Andrés de Oviedo (1518 - 29 June 1577), also known as Andre da Oviedo, was a Spanish

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

and Patriarch of Ethiopia. Oviedo was born in

Illescas, Toledo Illescas is a town and municipality of Spain located in the province of Toledo, Castilla–La Mancha. The municipality spans across a total area of 56.75 km2 and, as of 1 January 2020, it has a registered population of 30,229, which makes it the th ...

. On 19 June 1541, while in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, he entered the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

, nine months after it was approved by

Pope Paul III Pope Paul III (; ; born Alessandro Farnese; 29 February 1468 – 10 November 1549) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death, in November 1549. He came to the papal throne in an era follo ...

. In autumn of that year he travelled to Paris, where he studied theology, although his studies were interrupted by the war between France and Spain, so he continued studying in

Louvain Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the sub-municipalities of ...

, completing in 1544. He was auxiliary of the Patriarch of Ethiopia João Nunes Barreto in the apostolic mission which began in 1556 under the sponsorship by

John III of Portugal John III ( ; 6 June 1502 – 11 June 1557), nicknamed The Pious ( Portuguese: ''o Piedoso''), was the King of Portugal and the Algarve from 1521 until he died in 1557. He was the son of King Manuel I and Maria of Aragon, the third daughter of ...

and

Ignatius of Loyola Ignatius of Loyola ( ; ; ; ; born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Basque Spaniard Catholic priest and theologian, who, with six companions, founded the religious order of the S ...

. With the death of Nunes on 22 December 1562, he succeeded to the Patriarchate. Though the mission's purpose - reconciliation with the Church of Rome - failed, Oviedo remained till the end of his life in

Fremona Fremona (, ''fəremona'') was a town in Tigray Region, Ethiopia. It was about a mile in circumference and was flanked with towers. The town served as the base of the Roman Catholic missionaries to Ethiopia during the 16th and 17th centuries. Bernh ...

(Ethiopia), at the service of the small

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

community, where he died on 26 June 1577. A cause for Oviedo's beatification was opened on 8 June 1630, and he was declared

Servant of God Servant of God () is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression ''Servant of God'' appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...

References

* Konrad Eubel (1923). ''Hierarchia catholica medii et recentioris aevi'', vol. 3. Librariae Regensbergianae, Münster. . * Ángel Santos Hernández (2001). ''Jesuitas y obispados: Los jesuitas obispos misioneros y los obispos jesuitas de la extinción'', vol. 2. Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid. . 1518 births 1577 deaths Roman Catholic missionaries in Ethiopia 16th-century Spanish Jesuits Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries People from the Province of Toledo 16th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Africa 16th century in Ethiopia Spanish expatriates in Ethiopia Jesuit missionaries in Ethiopia Ethiopian Catholic bishops {{Spain-RC-bishop-stub