St. Toribio, Pray for Us
“Christ said, ‘I am the Truth’; he did not say ‘I am the custom.’” — St. Toribio
Professor, lawyer, exemplary bishop, and propagator of the faith to the natives of Peru, St. Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo was born November 16, 1538, in Mayorga, Spain. At the age of twelve, he was sent to the University of Valladolid to study the humanities, then to the University of Salamanca to study law.
Though a layman, King Philip II appointed him chief judge of the Inquisitorial Court of Granada. Pleased with Toribio’s performance in the ecclesiastical court, the king nominated him to Pope Gregory XIII to fill the vacant archbishopric of Lima. Although Toribio protested the appointment, citing his ineligibility as a layman, the pope overruled him, and he set out for the New World.
When Philip II commissioned the Third Provincial Council of Lima (1582–1583) — one of the most significant and prolific councils held in the Americas –Toribio served as its president.
By making few essential distinctions between the natives and Spanish, the Third Provincial Council of Lima suggested considerably more equality across to population. Natives now had the right to receive both the sacraments of the Eucharist and Extreme Unction. In order to educate the natives about the faith, the council produced a trilingual catechism in Spanish, Aymara, and Quechua. The resulting Doctrina Christiana, y Catecismo para Instruccion de los Indios (Christian Doctrine and Catechism for Instruction of the Indians) was the first book published in South America.
Throughout his episcopacy, Toribio conducted three pastoral visitations of the diocese, famously travelling across the much of territory by foot. His visitations took nearly two decades to complete and covered over 18,000 miles.
While conducting a visitation, Toribio fell ill. After having received viaticum and the last rites, Toribio died, March 23, 1606. His final word were the words of Christ, “Into thy hands, I commend my spirit.”
Toribio was beatified by Pope Innocent XI in 1697, canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726, and named the Patron of Latin American Bishops by Pope St. John Paul II in 1983.
St. Toribio, pray for us.
