GOMEZ, JOSÉ VALENTIŃ

Argentine ecclesiastic and political figure; b. Buenos Aires, Nov. 3, 1774; d. there, Sept. 20, 1839. He began his studies at the Colegio de San Carlos and took his doctorate in theology at the University of Córdoba in 1795. He received his bachelor's degree in Canon and civil law in Chuquisaca. At the age of 23 he was an ecclesiastical attorney general, and in 1799, through competition, he obtained the professorship of philosophy at the Colegio Carolino, which he held for three years. He was a canon of the cathedral of Córdoba. From 1805 he was in the parish of Morón, until he took over that of Canelones in the Banda Oriental in 1808. Gómez served as military chaplain in the armies of the revolution and fought as a soldier in the battle of Las Piedras in 1811. Then he became a canon of the cathedral of Buenos Aires. In 1813 he was one of the deputies of the National Assembly, where he became known as a great political orator. He was chosen governor of the bishopric. The Directorate was created at his suggestion and became a part of the Council of State in 1814. Gómez was very active until the fall of Alvear, when Álvarez Thomas had his property seized and exiled him to Europe in 1815. He returned to become a councilor of state in the government of Pueyrredón, and in 1818 he was sent to Brazil and to the courts of London and Paris to gain recognition of independence. Gómez represented Buenos Aires in the general constitutional assembly of 1824 and was one of the signers of the constitution adopted in 1826.

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