Tomás de Borja y Castro ( – September 13, 1610]) was a Spanish noble from the House of Borgia, House of Borja who became

Bishop of Málaga A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

and

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of Zaragoza.

Biography

Tomás studied in the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso at

Alcalá de Henares Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish city in the Community of Madrid. Straddling the Henares River, it is located to the northeast of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated Municipalities ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. He later went on to study at Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé at

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...

where he obtained a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

. He there after dedicated himself to the clergy and the life of the cloth. In 1571, Tomás together with his brother, the future

Saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

Francisco de Borja Francisco de Borja y Navarro de Alpicat (1441 – 4 November 1511) was a Spanish cardinal, and the seventh of ten cardinal-nephews created by Pope Alexander VI. Biography Borja was born in 1441 in Xàtiva, Kingdom of Valencia, from the Aragones ...

and the Cardinal Alejandrino set out on a trip around Europe that was bound for

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. Upon arrival in Rome, Tomás was designated the Consultor de la Inquisición Romana, a title affiliated to the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...

. Upon returning to Spain, he was appointed cannon of Toledo and Abbot of the

Iglesia de la Santísima Trinidad Orense Iglesia may refer to: * Iglesia Department * Iglesia ni Cristo * Iglesia Filipina Independiente , native_name_lang = fil , icon = Logo of the Philippine Independent Church (Aglipayan Church).svg , icon_width = 8 ...

. In 1599,

Philip III of Spain Philip III ( es, Felipe III; 14 April 1578 – 31 March 1621) was King of Spain. As Philip II, he was also King of Portugal, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia and Duke of Milan from 1598 until his death in 1621. A member of the House of Habsburg, Phi ...

appointed Tomás as the Bishop of Málaga. His ascendancy coincided with an outbreak of pestilence whose origins came from Spanish troops returning from

Spanish Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

and other African conquests. So strong was this plague that people would fall down in the streets and there was nothing that could be medically done to save them, overflowing the capacity of the hospitals. Tomás devoted himself to caring for the sick, even those that nobody would approach due to fear of infection. The plague lasted two years and killed such a large portion of the population that people were brought in from other regions of Spain to fill all the vacant jobs left behind by the dead. In 1603, he was named Archbishop of the

Archdiocese of Zaragoza In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

, and in 1606, he was named Captain General of

Aragón Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises th ...

. He died on September 13 of 1610 at the age of 70. He was buried in a sepulcher at the Capilla Mayor of the Colegio de las Vírgenes.

Distinction

In his honor, in the Spanish city of

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

, in the area of Pedregalejo, there is a street named after him.

References

Web de la diócesis de Málaga

External links

*
Por el bien y beneficios que de su mano hemos recibido: estudio documental de una donación de bienes muebles hecha por Tomás de Borja a su sobrino el duque de Lerma en 1608
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borja y Castro, Tomas de 1551 births 1610 deaths Bishops of Málaga Archbishops of Zaragoza Tomas de Borja y Castro Spanish untitled nobility University of Salamanca alumni

Biography

Distinction

See also

References

External links