Avelino Bouzón Gallego, canon archivist of the cathedral of Tui, has just published in the parish leaf of San Bartolomeu de Rebordáns (Galicia), the maternal genealogy that links Pope Leo XIV with the diocese of Tui-Vigo. Specifically with the parish of S. Salvador de Torneiros, he has assured Omnes.
As was published after his election on May 8 of last year, the Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost, was born on September 14, 1955 in Chicago (Illinois, USA), the son of Louis Marius Prevost, of French and Italian descent, who died in 1997, and Mildred Agnes Prevost, née Mildred Martinez, of Spanish descent, who died in 1990. The Pope has two brothers, Louis Martin and John Joseph.
The maternal grandparents of Leo XIV were, according to available data, Joseph Martinez and Louise Baquié.
Origins of the study of Avelino Bouzón
The study Avelino arose from the reading of the biography of Pope Leo XIX entitled: ‘.‘Biography of Leo XIV. The Augustinian Pope, pilgrim towards God’, written by the historian Rafael Lazcano, and edited by San Pablo.
In the first pages appear some genealogical reviews, in which he affirms that the Pope has ancestors in Porriño and in Galicia. Specifically, the archival canon of Tui-Vigo, referring to an ancestor of the Pope through his mother's line, says Rafael Lazcano on page 25:
“In said biography at the beginning, the author points out the Galician origins of the Pope on his mother's side: “Francisco's parents were Benito Lorenzo de Bastos, born in Porriño (Pontevedra), and Antonia González Vázquez, married on January 9, 1677 in the church of the Holy Spirit in Havana” (Page 25)”.
Ascending genealogy from his mother, Mildred
Avelino Bouzón has worked on an ascending genealogy, upwards, of Pope Prevost, through his mother's side. His role has been “to find the one who went to Cuba, and his ancestors”.
With this data, D. Avelino and one of his collaborators, Luis Arias, investigated the parish books of Santa María de Porriño and S. Salvador de Torneiros. Immediately the parish of Santa María de Porriño was discarded since the first parish books date from the mid 1700s. And the search focused on the books of S. Salvador de Torneiros dating from the early 1600s.
Galician ancestors
Thus in Book I of the Baptized there is a record of Benito Bastos Lorenzo, baptized in this parish on December 1, 1639 (Book I of the Baptized [B], folio 17 recto [f 17r]).
The parents of Benito Bastos Lorenzo, neighbors of San Miguel de Pereiras, were Benito de Bastos do Lago and María Lorenzo Pérez, the latter baptized in Torneiros on March 31, 1613 (book I of B, f. 1v.); they were married in Torneiros on September 8, 1635 (book I of Casados [C], f 166v).
Benito de Bastos do Lago was a neighbor of Pereiras, where he married María do Lago. María Lorenzo Pérez, was daughter of Lorenzo de Riascos and Inés Pérez, both neighbors of Torneiros.
Benito de Bastos Lorenzo, fifth great-great-grandfather
Therefore, says Avelino Bouzón, “Benito de Bastos Lorenzo is the fifth great-great-grandfather by maternal descent of Roberto Prevost (León XIV).
Benito de Bastos do Lago occupies the sixth position, and the father, Juan de Bastos, neighbor of Pereiras, the seventh of the ancestors by maternal line”.
The archivist explains that “a great-great-grandparent is the father or mother of a person's great-great-grandfather or great-great-grandmother, that is, a direct lineal ancestor who stands one generation before the great-great-grandfather, being “the grandfather of the grandfather of the grandparents” of someone, sometimes also called chozno or chozna”.
In ascending order
That is, for the first generation formed by Louis Marius Prevost and his wife Mildred Agnes Martinez (”Millie”, in the family), the parents of Pope Leo XIV, we meet the grandparents, the second generation; then follow the great-grandparents, the third generation. From there begins the correlative succession of the great-great-grandparents.
The first ones form the fourth generation and continuing the ascending order we arrive to Benito Bastos Lorenzo, born in San Salvador de Torneiros (A Louriña), sixth great-great-grandfather and ninth generation.
For the genealogical interest of these and other data, you can consult the baptismal certificate of the ancestor “Benito de Bastos”, signed by the priest Juan Fernandes Parada.
Benito de Bastos married in Havana
If Benito de Bastos married in Havana in 1677 at the age of 32, we can assume that he emigrated when he was about 25 years old, adds the diocesan note. “Then Cuba was a Spanish colony in full transition with an emerging sugar elite and with scarce population, that is why small contingents of emigration took place to replace in the sugar mill, sometimes in conditions of semi-slavery, blacks and indigenous people.”.
“After some time, many Galicians and other Iberians who had arrived on the island later moved to Mexico and the United States of America”.
Descending Genealogy. Audience with the Pope…
Avelino Bouzón comments that “the mayor of Porriño is surnamed Lorenzo, and the parish priest, Bastos”, frequent surnames in the area. The archival canon is now working on a descending genealogy, based on the collaterals. Benito Bastos had 4 brothers, and we are following his descendants, up to the present relatives.
“Our goal is to find the Pope's current relatives, locate them, and when Leo XIV comes to Spain, the group can have a meeting with him,” he reveals.
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