Turibius of Mogrovejo

"Saint Turibius" redirects here. For other saints with this name, see Turibius.

Saint Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo
Archbishop of Lima
Church	Catholic Church
Archdiocese	Lima
See	Lima
Appointed	16 May 1579
Installed	24 May 1581
Term ended	23 March 1606
Predecessor	Diego Gómez de Lamadrid
Successor	Bartolomé Lobo Guerrero
Orders
Ordination	1578
Consecration	23 August 1580 by Cristóbal Rojas Sandoval
Rank	Bishop
Personal details
Born	Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo 16 November 1538 Mayorga de Campos, Kingdom of León, Habsburg Spain
Died	23 March 1606(1606-03-23) (aged 67) Saña, Viceroyalty of Peru, Spanish Empire
Alma mater	University of Coimbra University of Valladolid University of Salamanca
Sainthood
Feast day	23 March 27 April (Former)
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Beatified	2 July 1679 Rome, Papal States by Pope Innocent XI
Canonized	10 December 1726 Rome, Papal States by Pope Benedict XIII
Attributes	Episcopal attire
Patronage	Peru Lima Latin American bishops Native rights Scouts Valladolid

Ordination history of Turibius of Mogrovejo
History Priestly ordination Date 1578 Episcopal consecration Consecrated by Cristóbal Rojas Sandoval Date 23 August 1580 Place Seville, Seville, Habsburg Spain
Episcopal succession Bishops consecrated by Turibius of Mogrovejo as principal consecrator Alfonso Guerra, O.P. 12 August 1582 Bartolomé Martinez Menacho y Mesa 4 September 1588 Alfonso Fernández de Bonilla 1593 Luis López de Solís, O.E.S.A. 3 April 1594 Alonso Ramírez Vergara, O.S. 1595 Reginaldo de Lizárraga, O.P. 24 October 1599 Juan de La Roca 1601

Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo (16 November 1538 – 23 March 1606) was a Spanish Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Lima from 1579 until his death.

He first studied in the humanities and law before serving as a professor and later as the Grand Inquisitor at the behest of King Philip II. His piety and learning had reached the ears of the king who appointed him to that position, which was considered unusual since he had had no previous government or judicial experience. His noted work for the Inquisition earned him praise from the king who nominated him for the vacant Lima archdiocese. The pope confirmed this, despite Turibius' protests.

Mogrovejo was ordained to the priesthood in 1578, and consecrated as an archbishop in 1580, before setting off for Peru to begin his mission. He was a noted and charismatic preacher who set about baptising and catechising the indigenous people. He confirmed almost half a million people; these included Rose of Lima and Martin de Porres.

A staunch advocate for archdiocesan reform, Turibius set to work correcting the priests of his diocese. He led them away from various impure practices and scandals, while instituting new educational procedures for seminaries.

After his death, his reputation for holiness and learning lived on, leading to calls for his canonisation. Pope Innocent XI beatified the late archbishop, and Pope Benedict XIII canonised him as a saint on 10 December 1726.

Life

Monument in his birthplace.

Education

Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo was born on 16 November 1538 in the Valladolid province of Habsburg Spain, to the nobles Luis Alfonso de Mogrovejo (1510–1568) and Ana de Roblès i Morán (1515–???); his sister was Grimanese de Mogrovejo i Robledo (1545–1635). He was named after Turibius of Astorga.

He was noted as a pious child with a strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin. He fasted once a week in her honour and recited rosaries often. He received an education befitting a noble at the time; he entered the college at Valladolid in 1550 where he studied humanities.

He became a professor teaching Law to students at the reputed college in Salamanca. His uncle Juan de Mogrovejo served as a professor there as well as at the San Salvador High School in Oviedo, before King Juan III invited him to teach at the college in Coimbra. Turibius accompanied his uncle there, and studied at the college in Coimbra before returning to Salamanca sometime later. His uncle died not long afterwards. In February 1571 Turibius’ learning and virtuous reputation encouraged King Philip II to appoint him Grand Inquisitor on the Inquisition Court stationed at Granada.

Episcopate

During this time Philip II nominated him for the vacant Lima archbishopric, despite his strong protests. Knowledge of canon law prompted him to remind both king and pope that priests alone could be delegated ecclesial dignities, but the Holy See prevailed. Preparations were made for him to be ordained before the formal announcement. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1578 in Granada (after four weeks’ successively ascending the minor orders). On 16 May 1579, Pope Gregory XIII named him Archbishop of Lima; he was consecrated in August 1580 by the Archbishop of Seville, Cristóbal Rojas Sandoval.

On 12 May 1581, the new archbishop arrived in Paita, 970 km (600 mi) from Lima. He began his new mission travelling to Lima on foot while he baptised and taught the local people. He was enthroned in his new see a week later.

His favourite topic was: "Time is not our own and we must give a strict account of it". Alone and on foot he traversed his entire archdiocese three times, regardless of inclement weather, ferocious wildlife or tropical heat. He also had to deal with fevers, and often with the threat of hostile tribes. He faced these, all the while baptising and confirming almost half a million people. Among these were Rose of Lima, Martin de Porres, Juan Masías and Francis Solano (who later became a close friend). All would come to be canonised.

He built roads and schools as well as chapels and hospitals, and ensured these could be staffed from nearby convents. In 1591 he founded the first seminary in the Western Hemisphere and mandated that learning indigenous languages was a prerequisite in their formation. He inaugurated the first part of the third Lima Cathedral on 2 February 1604. He also assembled thirteen diocesan synods and three provincial councils during his tenure. He was seen as a champion of the rights of the natives against the Spanish masters. He learnt the local dialects and was seen as a champion for rights and liberties, in challenge to the Peruvian governors' power and control.

Mogrovejo sought the reformation of diocesan priests and found that some of their behavior had grown too scandalous to be continued. There were those priests who came to resent him for this, though Francisco de Toledo supported his reform efforts and rendered him assistance. At the request of Philip II he also oversaw the Third Provincial Council from 1582 to 1583. He served as the council's president, guiding rather than leading it.

Mogrovejo also worked to implement the decrees from the Council of Trent and made evangelization a core theme in his episcopal career. He produced a trilingual catechism in Spanish/Quechuan/Aymara in 1584, implementing Trent's call for preaching in indigenous languages. He endorsed the council's decree which prescribed excommunication of clerics who engaged in business ventures, since these often exploited natives for work and profit. Pope Sixtus V in 1588 confirmed the acts of the Third Council of Lima which implemented Trent's decrees. Many dioceses in South America adopted these acts from Lima.

Mogrovejo held two more provincial councils in 1591 and in 1601. Mogrovejo made three pastoral visitations that were all extensive in time. He visited each parish and would first inspect all objects for divine worship (to be in good condition) before talking to the parish priest about the life of the parish. He would then check the parish registers and also see if the priest had the missal that Pope Pius V had mandated over a decade prior.

Death

He predicted the exact date and hour of his death. It was in Pacasmayo during a pastoral visit that he contracted a fever but continued labouring to the last and arrived at Zaña in a critical condition. He dragged himself to receive the Viaticum and died not long after this on 23 March 1606 (Holy Thursday) at 3:30 pm at the Saint Augustine convent. His final words were those of Jesus Christ on the Cross: "Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit". His remains are interred in the archdiocesan cathedral.

Sainthood

His beatification was celebrated under Pope Innocent XI in 1679 (ratified in the papal bull "Laudeamus"), and Pope Benedict XIII canonized him as a saint on 10 December 1726 through the papal bull "Quoniam Spiritus". His liturgical feast was once celebrated on 27 April but is now celebrated on 23 March. His cult was once confined for the most part to South America but is now more widespread because of his pioneering reforms. Pope John Paul II proclaimed him the patron saint for the Latin American episcopate in 1983.

See also

• List of Catholic saints
• Mogrovejo
• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lima
• Saint Turibius of Mogrovejo, patron saint archive

External links

•  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Toribio Alfonso Mogrovejo". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
• Catholic Hierarchy ^{[self-published]}
• Lives of the Saints
• Catholic Online
• Short biography at MSN Encarta (in Spanish)
• American Catholic

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Toribio Alfonso Mogrovejo". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.