Félix Varela Biography

priest, philosopher, educator, and Cuban nationalist. A prominent Cuban Catholic priest, Félix Francisco José María de la Concepción Varela y Morales, or Father Varela, as he was commonly known, was an innovative and independent writer, educator, and intellectual who lived in the United States well over half his life, first as a child and later as an advocate of humanitarian and altruistic causes as well as a defender of the Catholic Church. Varela has been hailed as a precursor, and even founder, of Cuban nationality.

The son of Francisco Varela, a captain in the Spanish army, and María Josefa Morales, a criollo mother, Félix Varela was born on November 20, 1788, in Havana, Cuba. An orphan by the age of six, Varela was sent to live with his grandfather, a brevet colonel in the Spanish army that was garrisoned in the Spanish colony of Saint Augustine, Florida, and moved with his family to Saint Augustine, in 1791. Upon his return to Cuba in 1801, Varela entered the San Carlos and San Ambrosio Seminary in Havana, where he studied under José Agustín Caballero, another eminent Cuban thinker. After receiving his tonsure in 1806, Varela became a deacon in 1810 and a priest in 1811. Also in 1811, at age twenty-three, he became a professor of philosophy at the seminary with the support of famed Bishop Espada y Landa, who, recognizing Varela's intellectual gifts, waived the minimum age requirement, set at twenty-four (a separate waiver was issued for his ordination as priest). Varela was a mentor to the renowned Cuban thinkers José Antonio Saco, José de la Luz y Caballero, and Domingo del Monte.

At a time when scholastic thought was still dominant in Cuban intellectual circles, Varela distinguished himself by introducing new ideas and teaching methods that were closely tied to an eclectic philosophy that embraced experimentation, pragmatism, and innovation in the study of science, which—he claimed—both men and women were eligible to pursue. Deeply engaged in the most salient debates of his time, a crucial period in the search for Cuban national identity, Varela understood that if the Cuban nation was to coalesce its citizens, it had to reject slavery and an annexationist mentality.

Having been elected deputy to the Spanish Cortes, Varela left Havana in 1821, unaware that he would spend the rest of his life in exile. With the restoration of absolutism in Spain, Varela was forced to flee the country, entering the United States in 1823. After spending some time in Philadelphia, he moved to New York in 1825, where he served indefatigably at Saint Peter's Church, Christ's Church (later St. James), and the Church of the Transfiguration. The pastoral residence behind the Church of the Transfiguration, at 23 Reade Street, became Varela's home for approximately the last twelve years of his residence in New York. He founded a nursery and parochial schools for both women and children while ministering to needy Italian and Irish immigrants. In recognition of his exemplary service, the Cuban priest was appointed vicar general of the New York diocese in 1837. In 1849, Father Varela left New York for Saint Augustine, Florida, where he died on February 25, 1853.

Varela was the author of Lecciones de filosofía (1818; Philosophy Lessons), and Miscelánea filosófica (1819; Philosophic Miscellanea). His much-admired Cartas a Elpidio (Letters to Elpidio), a multivolume work whose first two tomes appeared in 1835 and 1838, stress the need for religion in order to combat impiety, superstition, and fanaticism. A projected third volume was never published. Varela published seven issues of the journal El Habanero (1824–1826), which promoted the independence of Cuba from Spain; and wrote for El mensajero semanal (The Weekly Messenger), which appeared between 1828 and 1931; the Revista Bimestre Cubana (Bimonthly Cuban Journal); and The New York Catholic Register, among other relevant periodicals. His translation into Spanish in 1826 of Thomas Jefferson's A Manual of Parliamentary Practice and Humphrey Davy's Elements of Agricultural Chemistry reflects his wide-ranging interests. The scholar Luis Leal has attributed the historical novel on the conquest of the Aztec empire Xicoténcatl, long considered anonymous, also to Varela.

Bibliography and More Information about Félix Varela

• Hernández, José M. “Félix Varela: El primer cubano.” In El Habanero. Papel político, científico y literario, VII–XXXIV, edited by Félix Varela y Morales. Miami, Fla.: Ediciones Universal, 1997.
• Hernández Travieso, Antonio. El padre Varela. Biografía del forjador de la conciencia cubana. 2nd ed. Miami, Fla.: Ediciones Universal, 1984.
• McCadden, Joseph, and Helen McCadden. Félix Varela: Torch Bearer from Cuba. 2nd ed. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Félix Varela Foundation, 1984.
• Piñera, Humberto. “Introducción.” In Cartas a Elpidio, XIII–XXIX. Havana, Cuba: Editorial de la Universidad de La Habana, 1944.
• Torres-Cuevas, Eduardo. Félix Varela. Havana, Cuba: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 2002.

See also Catholicism; Cuban Americans; Environmental Justice; and Land Grants.

Iraida H. López