Zegada, Escolástico
ZEGADA, ESCOLÁSTICO
Argentine priest and educator; b. Jujuy, Argentina, Feb. 10, 1813; d. there, 1871. Zegada was of noble birth, a nephew of gorriti. He studied for the priesthood in Chuquisaca, Bolivia, was ordained in 1836, and was appointed almost immediately to Jujuy. Greatly concerned with the education of youth of both sexes, in 1858 he founded and supported the Colegio de Educandos, a boarding school for the training of teachers. He arranged for the Vincentian Sisters to come from France in 1864 to educate the girls and brought the Lazarist Fathers for the boys' school. At his own expense and with great sacrifice, he established the San Roque hospital in 1850. Zegada introduced the first printing press into Jujuy, rebuilt the ruined churches of San Francisco and La Merced, restored the original colonial church, and founded the Recoba, an organization for social and economic assistance. In 1849 he was appointed provincial governor of the state of Jujuy, served twice as representative, and was a member of the constituent parliament in 1855. His basic work on doctrine and social and moral ethics called Instrucciones cristianas was twice published by the national government and recommended as a school text. He later wrote his political and philosophical Reflexiones.
Bibliography: m. a. vergara, Zegada: Sacerdote y patricio de Jujuy (Jujuy, Argen. 1940).
[m. a. vergara]