Saint Who?
Saints Who Established Schools
Saint Roque González
Priest and martyr († 1628)Feast: November 15
“We have worked to build temples to our Lord, not only those made by hands but spiritual temples as well, namely the souls of these Indians.” As a young priest, the intelligent and pious Roque González was a likely candidate for bishop. However, he fled from such honors. Instead he joined the Jesuits (who were very rarely made bishops) and became a missionary in his native South America.
Having found that itinerant missionary efforts were not very fruitful among the scattered tribes of Paraguay, Father González developed a successful new model: reductions, that is small, city-like communities designed to foster the moral life and family structure. They excluded European settlers, providing an additional buffer from the virulent slave trade.
Guided by the missionaries, but with a measure of self-governance, the people flourished. Even outspoken critics of Catholicism praised the reductions. The Enlightenment writer Voltaire said: “In those missions, law was respected, morals were pure, a happy brotherliness bound men together…. There was abundance everywhere.” Father González was beloved by the people. But after fifteen years of labor, he was attacked by a jealous shaman while at work on a reduction chapel. He died a martyr’s death with two of his companions.
Merciful Father, through the intercession of
Saint Roque González, send creative and fruitful solutions to those who work in mission fields.
