{{short description|Spanish missionary (c. 1500–1549)}} {{Expand language|topic=bio|langcode=es|date=August 2024}} {{use dmy|date=August 2024}} {{Infobox saint |honorific_prefix = [[Servant of God]] |name = Luis de Cáncer |honorific_suffix = [[Dominican Order|OP]] |birth_date = {{circa|1500}} |death_date = {{Death date and age|1549|6|26|1500|df=yes}} |feast_day = |venerated_in = |image = |imagesize = |caption = |birth_place = [[Barbastro]], [[Crown of Aragon]], Spain |death_place = [[Tampa Bay]], [[Spanish Florida]] |titles = |beatified_date = |beatified_place = |beatified_by = |canonized_date = |canonized_place = |canonized_by = |attributes = |patronage = |major_shrine = |suppressed_date = |issues = |prayer = |prayer_attrib = }}
'''Luis Cáncer de Barbastro''' or '''Luis de Cáncer''' (1500 – 26 June 1549) was a Spanish [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] priest and pioneer [[missionary]] to the [[New World]]. He undertook a non-violent approach to converting the [[American Indians (U.S.)|American Indians]] to [[Christianity]], and had significant success in this regard in the [[Caribbean]] and later in [[Guatemala]]. In 1549, he continued his mission work in [[Florida]], an area already ravaged by previous explorers, and was killed on the shores of [[Tampa Bay]]. Since his death, he has been regarded by many as a [[martyr]].
== Biography ==
=== Early life === Cáncer was born at [[Barbastro]] in [[Crown of Aragon|Aragón]] in 1500.<ref name="Bunson2001">{{cite book |last=Bunson |first=Matthew |date=2001 |title=The Catholic Almanac's Guide to the Church |url=https://archive.org/details/catholicalmanacs0000buns/page/54 |location=Huntington, IN |publisher=Our Sunday Visitor |page=[https://archive.org/details/catholicalmanacs0000buns/page/54 54] |isbn=9780879739140 }}</ref> Luis entered the Dominican order and was inspired like many of his time to go to the [[New World]] in an effort to spread Christianity.
[[Friar|Fray]] de Cáncer came to the New World in 1518 and worked successfully for some time among the native peoples of [[Puerto Rico]] and [[Hispaniola]]. He then ventured to the mainland and had particular success in [[Guatemala]]. A disciple of the famed Indian protector, [[Bartolomé de las Casas]], Father de Cáncer's efforts were so successful in an area that was known for its bellicose natives, that it was renamed the “Province of True Peace.” He believed that aggression and violence were counter-productive to the spread of the Gospel and that the native peoples needed to be treated with dignity. He had great success in pacifying the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indians]] whom more violent methods had failed to subdue. He upheld the cause of the natives at an [[ecclesiastical]] assembly held in [[Mexico]] in 1546.
=== Florida expedition and death === Following his missionary success in Guatemala, Cáncer proposed a peaceful mission to [[Florida]]. The peninsula had already been ravaged by the expeditions of [[Narváez expedition|Pánfilo Narváez]] and [[Hernando de Soto]] and was regarded as very hostile to the Spanish, and Cáncer argued that further violence would never bring about its conversion to Catholicism and submission. In 1547, King [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] approved Cáncer's Florida mission.<ref>{{cite book |title= Florida's Past, volume 1 |last= Burnett |first= Gene |year= 1986|publisher= Pineapple Press |isbn= 1561641154 | page= 155|access-date=October 16, 2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CbztMj1gMPYC }}</ref> However, the royal decree stipulated that the mission land at Florida's upper east coast, avoiding hostile territory in southern Florida and the Gulf Coast where earlier conquistadors had gone.<ref name=Burnett156>{{cite book |title= Florida's Past, volume 1 |last= Burnett |first= Gene |year= 1986|publisher= Pineapple Press |isbn= 1561641154 | page= 156|access-date=October 16, 2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CbztMj1gMPYC }}</ref>
Cáncer recruited fellow Dominicans Gregorio de Beteta, Diego de Tolosa, Juan García, and a certain Brother Fuentes. Leaving [[Veracruz, Veracruz|Vera Cruz]], they reached [[Havana]] in 1549. There, they took on a converted Florida Indian, Magdalena, a "highly recommended" interpreter. The expedition then left for Florida on a caravel captained by Juan de Arena. Despite the warnings to avoid the Gulf Coast, Arena took them to an area south of [[Tampa Bay]], only miles from where the previous expeditions had landed. There, they encountered a group of apparently peaceful and receptive Indians, who told them about the many populous villages of the [[Tocobaga]] chiefdom around Tampa Bay. Perceiving the possibility of goodwill, the expedition split, with Magdalena, Diego de Tolosa, Brother Fuentes, and an unknown sailor joining the Indians on the half-day's land route, and Cáncer returning to the caravel to meet them at the bay.<ref name=Burnett156/>
The caravel reached Tampa Bay on 23 June 1549, but only Magdalena and a group of Indians greeted them. Magdalena, now "much changed" and wearing Indian attire, told Cáncer that she had convinced the local chief that the friars were peaceful, and that the other Spaniards were now his guests. Cáncer and the others returned to the caravel that evening, and on board they found Juan Munos, a sailor who had been enslaved by the Indians years before but now escaped. Munos indicated that the Tocobaga had killed the two friars and enslaved the sailor. Beteta and García wanted to flee immediately and sail for the east coast of Florida, but Cáncer refused to leave a land "hallowed by the life blood" of his compatriots. The next day, the three men rowed to shore, where they saw a group of hostile Indians, and Cáncer exited the boat. He waded to shore and prayed for a while. Upon rising, he was brought to the group and beaten to death with clubs.<ref name=Burnett>{{cite book |title= Florida's Past, volume 1 |last= Burnett |first= Gene |year= 1986|publisher= Pineapple Press |isbn= 1561641154 | pages= 156–158|access-date=October 16, 2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CbztMj1gMPYC }}</ref>
==Veneration== Cáncer has been regarded as a [[proto-martyr]] of Florida, as one of the [[Martyrs of La Florida]]. In 1860, [[Augustin Verot|Bishop Augustín Verot]] decided that the first parish on Florida's [[Tampa Bay Area|west coast]] should be named [[Sacred Heart Catholic Church (Tampa, Florida)|St. Louis Church]] in his honor. Likewise, in 1918 Cáncer's likeness was installed as part of a large stained glass window at the [[Church of St. Vincent Ferrer (New York)]] run by the [[Order of Preachers]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.museumplanet.com/tour.php/nyc/svf/88 |title=St. Louis Bertrand Stained Glass Window – Fra Louis de Cancer de Barbastro, OP -- St. Vincent Ferrer Church, New York City, New York at Museum Planet: Slide tours of historic places with narration, photographs and text |access-date=2012-10-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615215657/http://www.museumplanet.com/tour.php/nyc/svf/88 |archive-date=2008-06-15 }}</ref> In 1998 the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Petersburg|Diocese of St. Petersburg]] established the Fr. Luis de Cáncer Distinguished Priestly Service Award to be given annually to a priest of the Diocese of St. Petersburg who best exemplifies selfless and dedicated service to the people of God. The Espíritu Santo Catholic Church in [[Safety Harbor, Florida]], which is not far from the location of Cáncer's death, also has a stained glass window that depicts de Cáncer's martyrdom.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.tbo.com/travel/travel/2010/jun/24/progress-for-budget-minded-pilgrims-ar-32618/|title=Seeking spirituality? Go on a pilgrimage – locally|date=24 June 2010|work=TBO.com|access-date=9 January 2016}}</ref> In 2011, the diocese placed a Catholic Heritage Marker at the main entrance of that church, acknowledging both his and other early Catholic missionary efforts in the Tampa Bay area.<ref> {{cite web |url=http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=44277 |title=Espiritu Santo Church Marker |access-date=9 January 2016 }}</ref>
In 2015, the [[Dicastery for the Causes of Saints|Congregation for the Causes of Saints]] bestowed the title [[Servant of God]] on Cáncer and 85 other Native American and Spanish [[martyr]]s of Florida,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.martyrsoflafloridamissions.org/canonization-cause/|title=Canonization Cause|access-date=9 January 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151014005357/http://www.martyrsoflafloridamissions.org/canonization-cause|archive-date=14 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://newsaints.faithweb.com/martyrs/Florida.htm/|title=La Florida|access-date=9 January 2016}}</ref> the [[United States Conference of Catholic Bishops]] has endorsed the cause.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americancatholic.org/news/report.aspx?id=27709|title=Catholic News – U.S. bishops endorse three sainthood causes – American Catholic|access-date=9 January 2016}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}} *{{EB1911|wstitle=Cancer, Luis}} * [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03244b.htm Luis Cancer de Barbastro] – Catholic Encyclopedia article * McNally, Michael J. (1996). ''Catholic Parish Life on Florida's West Coast''. Catholic Media Ministry. {{ISBN|0-9649046-0-8}}. * [[Michael Gannon (historian)|Gannon, Michael V.]] (1965) ''The Cross in the Sand: The Early Catholic Church in Florida, 1513–1870''. Gainesville, FL. University of Florida Press. {{ISBN|0-8130-0776-3}}. {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cancer, Luis}} [[Category:1500 births]] [[Category:1549 deaths]] [[Category:16th-century Spanish people]] [[Category:People murdered in Florida]] [[Category:Dominican martyrs]] [[Category:Native American history of Florida]] [[Category:People from Barbastro]] [[Category:People from Spanish Florida]] [[Category:Explorers of Spanish Florida]] [[Category:Spanish explorers of North America]] [[Category:Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries]] [[Category:Spanish Dominicans]] [[Category:Spanish Servants of God]] [[Category:Catholic Church in Florida]] [[Category:Dominican missionaries in New Spain]] [[Category:Roman Catholic missionaries in Puerto Rico]]