint in Mexico: Desideria Quintanar De Yañez (1814–1893)". In Turley, Richard E.; Chapman, Brittany A. (eds.). Women of faith in the latter days. Vol. 1. Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company. ISBN 9781606410332.
- ^ "Desideria Quintanar de Yanez, the first female member of the LDS church in Mexico". cranialhiccups.com. 3 Apr 2014.