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Alonso de Montúfar
Alonso de Montúfar y Bravo de Lagunas, O.P., was a Spanish Dominican friar and prelate of the Catholic Church, who ruled as the second Archbishop of Mexico from 1551 to his death in 1572. He approved and promoted the devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe that arose during his reign.
Montúfar was born in 1489 in Loja, Granada, in the region of Andalusia, just after the reconquest of the town from the Muslims. Following the chronicler Gil González Dávila, some authors give the year 1498 as Montúfar's year of birth, however, González Dávila contradicts himself, stating that Montúfar was 80 years old when he—erroneously—stated that the archbishop had died in 1569. Apart from this, there is another interesting note concerning Montúfar's date of birth; when his good friend and assistant, Friar Bartolomé de Ledesma, O.P., in a eulogy of the archbishop, writes that Montúfar had accepted the archbishopric in 1551, though he was over sixty years old. This note, together with the other evidence, indicates that Montúfar was born as early as 1489 or at least around that date.
Montúfar entered the Dominican Order and professed vows in the Priory of Santa Cruz la Real in Granada in 1512. Five years later, in 1517, he was assigned to Seville. The reason for his transfer was that the Dominican Archbishop Diego de Deza wanted him as one of the first fellows (colegiales) of the newly founded College of St. Thomas Aquinas in that city.
In 1524 Montúfar returned to his own college, Santa Cruz la Real, in Granada after seven years in Seville, and continued his education. In 1530, the General Chapter of the Dominican Order conferred on him the degree of Bachelor of Theology and appointed him as an instructor at the monastery for two years. After that term of office, the same body conferred on him the degree of Master of Theology. Following these years of teaching, Montúfar was appointed prior of Santa Cruz in 1536. At the end of his term of office, he went to Lyon, France, to attend the General Chapter of the Order.
Coming back to Spain in 1538, Montúfar was named prior of Santo Domingo el Real in Almería and from 1541 he was prior for two years in Santo Domingo in Murcia. By 1546, however, he was back in his old monastery in Granada, where he was appointed prior.
Apart from the appointments within the Dominican Order, Montúfar served for a long time as a theological consultant of the tribunals of the Inquisition in Granada, Murcia, Toledo and Seville.
After the death of the first Archbishop of Mexico, Franciscan Don Juan de Zumárraga, Dominican friar Montúfar was named as the new archbishop by Emperor Charles V. The recommendation of Montúfar as a candidate to the Mexican see seems to have come from Luis Hurtado de Mendoza y Pacheco, 2nd Marquis of Mondejar, who at the time was President of the Council of the Indies. According to the chroniclers the Marquis knew Montúfar personally, since he had been his confessor for some time. Alonso de Montúfar was consecrated in 1553 and finally reached his see in Mexico City in June 1554, six years after the death of his predecessor.
In the mid-1560s, Montúfar sent a secular priest, Juan de Vivero, the chaplain for the galleon San Geronimo, to the newly conquered Philippine Islands in order to establish the structures of the Catholic Church there. He was given the special privilege and sole faculty by Montúfar to establish the spiritual administration of this new colony of Spain. Vivero arrived in the islands in 1566, and founded the first Catholic church there, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, later to become the cathedral of the Diocese of Manila after its establishment in 1579.
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Alonso de Montúfar
Alonso de Montúfar y Bravo de Lagunas, O.P., was a Spanish Dominican friar and prelate of the Catholic Church, who ruled as the second Archbishop of Mexico from 1551 to his death in 1572. He approved and promoted the devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe that arose during his reign.
Montúfar was born in 1489 in Loja, Granada, in the region of Andalusia, just after the reconquest of the town from the Muslims. Following the chronicler Gil González Dávila, some authors give the year 1498 as Montúfar's year of birth, however, González Dávila contradicts himself, stating that Montúfar was 80 years old when he—erroneously—stated that the archbishop had died in 1569. Apart from this, there is another interesting note concerning Montúfar's date of birth; when his good friend and assistant, Friar Bartolomé de Ledesma, O.P., in a eulogy of the archbishop, writes that Montúfar had accepted the archbishopric in 1551, though he was over sixty years old. This note, together with the other evidence, indicates that Montúfar was born as early as 1489 or at least around that date.
Montúfar entered the Dominican Order and professed vows in the Priory of Santa Cruz la Real in Granada in 1512. Five years later, in 1517, he was assigned to Seville. The reason for his transfer was that the Dominican Archbishop Diego de Deza wanted him as one of the first fellows (colegiales) of the newly founded College of St. Thomas Aquinas in that city.
In 1524 Montúfar returned to his own college, Santa Cruz la Real, in Granada after seven years in Seville, and continued his education. In 1530, the General Chapter of the Dominican Order conferred on him the degree of Bachelor of Theology and appointed him as an instructor at the monastery for two years. After that term of office, the same body conferred on him the degree of Master of Theology. Following these years of teaching, Montúfar was appointed prior of Santa Cruz in 1536. At the end of his term of office, he went to Lyon, France, to attend the General Chapter of the Order.
Coming back to Spain in 1538, Montúfar was named prior of Santo Domingo el Real in Almería and from 1541 he was prior for two years in Santo Domingo in Murcia. By 1546, however, he was back in his old monastery in Granada, where he was appointed prior.
Apart from the appointments within the Dominican Order, Montúfar served for a long time as a theological consultant of the tribunals of the Inquisition in Granada, Murcia, Toledo and Seville.
After the death of the first Archbishop of Mexico, Franciscan Don Juan de Zumárraga, Dominican friar Montúfar was named as the new archbishop by Emperor Charles V. The recommendation of Montúfar as a candidate to the Mexican see seems to have come from Luis Hurtado de Mendoza y Pacheco, 2nd Marquis of Mondejar, who at the time was President of the Council of the Indies. According to the chroniclers the Marquis knew Montúfar personally, since he had been his confessor for some time. Alonso de Montúfar was consecrated in 1553 and finally reached his see in Mexico City in June 1554, six years after the death of his predecessor.
In the mid-1560s, Montúfar sent a secular priest, Juan de Vivero, the chaplain for the galleon San Geronimo, to the newly conquered Philippine Islands in order to establish the structures of the Catholic Church there. He was given the special privilege and sole faculty by Montúfar to establish the spiritual administration of this new colony of Spain. Vivero arrived in the islands in 1566, and founded the first Catholic church there, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, later to become the cathedral of the Diocese of Manila after its establishment in 1579.