Introduction
Joseph Anton Lopez (born José Antonio López; 1781 – October 5, 1841) was a Spanish Mexican priest of the Catholic Church and a Jesuit. As chaplain to the imperial family of Mexico, he moved to the United States in 1824 with the widow and children of the executed Agustín de Iturbide, and settled in Washington, D.C. He became the chaplain of the Georgetown Visitation Convent, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1833, working as a novice and minister at Georgetown College. When the president of Georgetown College, William McSherry died, Lopez became acting president in 1840, making him the first Mexican president of a university in the United States. Though his presidency lasted a matter of several months before he fell ill and was sent to St. Inigoes, Maryland to recuperate, he garnered a reputation as a strict disciplinarian. Shortly after resigning, he died in St. Inigoes in 1841.
Early life
José Antonio López was born in 1781, to a distinguished Spanish family. When the Emperor of Mexico, Agustín de Iturbide, was executed in 1824, his widow, Ana María Huarte, and children fled to the United States and settled in the city of Georgetown in the District of Columbia. With them came López as their chaplain. Huarte enrolled her daughters in the Georgetown Visitation Academy, which two later entered as nuns; one of her sons married a woman residing in Georgetown, and the other son enrolled as a student at Georgetown College.
López was incardinated as a priest in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and became the chaplain of the Georgetown Visitation Convent attached to the Visitation Academy. He began anglicizing his name as Joseph Anton Lopez. Though already a priest, he sought admission to the Society of Jesus, and was received on December 10, 1833. As a Jesuit novice, he worked at Georgetown College during his formation, eventually becoming minister of the college.
Georgetown College
Following the death of William McSherry, Lopez was appointed president of Georgetown College on January 1, 1840, in an acting capacity, with the expectation that the provincial superior would soon appoint a permanent successor to relieve him of this post. Upon his appointment, he became the first Mexican president of an American university. He was known as a strict disciplinarian, among both the students and the Jesuits under his charge. One notable event that occurred during his tenure was the establishment of a literary society alongside the existing Philodemic Society, known as the Philonomosian Society, which replaced the Phileleutherian Society. His presidency lasted just several months, before he became ill, and was succeeded by James A. Ryder on May 1, 1840. He returned to the position of minister only briefly, before being sent to St. Inigoes, Maryland to recuperate.
A week before his death, the Jesuits tending to him feared that a coffin would not be ready in time for him, and it was reported that Lopez told them not to worry because he would not die until Saturday. True to his prediction, on October 5, 1841, he died in St. Inigoes, where he was buried in Chapel Field, before all the graves there were reinterred in the cemetery adjoining St. Ignatius Church in the same village.