Rafael Maria de Mendive, the patriotic teacher

On October 24, 1821, the patriot Rafael Maria de Mendive y Daumy was born in Havana. He was a man of sensitive soul, a poet, and, above all, the teacher who became the mentor of Jose Marti, who would become Cuba's National Hero.

He was orphaned as a child and, thanks to his older brother, received a thorough education until he entered the San Carlos Seminary in 1834, where he studied law, philosophy, and Latin.

At 17, he entered the Royal and Pontifical University of Havana and graduated in law in 1844.

His eight-year journey abroad was decisive in his cultural development. During that time, he associated with renowned figures in the country's political and literary world, such as Felix Varela, Jose Antonio Saco, and Domingo del Monte, who were living in exile.

Mendive returned to Cuba in 1852 and later, in 1856, joined the Economic Society of Friends of the Country. By then, he had matured intellectually and published in various media such as the Revista Habanera, Álbum de lo Bueno y lo Bello, and the Diario de La Habana.

His work as a teacher would leave a mark on Cuban history. In 1864, he became director of the Municipal High School for Boys, where he met Jose Marti, who from then on would develop a sense of respect and admiration for the educator.

Later, Mendive founded the San Pablo School. He installed it in his own home at 88 Prado Street, which became a center for literary and patriotic gatherings.

It was in that space, filled with the atmosphere of his beautiful family, that his students absorbed the knowledge and values ​​of the eminent educator. For Marti, it is his paradigm.

He listens to him speak passionately about his country, freedom, dignity, and justice. More than just a school, Mendive's home is a place for growth in every sense.

Due to the demonstrations that took place on January 22, 1869, at the Villanueva Theater after a performance of the play Perro huevero (Huevero Dog), Mendive was arrested and imprisoned for five months at the Castillo del Principe, "because his house was a center for patriotic meetings." Following this, the college was closed, and Mendive was exiled to Spain for four years.

From the Iberian country, he moved to New York, where he resided until 1878.

He returned to Cuba after the signing of the Peace of Zanjon. He continued his intellectual work, editing several publications and working with various media outlets.

He co-authored Cuatro laudes (Four Lutes), with Ramon Zambrana, Jose Gonzalo Roldan, and Felipe Lopez de Briñas.

In collaboration with Jose4 de Jesus Garcia, he published his anthology America poetica (Poetic America) and wrote the prologue to the second edition of Poesias de Fornaris (Poems of Fornaris).

His love for education led him to direct the San Luis Gonzaga School in Cardenas, where he fell ill in 1886. He was transferred to Havana, where he died on November 24 of that year.

For his students and followers, his thinking became a guide for the struggle. The most faithful of his students, Jose Marti, said of him in a letter to Enrique Trujillo in 1891:

"And how can I possibly express in a few lines all the good and new things I could say about that lover of beauty, who loved it in literature as in the things of life, and never wrote anything but about the truths of his heart or the sorrows of his homeland?"