Servando Teresa de Mier

Fray Servando Teresa de Mier (in full, José Servando Teresa de Mier Noriega y Guerra) (October 18, 1765 in Monterrey, Nuevo León, New Spain – December 3, 1827 in Mexico City) was a Roman Catholic priest, preacher, and politician in New Spain. He was a descendant of the Dukes of Granada and conquistadors of Nuevo León.

At the age of 16, he entered the Dominican Order in Mexico City. He studied philosophy and theology in the College of Porta Coeli, and was ordained a priest. By the age of 27, he had earned his doctorate and was a noted preacher.

On December 12, 1794, during the commemorations of the Virgin of Guadalupe apparition, in the presence of Viceroy Miguel de la Grúa Talamanca y Branciforte, marqués de Branciforte, Archbishop Manuel Omaña y Sotomayor and the members of the Audiencia of New Spain, Mier preached a sermon affirming that the apparitions of the Virgin of Guadalupe had happened 1750 years before, and not in 1531. He argued that the original painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe was on the cloak of Saint Thomas the Apostle, who had preached in the Americas long before Spanish conquest, and this had been re-discovered by Juan Diego. In the beginning, nobody said anything about the sermon but one week later, the Archbishop Nuñez de Haro, condemned him to the excomunion, prison, and exile in Spain for 10 years. This sermon, with its bold revision of Mexican history and identity, was seen as a provocation. Our Lady of Guadalupe represented an intense and highly localized religious sensibility that Creole leaders, such as Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, would later utilize in their opposition to Spanish rule as a symbol of Mexico.

For his "disrespect", Archbishop Nuñez de Haro condemned Mier to ten years exile in the convent of Las Caldas del Besaya, in Cantabria, Spain; a perpetual ban from teaching, preaching, or hearing confessions, and the loss of his doctoral degree.

...
Wikipedia