ANDRÈS DE OLMOS. – Missionary in Mexico, born at Oña (Spain) around 1491, died at Tampicane (Mexico) on 8 October 1571. After the death of his parents, he was educated at Olmos, near Valladolid, by his sister, from whom he took his surname. He subsequently studied civil and canon law and in 1511 donned the Franciscan habit. Juan de Zumárraga, superior of Abrojo, appointed inquisitor for the eradication of witchcraft in Cantabria, took A. as his companion in his labors and, later elected bishop of Mexico, brought him with him (1528). In Mexico A. devoted himself to the study of the indigenous languages and in a short time learned nahuatl, totonae, and huasteca; he apparently also knew tarasco. A.’s apostolate extended over almost the whole of Mexico; nevertheless, the region evangelized more than any other was the Huasteco, in the present State of Tamaulipas. He founded the mission of Panuco in 1530 and took part in the foundation of the Franciscan custodia of Tampico, established in the same year. In 1551 he was a teacher of Latin at the college of Tlatelolco, opened in 1536 to train an indigenous clergy and a ruling class.
He wrote several linguistic works: a grammar of nahuatl in 1547, and a dictionary of the same language; a grammar and a dictionary of huasteca and totonae. His other works include: Libro de los siete sermones; Tratado de los pecados mortales; Tratado de los Sacramentos; Tratado de los sacrilegios in nahuatl; a catechism and a manual of confession in huasteca. He is also the author of a sacred drama on the Last Judgment, written in nahuatl, which was performed in Mexico with the participation of 800 Indian actors, in the presence of Viceroy Mendoza and Archbishop Zumárraga. At the request of Ramírez de Fuenlén and Father Martino de Valencia, he wrote a work on Mexican antiquities, whose manuscript was lost. He later composed a summary of this work, which Mendieta knew.