MARIA ANA DE ARTEGA Y BEROVIA

Who was María Arteaga and why does she have a street in Cádiz?Really, her full name was Maria Ana de Arteaga y Berovia , of Basque origin but born in San Fernando, where her parents lived,  Juan Pedro de Arteaga y Ochoa, knight in the Order of Santiago, perpetual alderman of San Fernando, and Beatriz by Berovia Linier.

María Ana received a large inheritance and despite the fact that she wanted to join the Carmelite order of the Reform, at only 21 years old she decided to marry the Biscayan Manuel de Arriaga and move to Cádiz capital to live. Specifically to Capuchinos street .

Her marriage is broken by the death of her husband. A short time later she would receive a Royal Certificate from the king Fernando VI by which they were both empowered to found the Colegio de la Enseñanza. So  three years later and thanks to her, four nuns from the choir and a curate from the convent established in Tudela (Navarra) arrived in San Fernando on November 21st, 1760 to found the school, located today on Calle Real. Hence, as a sign of gratitude, San Fernando has dedicated two streets to the marriage. But it was really possible by the only charitable work of Arteaga. María Ana also managed to found  the Hospice of the Religious of the order of San Francisco and the Public Schools for boys among other things.

On September 28th,  1783, at the age of 75, María died being buried in the church of the Capuchin convent in Cádiz . Four years later, the girls’ school, run by Carmelite nuns, opened with the slogan of admitting students for free and from any neighborhood in the city as long as their parents could not afford their education. On February 16th,  1893, Cadiz paid homage to her by naming the a street after her.

Among her values we should enlighten her kindness,affection… but it was her generosity what contributed to improve education in our city, something basic to fight against discrimination not only between males and females, but also among social classes.

00000001: Biografía de la muy ilustre señora doña Maria Ana de Arteaga y Berovia, fundadora del convento de religiosas de la… (1897) – Cerero y Soler, Manuel, 1847-1907