PRADO, GIOVANNI DE, BEATO

After completing his studies at the University of Salamanca, he entered the Discalced Franciscans in the Province of St Gabriel (1584). Already a priest and superior, he later became part of the new Province of St Diego in Andalusia, indeed serving as its first provincial minister (1620). Eager to dedicate himself entirely to missionary work among the infidels (the mission to Guadalupe having failed), he obtained the restoration of another, far more difficult mission—that of Morocco—which Pope Urban VIII assigned to him in 1630 with the title of Apostolic Prefect. In March 1631, he attempted to expand the apostolate by leaving the city with his companions, but was brought back by the guards. Sultan Abd al-Malik, who had been well-disposed toward the Spaniards, was assassinated by his brother Múlaj al-Walid, who, upon ascending the throne, pursued a policy entirely opposed to Christianity; G. de P. became a victim for the faith. He was beatified by Benedict XIII on 24 May 1728. His feast is celebrated on 24 May.