Juan de Quevedo

Most Reverend

Juan de Quevedo
Bishop of Santa María de La Antigua del Darién
ChurchCatholic Church
DioceseDiocese of Santa María de La Antigua del Darién
PredecessorNone
SuccessorVicente de Peraza
Orders
ConsecrationJanuary 29, 1514
by Diego de Deza
Personal details
Born1450
Bejoris, Spain
DiedDecember 24, 1519 (age 69)
Barcelona

Juan de Quevedo (es:Vejorís, c. 1450 – December 24, 1519) was a Spanish Franciscan priest and the first Bishop of Santa María de La Antigua del Darién in Panama (1513–1519).[1][2]

Biography

Juan de Quevedo was born in Vejorís, Cantabria, Spain and ordained a priest in the Order of Friars Minor.[3] On September 9, 1513[3] - at the request of King Ferdinand, husband of Queen Isabella - Pope Leo X appointed him Bishop of Santa María de La Antigua del Darién[4]: 47  On January 29, 1514, he was consecrated by bishop by Diego de Deza, Archbishop of Seville.[3]

He left for the Indies in 1514 along with Hernando de Luque[4] on a fleet commanded by Pedro Arias Dávila.[2] Conflict between Quevedo and Arias Dávila soon ensued as Quevedo strongly protested against the cruel acts committed by the governor and his officers, not only against the Indians, but also against rivals, such as the beheading of Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, the discoverer of the Pacific Ocean.[5] Counter charges were brought against Quevedo with Bartolomé de Las Casas accusing him of having violated a trust, accumulated wealth, and neglected the Indians, but the veracity of Las Casas' accusations has not been established.[5] Quevedo returned to Spain in (1518) and presented two memorials to King Charles. One was against Arias Dávila, and the other advocated restricting the powers of all governors in the New World for the better protection of the natives.[5] When these documents were shown to Las Casas, in spite of differences between the two, he offered to countersign them.[5] Bishop Quevedo soon fell sick and died at Barcelona.[5]

In spite of Quevedo's record as a champion of the rights of Native Americans, his views were still coloured by his time and his missionary fervour. He regarded all the aborigines of America to be a race of men whom it would be impossible to instruct or improve unless they were collected in villages or missions and kept under continual supervision.[5]

References

  1. ^ Eubel, Konrad (1923). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentioris aevi. Vol. III (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana. p. 268. (in Latin)
  2. ^ a b Arzobispo de Panamá, Guillermo Rojas y Arrieta C.M. Resena Historica de los obispos que han ocupado la silla de Panamá desde su fundacion hasta nuestros dias Publisher: Escuela Tipográfica Salesiana (1929) | pp. 6–9
  3. ^ a b c Cheney, David M. "Bishop Juan de Quevedo Villegas, O.F.M." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. Retrieved June 16, 2018. [self-published]
  4. ^ a b Leon, P., 1998, The Discovery and Conquest of Peru, Chronicles of the New World Encounter, edited and translated by Cook and Cook, Durham: Duke University Press, ISBN 9780822321460
  5. ^ a b c d e f Catholic Encyclopedia: "Juan de Quevedo" retrieved January 11, 2015

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Juan de Quevedo". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

Religious titles
Preceded by
None
 Bishop of Santa María de La Antigua del Darién
1513–1519 		Succeeded by