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Today’s missionary hero, Alonso de Sandoval, has the honor of being an ethnographer-nurse-priest-writer.
Alonso de Sandoval was born on December 7, 1576 in Seville, Spain. His family moved to Peru, South American, however, around 1583 or 1584.
When he grew up, Alonso entered the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1593. At the time he lived, the Jesuit seminary in Lima was an excellent educational institution. The Jesuits there had a wonderful library and had one of the first printing presses in that part of the world. They also encouraged their men to be writers.
Fr. Alonso was assigned to Cartagena, now part of Colombia. There, he found the African slave trade in full force. With a clear vision and incredible passion, Fr. Alonso did all he could for the enslaved people. Not only did he teach the people the Christian faith, he nursed their multiple health problems: yellow fever, terror, suicidal ideation, yellow fever, smallpox, and a host of other health problems. He also fought a losing battle in his quest to have the enslaved Africans treated humanely.
Fr. Alonso, however, was not just a priest and a nurse. He was also a scientist, using the ethnographic research methods of sociologists and cultural anthropologists to document the enslaved Africans’ lives and culture. He was probably the greatest ethnographer of the African slave experience in all of South America.
Father Alonso faithfully served the slaves of Cartagena for 45 years. In 1651, an epidemic swept across the area, and Fr. Alonso became ill. After two years confined to bed, Fr. Alonso de Sandoval died on Christmas Day, 1652.
Fortunately, another missionary priest would come to take his place nursing the sick and providing for their spiritual care, St. Peter Claver.
