St. Juan del Castillo

Martyr of the Rio Plate

Juan del Castillo (1596-1628) was one of three Jesuits killed in the missions of Paraguay. Soon after his ordination, Father del Castillo accompanied the veteran missionary Roque Gonzalez to found a new mission at Iyuí, a village of 400 people. Gonzales left the mission in charge of Del Castillo and set out for Caaró with Father Alphonsus Rodríguez to found another mission.

A native of Spain, del Castillo began to prepare for a career in law but joined the Society and became a missionary to South America. He studied theology at Córdoba, Argentina, and then was ordained in 1625. His first assignment was to the mission at Itapuá where Father Roque Gonzalez found him and took him along on a trip to found several new missions. The young priest was left at Iyuí to care for the mission named Assumption since it was founded on August 15. Gonzalez set off with Father Rodríguez, leaving del Castillo who was unaware of the animosity of local religious leaders. Within a few days Gonzalez and Rodríguez baptized three children, and their success threw them into conflict with Nezú, the local religious leader, who begrudged the influence the missionaries were beginning to have on people. He determined to kill the missionaries in his area. The day after the murder of the other two missionaries, several of his followers arrived at Iyuí and attacked del Castillo before taking him into the woods where they beat him to death and set his body on fire. His body was later recovered and buried with his two companions.