ANGULO, PEDRO DE

PEDRO DE ANGULO. - Spanish missionary, born in Burgos. In 1524 he went to America in search of adventure and glory. But four years later, moved by zeal for the cause of the Indians, he entered the Dominican Order in the convent of Mexico and followed Fr. Las Casas (q.v.) to Peru. In 1541 he was sent to the Dominican mission in Guatemala, a mission which he developed to such an extent that ten years later it became an autonomous Dominican province. Finally, he devoted himself to the conversion of the barbarian tribes living in northern Guatemala and introduced them to the works of civilization, thus becoming the founder of the city of S. Domingo de Vera Paz, which soon became an episcopal see of which he was elected first bishop in 1561. He died, however, on 10 April 1562, before receiving the papal bulls, during a journey to Guatemala. A bibliographical study of the Dominicans in Peru, published in 1908, exists of him.