Saint Turibius of Mogrovejo

Turibius was born in Mayorga, Spain, on November 16, 1538. He studied canon law in Valladolid and Salamanca, and stayed on to teach in Salamanca. In February 1571 Philip II put him at the head of the Inquisition tribunal of Granada — and at the time Turibius wasn’t even a priest: he was a layman. In May 1579 the same king named him archbishop of Lima, the city Pizarro had founded in 1535 in Spanish Peru. Gregory XIII confirmed it. Turibius was consecrated in Seville and took possession of his see on May 12, 1581. The diocese covered four hundred fifty thousand square kilometers — more than all of Italy. He visited the whole of it three times, on foot and on horseback. He learned the local language. He had the catechism published in Spanish, Quechua and Aymara, and in 1591 he founded in Lima the first seminary in all of Latin America. He stood up to the Spanish colonists every time it was needed, and it was needed often. In 1605, during a pastoral visit to Pacasmayo, he caught the fever that killed him the following year. He died at Zaña on March 23, 1606, on the road, the way he had spent almost his entire time as bishop. Benedict XIII declared him a saint in 1726. If your name is Turibio, today is your name day.