Fray Jacobo de Testera or Jacobo de Tastera was a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

Friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

of the 16th century who worked as a missionary to the indigenous peoples of

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...

. Born into a noble family in

Bayonne Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the France–Spain border, Spanish border. It is a communes of France, commune and one of two subprefectures in France, subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments of France, departm ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

he entered the Franciscan order around 1500 and went to

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

where he eventually became palace priest of

Charles V Charles V may refer to: Kings and Emperors * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise Others * Charles V, Duke ...

. In 1527 he was recruited by Fray Antonio de Ciudad Rodrigo to go to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

where he arrived in 1529. Among the first things he witnessed was the beating to death of the indigenous ruler of

Tacubaya Tacubaya is a Poverty in Mexico, working-class area of Mexico City in the borough of Miguel Hidalgo, D.F., Miguel Hidalgo. The ''colonia (Mexico), colonia'' Tacubaya and adjacent areas in other colonias are collectively referred to as Tacubaya. ...

Diego Delgadillo Diego Delgadillo (b. Granada, Spain, d. 1533, Granada) was a judge of the first Real Audiencia of Mexico, which took control of the governance of New Spain from the conquistadors from December 9, 1528 to January 9, 1531. Delgadillo was a native o ...

for not being able to provide the latter with sufficient workers to construct his palace. Testera became the companion of Archbishop

Juan de Zumárraga Juan de Zumárraga, OFM (1468 – June 3, 1548) was a Spanish Basque Franciscan prelate and the first Bishop of Mexico. He was also the region's first inquisitor. He wrote ''Doctrina breve'', the first book published in the Western Hemisphe ...

before deciding to dedicate himself to the mission. He started to work closely with Fray Pedro de Gante, creating instructional materials for the natives. He missionized in

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, compose the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The stat ...

and in Atlixco before going to work among the

Maya people Maya () are an ethnolinguistic group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya civilization was formed by members of this group, and today's Maya are generally descended from people who lived w ...

Yucatán Yucatán, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 106 separate municipalities, and its capital city is Mérida. ...

and later among the

Nahua people The Nahuas ( ) are a Uto-Aztecan languages, Uto-Nahuan ethnicity and one of the Indigenous people of Mexico, with Nahua minorities also in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. They comprise the largest Indigenous group i ...

of Huejotzinco, where he spent the last part of his life in the monastery. He was a colleague of Toribio de Benavente "Motolinia" and a friend of

Bartolomé de las Casas Bartolomé de las Casas, Dominican Order, OP ( ; ); 11 November 1484 – 18 July 1566) was a Spanish clergyman, writer, and activist best known for his work as an historian and social reformer. He arrived in Hispaniola as a layman, then became ...

. As he never became fluent in an indigenous language he invented a way of proselytizing with images called

Testerian Testerian is a pictorial writing system that was used until the 19th century to teach Christian doctrine to the indigenous peoples of Mexico, who were unfamiliar with alphabetic writing systems. Its invention is attributed to Jacobo de Testera, a ...

codices The codex (: codices ) was the historical ancestor format of the modern book. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages bound at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term ''codex'' is now r ...

employing the

rebus A rebus ( ) is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases. For example: the word "been" might be depicted by a rebus showing an illustrated bumblebee next to a plus sign (+ ...

system to teach Indians Christian doctrine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Testera, Jacobo De 1470 births 1543 deaths Colonial Mexico French Franciscans