Born to the Florentino clan, a wealthy and prominent family in
Vigan,
Ilocos Sur, Florentino was baptized under the Christian name
Leona Josefa Florentina. Her father was Marcelino Pichay Florentino, Vigan's wealthiest man at the time, while her mother was Isabel Florentina, who first educated her as a child. A historical marker installed in 1958 by the Philippine Historical Committee, a predecessor of the
National Historical Commission of the Philippines, states that she was a distant cousin of
José Rizal. She began to write her first verses in Ilocano at a very young age. Despite her potential, she was not allowed to receive a university education because of her gender and the patriarchal norms of the era. Because of this, her mother Isabel, who was also disallowed to have a university education when she was young, made it her personal mission to tutor Leona and teach her everything she knew to expand her daughter's natural talent. A series of private teachers were also persuaded and brought by her mother to teach Leona, and later, included an educated Ilocano Catholic priest, Evaristo Abaya, the curate of Vigan. As a young teenager, she bore and raised five children. Despite the constraints imposed on her by the era's norms against women liberation, she did not stop writing. Her creative talent expanded exponentially through the years, while her perspectives on equality progressed, leading to her feminist writings which would later on would be her most impactful works. Some of her works narrated her lived experience of loving a woman during the patriarchal colonial era, becoming one of the most important historical lesbian writing in Philippine literature. After her husband Elias found out about her protofeminist writings, their marriage quickly soured. Due to the
protofeminist nature of her writings and her progressive ideals for women and minorities, in around 1869 to 1870, Florentino was shunned by her pro-patriarchy husband, as well as her children who were convinced by their father. Elias personally stated that he shunned Leona due to her tuberculosis, but most believed that the reason was Leona's feminist ideals and influence on her children, which Elias was fully against. Elias vocally did not support Leona's creative inclination towards the literary feminist arts. At the age of around 20, Leona lived alone in exile and was separated from her five children, who were disallowed to see their mother. She moved to a small neighborhood outside the city. While continuing her writings and spoken word engagements, she became adept in horseback riding and smoking cigars. Her ideals and the path she took was never accepted by her wealthy father, who remained as head of the clan. In 1946, after
World War II, Leona's grandchild and Isabelo's son, Isabelo Valentin de los Reyes, Jr. y López, became the
Obispo Máximo, the equivalent of
Pope, in the progressive Philippine Independent Church. Beginning in the 1990's, more than a century after Leona's death, the Philippine government through the
Cultural Center of the Philippines, initiated performances honoring Leona's works and contributions to the arts and the democratic ideals of the country. Monologues, with many translated from the original Ilocano or Spanish, alluded to her life, including her love for a woman during the patriarchal Spanish colonial era, where lesbian or queer love was persecuted. A sculpture was also made, and now stands at the plaza fronting her family's ancestral house in the
UNESCO World Heritage Site of Calle Crisologo,
Vigan. Her house, which has been declared as a
National Cultural Treasure of the Philippines, has been preserved and converted into the offices of the Provincial Tourism Center, the Vigan Heritage Commission, and the gastronomical center of Casa Leona. Leona's clan continues to live in Vigan while some reside in
Metro Manila for commerce. ==Works==