Jan de Witte O.P. (1475–1540), also Joannes Albus in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and Juan de Witte Hoos or Juan de Ubite in some Spanish sources, was a Flemish

renaissance humanist Renaissance humanism was a revival in the study of classical antiquity, at first in Italy and then spreading across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. During the period, the term ''humanist'' ( it, umanista) referred to teache ...

and Roman Catholic prelate who served as the first Bishop of Cuba (1518–1525). ''(in Latin)''

Biography

Jan de Witte was the son of Maria Hoose and the merchant Jan de Witte, lord of Ruddervoorde, who was mayor of

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

in 1473. The De Witte family traded with Spain and Jan was sent to

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

for training, where he ended up being ordained a priest in the

Order of Preachers The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

. In 1506 he was called back to Flanders, probably

Mechelen Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...

, to be the teacher Spanish and Dutch for the children of

Philip I of Castile Philip the Handsome, es, Felipe, french: Philippe, nl, Filips (22 July 1478 – 25 September 1506), also called the Fair, was ruler of the Burgundian Netherlands and titular ruler, titular Duke of Burgundy from 1482 to 1506, as well as the fir ...

and

Joanna of Castile Joanna (6 November 1479 – 12 April 1555), historically known as Joanna the Mad ( es, link=no, Juana la Loca), was the nominal Queen of Castile from 1504 and Queen of Aragon from 1516 to her death in 1555. She was married by arrangement to Phi ...

. On 15 May 1514, he was appointed during the papacy of

Pope Leo X Pope Leo X ( it, Leone X; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521. Born into the prominent political an ...

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

Selymbria Selymbria ( gr, Σηλυμβρία),Demosthenes, '' de Rhod. lib.'', p. 198, ed. Reiske. or Selybria (Σηλυβρία), or Selybrie (Σηλυβρίη), was a town of ancient Thrace on the Propontis, 22 Roman miles east from Perinthus, and 44 Roman ...

near Constantinople and on 11 February 1517 as Bishop of

Baracoa Baracoa, whose full original name is: ''Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Baracoa'' (“Our Lady of the Assumption of Baracoa”), is a municipality and city in Guantánamo Province near the eastern tip of Cuba. It was visited by Admiral Christop ...

on Cuba. On 28 April 1522, during the papacy of

Pope Adrian VI Pope Adrian VI ( la, Hadrianus VI; it, Adriano VI; nl, Adrianus/Adriaan VI), born Adriaan Florensz Boeyens (2 March 1459 – 14 September 1523), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 January 1522 until his d ...

, this diocese was renamed and his title was changed to

Bishop of Santiago de Cuba The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de Cuba ( la, Archidioecesis Sancti Iacobi in Cuba, links=no) (erected 1518 as the Diocese of Baracoa) is a Metropolitan Archdiocese, responsible for the dioceses of Guantánamo-Baracoa, Holguín and S ...

. He served in

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

until his resignation on 4 April 1525. He retired to his native city where he lived in a stately palace later known as ' ("Cuba's court"). He died there on 18 September 1540 In his will he established a chair of literature and a chair of theology, named the "Cuba foundation".Dirk Sacré, Jan Papy
Syntagmatia: Essays on Neo-Latin Literature
Leuven University Press, 2009, page 462.

References

External links and additional sources

* (for Chronology of Bishops) * (for Chronology of Bishops) 1475 births 1540 deaths 16th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Cuba Bishops appointed by Pope Leo X Bishops appointed by Pope Adrian VI Dominican bishops Flemish Dominicans Roman Catholic priests of the Habsburg Netherlands Clergy from Bruges Roman Catholic bishops of Santiago de Cuba {{Belgium-RC-bishop-stub