We know Fray Juan de Zumárraga for having been the first bishop and archbishop of Mexico City and also for receiving the "Rosas del Tepeyac" from the hands of Juan Diego.
We know Fray Juan de Zumárraga for having been the first bishop and archbishop of Mexico City and also for receiving the "Rosas del Tepeyac" from the hands of Juan Diego.
This fact by itself would be enough to occupy a preponderant place in Mexican history, but what else do we Mexicans know about this friar belonging to the order of San Francisco.
Born in 1468 in the town of Durango, very close to the city of Bilbao, Spain, he owed his appointment to the friendship that united him with Emperor Carlos V, who had to pressure him to leave the Aranzazu convent and travel to the New Spain, together with the oidores of the First Audience in August 1528.
The double position of Bishop and Protector of the Indians caused him strong enmities with encomenderos and conquerors who presented 34 accusations against him, which forced him to return to Spain at the beginning of 1532. Zumárraga proved his innocence and returned to Mexico bringing with him numerous families of artisans and six nuns destined to be teachers of indigenous women.
In agreement with the first viceroy he worked in the establishment of the printing press in Mexico and by his mandate the first book was printed in 1539.
Due to his initiative, the Colegio de Tlatelolco was founded and Francisco Marroquín was consecrated as the first Bishop of Guatemala. He was already in his seventies when he planned to go to the Philippines and from there to China as a missionary, but the Pope denied him permission and in exchange he was granted the post of Apostolic Inquisitor. With that character, he ordered the burning of an indigenous Tlaxcala who had carried out human sacrifices, a sentence rejected by Spain on the grounds that the indigenous people were recently converted and could not be judged with the same severity as the Spanish.
On February 11, 1546, at the request of the Emperor, Pope Paul III erected the bishopric of Mexico as an archbishopric, giving it the diocese of Oaxaca, Tlaxcala, Guatemala and Ciudad Real, Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas as suffragans.
Fray Juan de Zumárraga died on June 3, 1548 and his remains are preserved in the underground crypt of the Cathedral of Mexico.
