Juliana Larena y Fenollé | |
Birth Name: | Juliana Josefa Benita Larena Fenollé |
Birth Date: | 16 February 1790 |
Birth Place: | Ejea de los Caballeros, Spain |
Death Place: | Zaragoza, Spain |
Known For: | Heroism in the Sieges of Zaragoza |
Juliana Josefa Benita Larena Fenollé (16 February 1790, Ejea de los Caballeros, Spain 1835, Zaragoza, Spain) was a nurse. She was involved in the Sieges of Zaragoza during the Peninsular War.[1]
Larena moved to Zaragoza, Spain at a young age, and was 18 years old when General Lefebvre initiated the French army's first siege on the city in 1808. During the first siege, she worked as a nurse, tending to the wounded on the front line. During the second siege a year later, Larena helped to defend the stronghold located at Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, one of the most dangerous areas during the siege.
On 30 September 1808, General Palafox awarded her the Shield of Distinction (Spanish; Castilian: el Escudo de Distinción) for her bravery and provided her a pension, which King Ferdinand VII confirmed on 25 October 1814.
Larena died of cholera in 1835, in Zaragoza.
On the centenary of the first siege, a street in Zaragoza was renamed Calle Juliana Larena in her honor.[2]