Juan Cayetano Fernández de Agüero


Juan Cayetano Fernández de Agüero was a Spanish Catholic priest born in Buenos Aires. He served during the Viceroyalty of Peru and the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, performing his functions as a priest Rector of the Cathedral Church of Buenos Aires.

Biography

He was baptized with his twin sister Bernarda Francisca in the Cathedral of Buenos Aires on August 11, 1715, being his parents Amador Fernández de Agüero and Petrona Cabral de Ayala, belonging to a distinguished family of the city. He probably studied at the University of Charcas where he received his degree in Ecclesiastical Sciences.
At the beginning of his ecclesiastical career, Fernández de Aguero served in the parish San Antonio de Padua of Areco, being the third parish priest to perform functions in that church. He was the longest-lived priest of the Buenos Aires Cathedral performing for more than twenty-five years. At the head of the Cathedral he held the positions of prosecutor of the ecclesiastical court, deputy commissioner of the Holy Office, also serving as priest and vicar judge.
Juan Cayetano Fernández de Agüero carried out several studies on the genealogy of the families of Buenos Aires, and certifying the ancestry of the Canaverys Esparza family and others with Amador Vaz de Alpoim and Margarita Cabral de Melo, belonging to the Portuguese nobility.
He came from the same family, his paternal grandfather Ignacio Fernández de Agüero, was an army General who served twice as Alcalde of Buenos Aires. By maternal line, Fernández de Aguero was descended from the illustrious families of Juan Cabral de Melo Alpoin and Inés Leal de Ayala, daughter of the former governor of the Río de la Plata and Paraguay, Mateo Leal de Ayala, born in Madrid.