Sebastián Montero (born in

Écija Écija () is a city and municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Seville, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is in the countryside, 85 km east of the city of Seville. According to the 2008 census, Écija had a total popula ...

) was a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

secular priest who was active in the later half of the sixteenth century in North America. In the historical record, Montero was the first person to introduce Christianity in what is now North Carolina.

Biography

Montero was brought by

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (; ; 15 February 1519 – 17 September 1574) was a Spanish admiral, explorer and conquistador from Avilés, in Asturias, Spain. He is notable for planning the first regular trans-oceanic convoys, which became known as ...

to proselytize Native Americans in what was considered the northern limits of

Spanish Florida Spanish Florida () was the first major European land-claim and attempted settlement-area in northern America during the European Age of Discovery. ''La Florida'' formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and th ...

. Montero accompanied explorer Juan Pardo as a chaplain to present-day

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. In February 1567, the Pardo expedition arrived at a Wateree village called ''Guatari'' in what is now Rowan County. The Spaniards called the village Salamanca in honor of the ancient city of

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

in western Spain. Pardo left Montero and four soldiers, under the command of Lucas de Cañizares, in the village to establish a

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 ...

mission. The mission was abandoned around 1572 and Montero subsequently returned to Spain.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montero, Sebastian Pre-statehood history of North Carolina Spanish missions in the United States Spanish colonization of the Americas Colonial United States (Spanish) 16th-century Spanish Roman Catholic priests History of Catholicism in the United States People from Écija