Fray Matías Abad (died 1649) was a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

priest who was martyred in the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

. He was born in the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

town of Cueto, in the province of Santander, and died in Uraba on the Atlantic coast of

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

in January 1649. He was the founder of

missions in the province of Chocó, Colombia. The son of Toribio Abad and Catalina de Higuera, Matías left his native Spain to travel to

New Granada New Granada may refer to various former national denominations for the present-day country of Colombia: *New Kingdom of Granada, from 1538 to 1717 *Viceroyalty of New Granada, from 1717 to 1810, re-established from 1816 to 1822 *United Provinces of ...

at an unknown date. He worked in the silver mines of Santa Ana at Mariquita (in modern

) before entering the Franciscan order. Little is known of his activities prior to 1648; in that year, Fray Matías was in Cartagena at the Convent of Loreto, one of the more important centres for the order in New Granada. He was on friendly terms with the governor Pedro Zapata, who supported his desire to conduct missionary work among the indigenous population of the Chocó region. Aided by Zapata, Fray Matías went to

Antioquia Antioquia is the Spanish form of Antioch. Antioquia may also refer to: * Antioquia Department Antioquia () is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the central northwestern part of Colombia with a narrow section that borders th ...

in July 1648, finally reaching Chocó the following month in the company of another priest Miguel Romero. Matías related the details of his trip in three separate letters. The encounter with the Choco Indians went off successfully. As told in a fragmentary diary of January 1649, Fray Matías travelled down the Atrato river in the company of 23 Indians, looking for the mouth of the river on the Urabá coast. On the 30th of January, they were attacked by a group of Uraba Indians, mortal enemies of the Choco Indians. Both Fray Matías and Fray Miguel lost their lives. The body of Fray Matías was taken to Cartagena, along with his lance; there he was venerated at the Convent of San Francisco for the following two centuries.Bio
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abad, Fray Matías Spanish Roman Catholic priests 1649 deaths Spanish Franciscans People from Santander, Spain