Juana Ross Edwards
{{Family name hatnote|Ross|Edwards|lang=Spanish}}
Juana Ross Edwards (August 2, 1830 – June 25, 1913) was a Chilean philanthropist. She built and maintained three hospitals, six nursing homes, a hospice, an orphanage, and countless schools.[http://www.memoriachilena.cl/temas/dest.asp?id=saludpublicacaridad Caridad cristiana] Memoria Chilena. Dirección de bibliotecas, archivos y museos de Chile. (in Spanish)
Early life
Juana Ross Edwards was born in La Serena, Chile, August 2, 1830.
She was the daughter of Scottish Consul David Ross Gillespie and Carmen Edwards Ossandón.Revista Icarito. Enciclopedia virtual. Colección de biografías: [https://web.archive.org/web/20080919155926/http://www.icarito.cl/medio/articulo/0,0,38035857_172985977_182715908_1,00.html Juana Ross Edwards] (in Spanish) Raised within the Edwards family, she spent her childhood with her nine siblings, among whom was Agustín Ross Edwards, politician and diplomat, who would be her executor. Biografía de Chile: [http://www.biografiadechile.cl/detalle.php?IdContenido=281&IdCategoria=8&IdArea=32&status=&TituloPagina=Historia%20de%20Chile Juana Ross Edwards: 1830-1913]. (in Spanish)
Marriage and children
File:Mansión de Juana Ross.jpg
On April 6, 1851 he married Agustín Edwards Ossandón, her uncle and founder of the Banco Edwards Citi, with whom she had seven children: Juan, Juana, Adela, Arturo, Gustavo, Agustín, Ricardo and Arturo Maximiano, all of whom died before her. Ross Edwards and her husband believed saving was a virtue. Being the richest man in Chile, Edwards Ossandón was the only one of the Chilean millionaires of the time who did not build a palace in Santiago, nor acquire a great hacienda, or take a pleasure trip to Europe.Ricardo Nazer Ahumada. [http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?pid=S0717-71942000003300008&script=sci_arttext&tlng=en LA FORTUNA DE AGUSTIN EDWARDS OSSANDON: 1815-1878]. Historia (Santiago) ISSN 0717-7194 versión on-line. (in Spanish)
Charity
Ross Edwards was a benefactor of countless charities, including the founding of hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages, schools and churches, dedicating her entire life to this work.
The Encyclical Rerum novarum of Pope Leo XIII, published in 1891, had a profound effect on Ross Edwards, and prompted her to create works for the benefit of the working world. For example, in Valparaíso, she created the Unión Social de Orden y Trabajo (Social Union of Order and Work), and in 1898, she built a complex of 56 apartments for workers, which included an interior bathroom and additional rooms.Centro de Documentación del Instituto de la Vivienda de la Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo de la Universidad de Chile [http://infoinvi.uchilefau.cl/index.php/la-historia-de-la-pobreza-en-chile/ Historia de la Pobreza en Chile] (in Spanish)
File:Valparaíso. - Hospital San Agustín; (en Avenida Argentina)..JPG
In 1886, she bought the land in Valparaíso where the Hospital San Agustín would be built, later renamed Hospital Enrique Deformes.Ciudad de Valparaíso. [http://www.ciudaddevalparaiso.cl/inicio/patrimonio_archivosmuseos_detalle.php?id_cat=156 Archivo del Hospital Carlos Van Buren]. (in Spanish) In this hospital, she established the first pediatric service of Valparaíso, on April 12, 1894; later, its work was continued at the Hospital Carlos van Buren.Laboratorio Saval. Noticias: [https://web.archive.org/web/20080611010351/http://www.saval.cl/link.cgi/MundoMedico/Noticias/12118 Servicio de Pediatría del Hospital Carlos van Buren cumple 114 años]. (in Spanish)[http://www.mercuriovalpo.cl/prontus4_noticias/antialone.html?page=http://www.mercuriovalpo.cl/prontus4_noticias/site/artic/20061022/pags/20061022032935.html El último director del "Deformes"] El Mercurio de Valparaíso, 22 October 2006. (in Spanish)Valparaíso Chile. Edificios públicos: [http://www.valparaisochile.com/edificiospublicos.htm Congreso Nacional]. (in Spanish) It also contributed large sums of money for its reconstruction, after the 1906 earthquake.
In La Serena, her hometown, she contributed funds for the construction of the cloister and chapel of Divina Providencia, and she also donated the organ that is still preserved in the cathedral. She died in Valparaíso, on June 25, 1913. She bequeathed the sum of ten million pesos to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de Chile for the construction and repair of churches.
References
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Category:Chilean philanthropists
Category:Chilean women philanthropists