Juan de Santa Gertrudis (1724 in
Mallorca
Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean.
The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...
– August 8, 1799 in Mallorca) was a Franciscan Spanish monk.
Biography
Juan de Santa Gertrudis was sent as a missionary to South America in 1757 and between 1758 and 1767 during his evangelizing, he founded a mission in
Putumayo Department called Agustinillo. He crossed the southern territory of
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 1819
*United Provinces of ...
, especially the
province of Popayan, with some travel to
Quito
Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley o ...
and Bogota.
Following this experience in America, he returned to Spain, where he wrote his most important work titled "Maravillas de la Naturaleza" (in English: "Wonders of Nature") in four volumes which reveals the mentality of a religious man fascinated with nature. Through his writings it is possible to have a vision of life in southern New Granada during the 18th century different from that provided by the study of official documents or chronicles of the conquest.
He spent his last years in Mallorca where he died on August 8.
Works
* Maravillas de la naturaleza (first published 1956
Read online
* Medicina Luliana; comments on the work of Raymundo Lulio.
* The Virtud palacio en su; a compilation of his sermons
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gertrudis, Juan de Santa
1724 births
1799 deaths
Franciscan missionaries
18th-century Spanish Roman Catholic priests
18th-century Spanish writers
18th-century male writers
Franciscan writers
Majorcan writers