BOLAÑOS, LUIS. - One of the most illustrious Franciscan missionaries of South America. Born at Marchena (Spain) in 1539, died at Buenos Aires on 11 October 1629. Having become a Franciscan, he set out in 1572 for America, where he labored for fifty years for the conversion of the natives of the region of La Plata. Driven out of his first field of apostolate, in the region of the Picer and Bauay rivers, because he took up the defense of the Indians against the colonizers, he moved on to Paraguay, working especially in the province of Guayará, where from 1580 he began to gather the converts into separate villages, thus founding the first Reductions, several of which passed to the Jesuits when his confrere Alfonso of St. Bonaventure had transferred to Chile. At the age of 80 he retired to a convent in Buenos Aires. It is reckoned that he baptized 30,000 neophytes. He also wrote grammars and pamphlets of religious instruction in the local languages, and composed the first catechism in the Guaraní language of Paraguay, which in 1724 was reprinted by the fathers of the Society of Jesus.
Enciclopedia Cattolica Vol. II, 1949 Missions Missionaries and missiologists
Bolaños, Luis
Also known as: Spanish: Fray Luis Bolaños, Luis de Bolaños
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By the editors
How we know editorial (asterisk)
Translated from the Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II (1949), coll. 1770–1771.
Cite this article
Chicago
“Bolaños, luis.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, coll. 1770–1771. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949. https://azioneromana.com/article/bolanos-luis.
MLA
“Bolaños, luis.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949, coll. 1770–1771. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/bolanos-luis.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec2_bolanos_luis,
author = {Redazione},
title = {Bolaños, luis},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {II},
pages = {1770--1771},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1949},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/bolanos-luis}
}
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