Nicholas Wiseman: A novel way to leave one’s mark in Seville

Tony Bryant

The name of Nicholas Wiseman has been engraved into the history of Seville for several reasons, which is why a plaque was installed in his honour on the façade of Casa Fabiola, located in the San Bartolomé district of the city. Born in Seville in 1802, Wiseman became the first Cardinal Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Westminster in 1850.

He was the son of James Wiseman, an Irish merchant known as ‘Diego’ who moved to Seville at the beginning of the 19th century, where he founded the Wiseman and Brothers banking company. James died in 1805. Four years later, his wife, Javiera Strange, Nicholas and his two siblings left Seville to return to Ireland, before the invasion of French troops during the War of Independence (1808-14).

Nicholas Wiseman was educated in Waterford, after which he attended St Cuthbert’s College in County Durham, before entering the English College in Rome, where he became Rector. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1825.

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He returned to Seville in 1844, and the city hall appointed him Doctor of Theology at Seville University. It was during this time that the future cardinal began writing his first novel, Fabiola. The novel was based on the persecution of Christians during the reign of Diocletian, Roman Emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305.

Wiseman left Seville for London in 1848, and following his death in 1865, Seville city hall named the house where he was born Casa Fabiola, in honour of his novel. Three years later, the council also changed the name of the street where the house is located to Calle Fabiola.

In 2018, Casa Fabiola became the Bellver museum, which houses an extensive art collection donated to Seville after the death of Mariano Bellver. A patron of the arts, Bellver amassed more than 500 canvases belonging to the Seville school of the 19th and 20th centuries.