Born: 6 December 1835, Dominican Republic
Died: 1903
Country most active: Dominican Republic
Also known as: María Nicolasa Billini Hernández
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Maria was born in Santo Domingo city in 18395and died in the same place in 1903. A school teacher for a period of over six and thirty years, she dedicated most of her life to this noble task with a full measure of devotion. She came into this world when Juan Pablo Duarte, the Father of our Country, and his noble associates made up the Trinitaria, a patriotic secret association to oppose to the Haitian rule their ideal of a free country. She grew to womanhood in these surroundings of exalted patriotism, and shed bitter tears when her country was treacherously annexed to Spain in 1861. Her family and herself were banished to Cuba where they spent a few years. She was willing to come back to her native soil in company with her virtuous brother, the Father Billini to be, only when it became known to her that the Spanish troops had forever been withdrawn from her beloved native country. In 1867, she established a school for girls named “El Dominicano.” She holds the glory of having founded the first school for girls along scientific lines in our country.
Possessed of a great will force, she devoted her evenings to learning what she was to teach on the following day. Her main purpose was not to graduate teachers from her school, but to
educate good Dominican mothers, capable of bringing up and forming good, steadfast Dominican citizens. It must be acknowledged that her success along these lines was unequalled and matchless in our country. Only our best family girls attended her school, where they not only received the best education available but were constantly inspired by the patriotic and virtuous behaviour of their beloved teacher. She devoted the whole of her life to her school and her dear girls.