ASENSIO, ESTEBAN de. - Missionary, b. in Spain in 1527, d. in Colombia in 1585. He was the sixth and last holder of the Franciscan custody of Colombia. He entered the Franciscan Order and completed his novitiate in the convent of S. Francesco de Sala, in the province of Santiago. In 1561 he left for America, where his superiors assigned him to the missions of Colombia. For two years he worked and preached in the city of Santa Fé. Elected custodian, he departed for Spain, where he gathered a group of 30 missionaries and, having returned to Colombia, was elected minister of the new religious province (1566). During his administration two convents were founded: one at Trinidad de Muso for the conversion of the Muso Indians, and another at Ancerma. A. baptized many Indians in the various regions of Colombia and left a historical memorial covering the period from 1550 to 1585.
ASENSIO, ESTEBAN DE
BIBL.: A. López, Las Franciscanas en Colombia y Venezuela. Relación inédita del siglo XVI, in Archivo Ibero-Americano, 15 (Madrid 1921); id., Documentos inéditos del siglo XVI referentes al Nuevo Reino de Granada (Colombia), ibid., 20 (there 1923); id., Fr. E. de A. y las Doctrinas en el Nuevo Reino de Granada Colombia, ibid., 21 (there 1924).
Cite this article
“ASENSIO, ESTEBAN DE.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II (1949), p. 90. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/asensio-esteban-de.