Martyrs of Paraguay

Paraguay, Martyrs of (d. 1628). These were three Jesuits: Roque Gonzalez, Alonso Rodriguez, and Juan de Castillo, all deeply involved in the foundation of the famous ‘Reductions’ of Paraguay. Eventually about 40 in number, these were settlements of Christian Indians run by the missionaries, not as conquerors but as guardians and trustees of native people and their ancient traditions. Their opposition to Spanish colonialism and to the Inquisition contributed to their suppression in the 18th century. Voltaire highly praised them.

Roque Gonzalez was born in Asunción in 1576 of a noble Spanish family: he was ordained priest in 1599, appointed vicargeneral in 1608, and devoted himself more than most to the religious instruction of the Indians. In 1609, looking for more missionary work, he joined the Jesuits. For the rest of his life he worked in the Reductions, first in that of St. Ignatius (1611–14), then founding six more to the east of the Parana and Uruguay rivers. This led him into suffering extreme hunger, cold, exhaustion, and insect bites. These however were more than offset by the admiration of the Indians, but his work was hampered by the Spanish insistence on the presence of sometimes brutal Europeans in their midst.

In 1628, joined by his two colleagues, he founded a new Reduction near the Ijuhi river. Juan de Castillo was left in charge, while the others went on to Caaro (now in Brazil), where they were directed to found yet another Reduction in strange country. This time a powerful medicine-man opposed them and incited others to attack them. As Gonzalez was hanging a church bell, he was attacked from behind with tomahawks. Rodriguez came to investigate the commotion, but was knocked down and then killed. The chapel was set alight and the two bodies were burnt inside it. This was on 15 November and on 17 November Castillo was seized, beaten, and stoned to death.

Although evidence was at once collected and recorded, the documents were lost. Over 200 years later, they were discovered in Argentina. This made these beatifications possible; they were completed in 1934. These martyrs were canonized in 1988. Feast: 17 November.

Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.

• J. M. Blanco, Historia documentada de la Vida y gloriosa Muerte de los PP. Roque Gonzalez…(1929); J. N. Tylenda, Jesuit Saints and Martyrs (1985); see also H. Thurston, ‘The first beatified martyr of Spanish America’, Catholic Historical Review, xx (1935), 371–83; N.C.E., vi. 611; B.L.S., xi. 124–7. B.T.A., iv. 376–7