province to Mexico. This was the end of the government of José Matías Delgado. Later life On the fall of Mexican Emperor Agustín de Iturbide in 1823, Central America declared its independence. Delgado was elected one of the representatives to the constituent congress of the Federal Republic of Central America. This Congress met in Guatemala beginning on 24 June 1823, and Delgado was chosen to preside. On 5 May 1824 he was named the first bishop of San Salvador by the local civil authorities and not by the Catholic Church. This entangled him in a serious and long-lasting controversy with the Archbishop of Guatemala and the Vatican authorities that lasted until his death. In 1824 he bought in Guatemala, with public money, the first official printing press in El Salvador. It was used to publish the first Salvadoran newspaper, El Semanario Político Mercantil. The first issue appeared on 31 July 1824. Delgado died on 12 November 1832 in San Salvador. As his funeral procession passed the Plaza Mayor, mourners showered his coffin with white rose petals. His remains are interred at El Rosario Church. Legacy On 22 January 1833 the National Assembly declared him Benemérito de la Patria. The Salvadoran lawyer, educator and journalist Rafael Reyes published the first biographical study of Delgado, in December 1878. Later other Central American intellectuals, including Francisco Gavidia, Carlos Meléndez Chaverri, Ramón López Jiménez, Rodolfo Barón Castro, José Salvador Guandique, and Jorge Lardé y Larín did likewise. His name was given to the town resulting from the merger of Aculhuaca, Paleca and San Sebastián Texincal on 23 October 1935. Dr. José Matías Delgado University, the foundation of which was announced on 15 September 1977, is today located in Antiguo Cuscatlán, a suburb of San Salvador. The National Assembly commissioned a portrait in oil for its chamber. It was made into a lithograph in New York by A. Demarest. A marble bust was installed on Avenida Inependencia in San Salvador in 1902. Another statue was donated by the German, Austrian and Swiss residents of the country on 14 September 1913. This statue was located at the Parque Arce, but the 1986 San Salvador earthquake destroyed it. There is also a statue of Delgado at the university named for him. See also Order of José Matías Delgado Dr. José Matías Delgado University References Bibliography External links Short biography Brief biography Brief biography Dr. José Matías Delgado