Roque González de Santa Cruz

The main work of Roque González was the foundation and organization of the "reductions," villages where the evangelization of the Guaranís was accompanied by their human, social, and economic advancement, away from colonists and slave hunters. An excellent connoisseur of the Guaraní language and customs, he traveled through the vast territories located between the Paraná and the Uruguay, in a region where Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil meet today. He is credited with the foundation or establishment of several reductions, among which are Itapúa, Concepción, San Nicolás, San Javier, Yapeyú, Candelaria, and Todos los Santos de Caaró. In these communities, he organized religious life, agriculture, livestock farming, and craftsmanship, and defended the indigenous people against the abuses of the encomienda. In the canonization homily, John Paul II recalled that these missionaries traveled the lands "from the Plata estuary to the sources of the Paraná and the Uruguay," founding more than thirty villages. It was while supervising the construction of a new reduction at Caaró that he was put to death on November 15, 1628.

The reputation for holiness of Roque González rests on the close union between his tireless apostolic zeal and a deep interior life. A witness to this spirituality is a letter he wrote in 1613, cited by John Paul II during his canonization, which affirms that, despite the multiplicity of tasks, he and his companions never neglected their spiritual exercises: thus, evangelizing action drew its strength from prayer. Animated by great charity toward the Guaranís, he sought to protect them from slavery and to ensure them dignified living conditions, seeing in this defense an essential part of the proclamation of the Gospel. The Church presents his martyrdom as the crowning of this fidelity: he accepted violent death out of consistency with his missionary commitment. This charity, pushed to the offering of his life, is highlighted by the Pope, who applied to these martyrs the evangelical word according to which "there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends" (John 15:13).

On November 15, 1628, at the reduction of Todos los Santos de Caaró, Roque González was killed by an axe blow just as he had finished Mass and was directing the work on the new village; his companion Alonso (Alfonso) Rodríguez perished on the same day, and two days later, on November 17, 1628, Father Juan del Castillo was put to death in another reduction. According to sources, these murders were incited by the hostility of an indigenous leader, the cacique Nheçú (Ñesú), who was opposed to Christian influence. The three Jesuits were beatified together by Pope Pius XI on January 28, 1934, becoming among the first martyrs of America to be raised to the honors of the altar. They were canonized by Pope John Paul II on May 16, 1988, during a Mass celebrated at the 'Ñu Guazú' field in Asunción, during his apostolic journey to Paraguay: Roque González is thus recognized as the first saint native to Paraguay. Their liturgical memorial, as a group of martyrs of the Río de la Plata, is celebrated on November 17; November 15 corresponds to the day of the martyrdom of Roque González and Alonso Rodríguez.

Roque González de Santa Cruz occupies a prominent place in the religious memory of Paraguay, Argentina, and southern Brazil, as a pioneer of the Guarani Jesuit reductions and the first saint native to Paraguay. His name is borne by numerous parishes, schools, and institutions in the region, and he is honored as a patron and model of inculturated evangelization. According to the tradition reported by sources, his heart, recovered after his martyrdom, is preserved and venerated as a relic in a reliquary at the Jesuit Church of the Holy Savior (Iglesia del Salvador) in Buenos Aires. His figure is closely associated with that of his two companions in martyrdom, Alonso Rodríguez and Juan del Castillo, with whom he is liturgically honored. In iconography, he is represented with the palm of martyrdom, sometimes a heart pierced by an arrow and an image of the Immaculate, signs of his Marian devotion and his sacrifice. His legacy is linked to the epic of the Jesuit missions of Paraguay, the remains of which are today inscribed in the cultural and religious memory of South America.