Pedro de Gante

Who was Pedro de Gante?

Fray Pieter van der Moere, also known as Fray Pedro de Gante or Pedro de Mura was a Franciscan missionary in sixteenth century Mexico. Born in Geraardsbergen in present day Belgium, he was of Flemish descent. Since Flanders, like Spain, belonged to the Habsburg Empire and he was a relative of King Charles V, he was allowed to travel to the colonies of New Spain as one of a group of Franciscan monks, the first Christian missionary in the New World. Gante's group in fact arrived before the 12 Franciscans normally thought of as the first priests in the New World. In Mexico he spent his life as a missionary, educating the indigenous population in Christian catechism and dogma. He learned Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, and composed a Christian "doctrina". One of his most significant contributions to Mexico was the creation of the School of San Jose de los Naturales. This was the first school set up by Europeans in the Americas.

In 1988 he was beatified, by Pope John Paul II. He was ranked 99th on the list of Greatest Belgians.