OBREGÓN, BERNARDINO. - Founder of the Congregation of the Fratelli Minimi, b. near Burgos on 20 May 1540, d. at Madrid on 6 Aug. 1599. Orphaned at an early age, after the death of his protector, Bishop F. de Guevara, he devoted himself to a military career, taking part in several campaigns under Filippo II.
Following a sudden religious vocation, he dedicated himself to the care of the sick at the court hospital in Madrid, soon gathering numerous imitators around him. With these, in 1568 he founded a congregation approved by the apostolic nuncio and called the Fratelli Minimi, or also the Obregoni. They assumed the administration of the general hospital of Madrid and spread rapidly to other areas as well; in 1589 they took the vows of poverty, chastity, hospitality, and obedience, and adopted the Rule and habit of the Tertiaries.
O. was also in Lisbon in 1592, where he founded a children’s shelter and reorganized hospital services; in 1549 he drew up the Statute of the Congregation, and in 1598 he assisted the dying Filippo II.