Juan de Castillo (14 September 1595 – 17 November 1628) was a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest and missionary, and a martyr-saint of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. A Spaniard, he was one of the first to labor at the

Jesuit reduction Reductions (, also called ; ) were settlements established by Spanish rulers and Roman Catholic missionaries in Spanish America and the Spanish East Indies (the Philippines). In Portuguese-speaking Latin America, such reductions were also c ...

s in Paraguay.

Biography

Born on 14 September 1596 in Belmonte, in the region of Toledo in Spain, Juan del Castillo began studies for the legal profession at the

University of Alcalá The University of Alcalá () is a public university located in Alcalá de Henares, a city 35 km (22 miles) northeast of Madrid in Spain and also the third-largest city of the region. It was founded in 1293 as a ''Studium Generale'' for t ...

, but discovered, at the beginning of his career, a very different goal. He entered the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

on 21 March 1614 in the novitiate in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, in preparation for becoming a Jesuit priest. In November 1616 he was sent with

Alphonsus Rodriguez Alphonsus Rodríguez () (25 July 1532 – 31 October 1617) was a Spanish Jesuit religious brother who is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. Life and work Rodríguez was the son of a wool merchant. When Peter Faber, one of the o ...

to South America.TYLENDA JN, '' op cit ''., . They arrived in Buenos Aires on February 15, 1617 and he went to Cordoba to continue his studies. He was ordained a priest in 1625.

Mission to Paraguay

Background

The Jesuits arrived at Asuncion in 1588 and created the

s of Paraguay among the native Guaranis in 1609. At that time the Jesuit province of Paraguay did not correspond to the current borders. It included the current Paraguay,

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, a small part of

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

, and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Their purpose was to protect the natives from the Portuguese settlers, which quickly brought on hostility from these settlers.

Mission

Juan del Castillo began his missionary work immediately after being ordained a priest. He joined at

Ijuí Ijuí () is a Brazilian municipality of Rio Grande do Sul, situated from the state capital, Porto Alegre. In 2020 its population was 83,764, making it the third most populous city of the Missões region, behind Passo Fundo and Erechim. Demo ...

Roque González y de Santa Cruz who left him at the head of this reduction and went to found a new one. At Ijuí, presently in the western Brazilian municipality of

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

, Juan helped Christianize the Guaranis, and taught the youngest to read and write.

Death

Juan del Castillo was assassinated on 17 November 1628 in Yjuhi, two days after his companions Roque Gonzalez and Alphonsus Rodriguez. The chieftain Nheçu, head of the surrounding region, was hostile to their Christianizing efforts. He ordered his men to murder the three religious, and he condemned all missionaries in general. Juan was murdered in the forest, but brought back and buried with his companions in the reduction of the Immaculate Conception.

Public recognition

Juan del Castillo along with Roque Gonzalez de Santa Cruz and Alfonso Rodriguez were beatified by Pope

Pius XI Pope Pius XI (; born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, ; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939) was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of the Vatican City State u ...

in 1934. They were then together canonized on 16 May 1988 by

John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

. The following is an excerpt from the homily of John Paul II during the canonization Mass in Asuncion (Paraguay):

References

Bibliography

* TYLENDA J. N., ''Jesuit Saints & Martyrs. Short Biographies of the Saints, Blessed, Venerables, and Servants of God of the Society of Jesus'', 2nd éd., Chicago, Loyola Press, 1998. * FATAS CABEZA G. (dir.), ''Gran enciclopedia de Espana'', v. 5, Camino – Cataluna, Encyclopedia de Espana, S.A., 1992. * STORNi H. S.I., ''Catalogo de los jesuitas de la provincia del Paraguay (Cuenca del plata) 1585 – 1768'', Rome, Institutum Historicum S. I., 1980. * TENENBAUM B. A. (dir.), ''Encyclopedia of Latin american History and Culture'', v. 4 (Mestizo to Rutineros), Charles Scribner's Sons, 1996. * GERHARDS A., ''Dictionnaire historique des ordres religieux'', Fayard, 1998. * BANGERT William V. S.J., ''A History of the Society of Jesus, St Louis, the Institute of jesuit sources'', 1972. {{Authority control Jesuit saints 1595 births 1628 deaths Spanish Roman Catholic saints 17th-century Spanish Jesuits Brazilian Roman Catholic saints Jesuit missionaries Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries Jesuit missionaries in Paraguay Jesuit missionaries in Brazil Martyred Roman Catholic priests