Born on this day in 1645...

​​Don Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (August 14, 1645 – August 22, 1700) was one of the first great intellectuals born in the Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain (Mexico). He was a criollo patriot, exalting New Spain over Old. A polymath and writer, he held many colonial government and academic positions.

Kicked out of the Jesuits for cohorting with the lovely ladies of New Spain, Don Carlos seemed driven to challenge the church's authority. He particularly voiced his disapproval of the church's relationship to science. 

​He wrote a pointed letter to one of his detractors saying, "I hereby point out that neither his Reverence [Eusebio Kino] nor any other mathematician, even if he is Ptolemy himself, can set up dogmas in these sciences, because religious authority has no place in them at all, but only proof and demonstration." 

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Don Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora
​1667

​Theology in the 1600's was known as the "Queen of the Sciences", but Sigüenza's stance was far ahead of his time, and provided no quarter for religious influence. His views were heretical  for the time, and were some of the first stones laid in the wall between Science and Theology.

Salud to you Don Carlos! - Mexico's first fighter for Truth &  Science.