MARTIN ARVIDE. — A Franciscan friar, missionary, and martyr in New Mexico: born in Puerto de San Sebastián (Spain), he was killed on 27 February 1632. Having professed his vows in the convent of San Francisco in Mexico (1612), he asked for and obtained permission to go to New Mexico. Assigned to the mission of Pecuris, he succeeded in recalling the Jemez Indians, who had returned to a wandering life. In 1632 he was sent among the Zippas Indians in Arizona. He set out accompanied by two soldiers, five Christian Indians, and a half-breed, Lorenzo, whom he had educated; but before reaching their destination, they were attacked at night by Indians who had secretly followed the group. Brother Martín was struck down with clubs and left half dead, and Lorenzo, seeking to ingratiate himself with the savages, killed his benefactor by cutting off his head and right hand.
ARVIDE, *MARTIN* DE
BIBL.: A. de Ventancourt, *Monologio Franciscano*, Mexico 1871; Z. Engelhardt, *The Franciscans in New Mexico*, in *Franciscan Herald*, 9 (Chicago 1921); M. Habig, *The Franciscan Martyrs of North America*, in *The Franciscan Educational Conference*, 18 (Washington 1936); id., *Heroes of the Cross. An American Martyrology*, 2nd ed., New York 1945.