Roque González de Santa Cruz
Paraguayan missionary
Feast: 15 November (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Roque González de Santa Cruz was born in Paraguay to Spanish parents and ordained on 25 March 1599. After ten years as parish priest of Asunción cathedral he refused the post of vicar general and joined the Jesuits on 9 May 1609.
With his confreres he brought the dispossessed native peoples to Christ, founding the villages called reductions. On 15 November 1628 at Caaró, now in Brazil, after saying Mass, he was killed while directing the building of a new village, with Alonso Rodríguez; Juan del Castillo was killed two days later.
The miracles
The Dicastery's biography does not describe the miracles approved in the cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
The first saint of Paraguay, killed while building a home for the native peoples.
Connected on this site
- Juan del Castillo Saint“On 15 November 1628 at Caaró, now in Brazil, after saying Mass, he was killed while directing the building of a new village, with Alonso Rodríguez; Juan del Castillo was killed two days later.” — this site's research
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Roque González de Santa Cruz
- Wikidata Q245621 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Roque González y de Santa Cruz (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.