Martyrs of Paraguay
November 17
Missionaries. These were three Jesuits: Roque Gonzalez, Alonozo Rodriguez and Juan de Castillo who were involved in the ‘Reductions’ of Paraguay – depicted in the film The Mission.
The Reductions were settlements of Christian Indians run by the missionaries – not as conquerors but as guardians and trustees of the native people and their ancient traditions. Their opposition to Spanish colonisation, slave traders and the Inquisition led to their suppression in the 18th century.
Roque was born in Asuncion in 1576 to an aristocratic family. He was ordained in 1599 and made vicar general in 1609. For the rest of his life he worked in the Reductions, first in that of St Ignatius, then later founding six more to the east of the Parana and Uruguay rivers. In the course of his work he suffered extreme hunger, exhaustion and insect bites. These discomforts he said were more than offset by the love and friendship of the Indian people.
In 1620 he was joined by Alonzo and Juan and found a new Reduction near the Ijuhu river. The three were killed by a hostile tribe between the 15th and 17th of November that year.
Although evidence was at once collected, it was lost for 200 years. When the documents were discovered in Argentina in the 1930s, the process for beatification began and they were canonised in 1988.
Watch a trailer for The Mission: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU14R9hbUFc