October 1
Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, bishop (1600–1659)
Bishop
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Biography
Bishop of Puebla de los Ángeles and after Osma, Juan de Palafox y Mendoza united ecclesiastical and civil responsibilities with an intense interior life. In New Spain he defended the indigenous people, tirelessly visited his diocese, promoted the training of the clergy and completed the Puebla cathedral. He founded schools and gave his personal library to create the Palafoxiana Library, convinced that education served human dignity and evangelization. Controversies and resistance did not dampen his reforming zeal. In his last years, spent in Spain, he preserved austerity, prayer and direct care of the poor.
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