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Juan Crisóstomo Centurión
Juan Crisóstomo Centurión
Minister of the Paraguayan Supreme Court of Justice
	In office; 11 January 1882 – 12 August 1882
	In office; 24 September 1883 – 5 October 1883
Minister of Foreign Affairs
	In office; 28 September 1888 – November 1890
Preceded by	José Segundo Decoud
Succeeded by	Venancio Víctor López
Senator of Paraguay
	In office; 1 April 1895 – 12 March 1902
Constituency	Caaguazú/Valenzuela
Personal details
Born	27 January 1840; Itauguá, Paraguay
Died	12 March 1902 (aged 62); Asunción, Paraguay
Resting place	Recoleta Cemetery, Asuncion
Awards	Officer of the National Order of Merit; Medal for Amambay;
Military service
Branch/service	Paraguayan Army
Years of service	1868–1870
Rank	Colonel
Battles/wars	Triple Alliance War Battle of Lomas Valentinas; Battle of Acosta Ñu; Battle of Cerro Corá (WIA); ;

Juan Crisóstomo Centurión y Martinez (27 January 1840 – 12 March 1902) was a Paraguayan Army officer and politician. He served with distinction in the Triple Alliance War, and afterwards held a wide variety of positions in the Paraguayan governmental structure, including that of Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Biography

Early life and studies

Centurión was born to Francisco Antonio Pérez de Centurión, a lawyer, and Rosalía Martínez y Rodas in 1840 in Itauguá, a town located circa 30 kilometers away from the Paraguayan capital Asunción.^[1] After studying in a provincial school during his youth, he moved to Asunción, where he was a pupil of foreign teachers such as the Spaniard Ildefonso Bermejo and the Frenchman Pedro Dupuy; he also joined the philosophy seminar, which was headed by then president Carlos Antonio López.

In 1858 he was chosen by the government to embark to Europe to study at universities there – he graduated in law at the King's College in London,^[2] and studied French, German and English literature as well. With the rising tensions between Brazil and Paraguay, he was summoned back in 1863; the Triple Alliance War broke out in the following year.

The Triple Alliance War

Initially, back in Paraguay, he served as secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and translator, positions he held throughout the war; simultaneously, he directed a school where he taught geography and languages,^[3] and wrote for the government military organ El Cabichuí.^[4] He was present as an observer at the Battle of Riachuelo in 1865,^[5] and was made a Knight of the National Order of Merit in 1866, then Officer of the Order in January 1869.^[6]

In 1868, he was a member of the tribunals which mass convicted citizens in the San Fernando massacre.^[4] As the war wound down, in 1869, Centurión was a Colonel in the Paraguayan Army, having been instated into the army as a Sergeant Major after the Battle of Lomas Valentinas.^[7] He commanded a battalion of riflemen in the Battle of Cerro Corá and was wounded there in the mouth, losing a considerable part of his teeth and tongue to a bullet. He was then taken prisoner to Rio de Janeiro.

After the War

After his release in 1870, he resided in France, the United States, and Jamaica, before eventually returning to Paraguay in 1878. He soon started working in the country's press, contributing to newspapers such as La Reforma and La Democracia, and also as a lawyer.^[8]

He was made Minister of the Supreme Court and Attorney General for the State in the 1880s;^[9] afterwards, he was made Minister of Foreign Affairs during Patricio Escobar's government. He was a founding member of the long-standing Colorado Party,^[8] and of the Instituto Paraguayo, the country's main intellectual organization for much of the late 19th century and early 20th century.

In the 1890s, he was made minister plenipotentiary to the United Kingdom, France and Spain. In 1895 he became, however, a senator.

He is famed for having published, in the latter years of his life, a detailed account of his experiences during the war, titled "Memorias ó Reminiscencias históricas sobre la Guerra del Paraguay" [Historical Memories and Remembrances regarding the Triple Alliance War]. Earlier, in 1877, he had published the novel "Viaje nocturno de Gualberto o recuerdos y reflexiones de un ausente" [Gualberto's nightly trip or an absentee's memories and reflexions] under a pseudonym, which is thought to be the first novel ever published by a Paraguayan writer.^[10]^[11]

He died in Asunción, in the 12th of March 1902.

References

Citations

^ Centurión 1894, pp. 6–8.
^ Centurión 1894, p. 75.
^ Centurión 1944, pp. 209–210.
^ ^a ^b Warren 1985, p. 56.
^ Centurión 1894, p. 310.
^ Centurión 1901, p. 14.
^ Centurión 1897, p. 201.
^ ^a ^b Warren 1985, p. 57.
^ Registro Oficial de la Republica del Paraguay – 1876–1885
^ "Rescatan la primera novela paraguaya a través de reedición" [The first Paraguayan novel is rescued through a new edition]. Ultima Hora (in Spanish). Asunción. 2018-06-28. Retrieved 2024-04-04.
^ "La SEP presentará hoy una nueva edición de la primera novela escrita por un paraguayo" [The SEP will present today a new edition of the first novel to be written by a Paraguayan citizen]. La Nación (in Spanish). Asunción. 2018-06-28. Retrieved 2024-04-04.

Sources

Centurión, Juan C. (1894). Memorias del coronel Juan Crisóstomo Centurión o sea reminiscencias históricas sobre la Guerra del Paraguay, vol. 1. Imprenta de Obras de J. A. Berra.
Centurión, Juan C. (1944). Memorias o Reminiscencias Históricas sobre la Guerra del Paraguay, vol. 2. Editorial Guarania.
Centurión, Juan C. (1897). Memorias del coronel Juan Crisóstomo Centurión o sea reminiscencias históricas sobre la Guerra del Paraguay, vol. 3. Imprenta de Obras de J. A. Berra.
Centurión, Juan C. (1901). Memorias del coronel Juan Crisóstomo Centurión o sea reminiscencias históricas sobre la Guerra del Paraguay, vol. 4. Imprenta de Obras de J. A. Berra.
Warren, H.G. (1985). Rebirth of the Paraguayan Republic: The First Colorado Era, 1878–1904. University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 9780822976370.