Monstrous Births and Creole Patriotism in Late Colonial Mexico

On February 8, 1785, the Gazeta de Mxico , one of New Spain's first news periodicals, published an announcement from the city of Guanajuato celebrating the recent birth of a pair of conjoined twins: Doa Rafaela Corts has delivered two children from one birth, joined together at the back of their heads by the skull. They received the holy waters of baptism and were christened Joseph Nepomuceno Guadalupe and Joseph Ignacio Guadalupe Many people, admiring these rare effects of nature, have visited them, and there has been no record in these twins of any deformity or defect in their separate and agile bodies The few doctors and surgeons residing in the city have considered separating them, but have not found it advisable because of the manner in which they are united, and every day more news circulates about their existence and longevity, causing ever more admiration for them given that the first one was born foot-first, and in delivering him, the midwife discovered the knot that joined the two heads.