GILLOW Y ZAVALZA, EULOGIO GREGORIO

Mexican archbishop; b. Puebla, Mexico, March 11, 1841; d. Ejutla, Mexico, May 18, 1922. His parents were Tomás Gillow, of English origin, and María Zavalza y Gutiérrez, Marchioness of Selva Nevada. At age ten Gillow went to England and spent three years at Stonyhurst School. He then studied philosophy at Namur in Belgium. On a visit to Rome in 1862, he was received and honored by Pope Pius IX. In Rome he studied theology. In 1865 he returned to Mexico and was ordained in Puebla by Bp. Carlos M. Colina. Returning to Rome in 1869, he obtained a doctorate in canon law. On May 26, 1887, Pope Pius IX appointed Gillow bishop of Antequera, Oaxaca, to succeed the late Márquez Goyeneche. Gillow was consecrated on the feast of St. Ignatius, July 31, 1887, by Archbishop Labastida of Mexico; he took possession of his diocese in November. In 1890 he again went to Rome with five students for the Latin American College. Gillow returned to Mexico the following year with a papal bull elevating Antequera to an archbishopric, for which he had been made archbishop. He called a provincial council, which met in Oaxaca from Dec. 8, 1892, to March 12, 1893. His outstanding ability led to his consideration for a cardinalate, but he did not receive the appointment because of political opposition. He also assisted at the plenary council on Latin America in Rome.

In addition to his pastoral duties, Gillow worked for the material betterment of his archdiocese and helped in the development of the Mexican railway system. During a visit to San Antonio, Texas, he proposed the construction of a seminary that could be used by Mexicans in case of new persecutions. He was forced into exile when the Revolution broke out in 1910. For some time Gillow lived in San Antonio and later in Los Angeles, where he prepared his memoirs before returning to Mexico.

Bibliography: e. valverde tÉllez, Bio-bibliografía eclesiástica mexicana, 1821–1943, 3 v. (Mexico City 1949).

[l. medina ascensio]