Juan de Prado (c. 1563 – 24 May 1631) was a

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priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

and a professed member from the

Order of Friars Minor The Order of Friars Minor (also called the Franciscans, the Franciscan Order, or the Seraphic Order; postnominal abbreviation OFM) is a mendicant Catholic religious order, founded in 1209 by Francis of Assisi. The order adheres to the teachi ...

. He served as part of the missions in Muslim

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at the request of Pope Urban VIII and brought much solace to the small Christian population there before the ruler had him murdered.

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confirmed his beatification in mid-1728 after confirming that the priest had been murdered in hatred of his Christian faith.

Life

Juan de Prado was born in León circa 1563 to a noble family and was orphaned sometime prior to 1568. He undertook theological studies at the

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, and entered the

in 1584. He was subsequently ordained and began his ministry as a preacher. He served in various Franciscan houses as novice master and later as guardian. In 1610 he was elected provincial minister of the Franciscan Province of San Diego. In 1613 an outbreak of plague in Morocco killed all the Franciscans engaged there in the difficult mission. De Prado was appointed by Pope Urban VIII as an apostolic missionary to work among the small Christian population. He and two companions departed on November 27 from Cadiz and arrived for the mission in Marrakesh, where he evangelized and provided comfort to the faithful there while also administering the sacraments to them. They also dedicated themselves to work among the Christian slaves.Arduino, Fabio. "Blessed Giovanni di Prado Priest and martyr", Santi e Beati, May 12, 2005
/ref> The local authorities ordered them to leave the country, but the three Franciscans did not and continued their activity. Sultan

Al Walid ben Zidan Al Walid ben Zidan (), also known as Mulay al-Walid (? – 21 February 1636) was the Sultan of Morocco from 1631 to 1636. He was assassinated by French renegades on February 1636. Al Walid ben Zidan was succeeded by his brother Mohammed esh-Shei ...

had them arrested and imprisoned. They were sentenced to hard labor in the crushing of saltpeter, a mineral for the manufacture of gunpowder. Questioned by the sultan, they did not hesitate to profess their Christian faith and were therefore scourged. At a subsequent public interrogation, de Prado ignored the presence of Sultan and directed his attention and statements to some apostates present. Al Walid struck him, knocking him to the ground. De Prado was then wounded by two arrows. The Sultan ordered that de Prado be burnt to death, but as he continued to exhort the executioners to follow Christ, one of them became impatient and smashed his head with a stone.

Beatification

On 24 May 1728

confirmed that de Prado had been killed ''in odium fidei'' ("in hatred of the faith"), thus permitting his beatification.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prado, Juan 1563 births 1631 deaths 16th-century venerated Christians 16th-century Spanish Roman Catholic priests 17th-century venerated Christians 17th-century Roman Catholic martyrs 17th-century Spanish Roman Catholic priests Roman Catholic missionaries in Morocco Franciscan beatified people Franciscan martyrs Franciscan missionaries Martyred Roman Catholic priests People from León, Spain Spanish beatified people Spanish Franciscans University of Salamanca alumni Venerated Catholics People murdered in Morocco Spanish people murdered abroad Spanish people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in Moroccan detention Beatifications by Pope Benedict XIII