BOLIVAR, SIMÓN. – Founder of the independent States of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, b. 24 July 1783 at Caracas, d. 17 Dec. 1830 near Santa Marta. In 1810 he fought under General Miranda to free Venezuela from Spanish rule, but this attempt failed. Three years later he led a new struggle for the independence of his homeland, and in 1819 he established the republic of Greater Colombia, comprising the present-day States of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. In 1824 he became dictator of Peru, and in 1826 Protector of Bolivia. Rivalries among the various States made it impossible to realize his dream of a great Pan-American union of the former Spanish possessions. Deeply embittered after witnessing the collapse of his political edifice, he retired to the Atlantic coast on the estate of a friend and died at the age of 47.
The Holy See’s attitude toward the new States was shaped by B.’s concern for spiritual matters from the very outset. After the battle of Ayacucho (1824), which definitively ended Spanish rule, Leo XII filled the vacant episcopal sees with prelates proposed by B. The “Liberator,” for his part, issued various laws in 1828 favourable to the Catholic Church.