Peter of Saint Joseph de Betancur

Peter of Saint Joseph de Betancur (or Betancourt) y Gonzáles, O.F.B. (Spanish: Pedro de San José de Betancur y Gonzáles, March 21, 1626 (Tenerife) – April 25, 1667 (Antigua Guatemala), called Hermano Pedro de San José Betancurt or more simply Hermano Pedro, Santo Hermano Pedro, or San Pedro de Vilaflor, was a Spanish saint and missionary in Guatemala. Known as the "St. Francis of Assisi of the Americas", he is the first saint native to the Canary Islands, is also considered the first saint of Guatemala and Central America.

Biography

Betancourt was born at Vilaflor on the Island of Tenerife in 1626, one of the five children of Amador Betancourt, a descendant of Jean de Béthencourt, the French knight and explorer who conquered the Canary Islands for King Henry III of Castile (1402-1405), and of Ana Gonzáles Betancurt.^[3] As a small child, he worked as a shepherd, caring for his family's small flock, their only source of income, but also spending some time praying in small cave^[4] in the arid region near the present-day town of El Médano (municipality of Granadilla de Abona). When the father's estate was seized by a moneylender in 1638 for failure to pay the family's debt, Peter was indentured to his service in recompense for the monies still due him. During this period, his eldest brother, Mateo, migrated to Spain's colonies in the New World, possibly settling in Ecuador.

In 1649, at age 23, Betancourt was freed from his period of servitude and decided to follow his brother's example. He set sail for Guatemala,^[3] the capital of New Spain, in hopes of connecting with a relative engaged in government service there. By the time he had reached Havana, Cuba, he was out of money. He then spent a year serving a priest there who was also from Tenerife. He had to pay for his passage from that point by working on a ship which docked at Honduras from where he walked to Guatemala City.^[5] When he arrived in Guatemala City, he was so destitute that he joined the bread line which the Franciscan friars had established to feed the poor. Eventually he found his uncle who then found him a job in a local textile factory.

In 1653 Betancourt enrolled in the Jesuit College of San Borgia to study for priesthood. When after three years he could not master the material, he withdrew from the school^[4] and abandoned this idea. After holding the position of sacristan for a while in a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, he rented a house in a suburb of the city called Calvary, and there taught reading and catechism to poor children.^[3]

Unable to receive holy orders, Betancourt became a Franciscan tertiary at the Franciscan friary of Costa Rica in Antigua Guatemala, and adopted the religious name of Peter of Saint Joseph. He visited hospitals, jails, the unemployed and worked with the young. In 1658 Peter was given a hut which he converted into a hospital for the poor who had been discharged from the city hospital but still needed to convalesce.^[5] His zeal elicited benefactions from those around him and the bishop and governor supplied him with all the conveniences he required.^[3]

Three years later several individuals provided for the purchase of the houses surrounding the one Peter then occupied and on their site was erected a hospital in which he could better work. He himself worked with the masons. The hospital was thoroughly equipped and stocked. The institution, a hospital for the convalescent poor, was placed under the patronage of Our Lady of Bethlehem. Soon after there was a shelter for the homeless, a school for the poor,^[6] an oratory, and an inn for priests.

The Bethlehemites

Peter was joined by other tertiaries. He personally trained his first assistants and had no wish to organize a community, but simply to establish his hospital. Soon, however, he wrote up an adaptation of the Rule of St. Augustine for the community, which was also adopted by the women who were involved in teaching the children. This led to the formation of the Order of Our Lady of Bethlehem (Spanish: Orden de Nuestra Señora de Belén) or Bethlemitas who tend to the sick. The men and women who joined his religious community also served in the two other hospitals of the city and Pedro continued to befriend poor children.

Later years

Prisoners also excited Peter's compassion. Every Thursday he begged for them through the city and visited them in their cells. He begged for alms to endow the Masses celebrated by poor priests and also endowed Masses to be celebrated in the early hours so that the poor might not miss Mass.^[5] The neglected souls in purgatory were also the objects of his solicitude. He would travel the streets at night ringing a bell and recommending these souls to be prayed for.

Peter died on April 25, 1667, at the age of forty-one, in Antigua Guatemala, exhausted by labor and penance. At the request of the Capuchin Friars he was buried in their church where, for a long time, his remains were held in veneration.

Peter devoted his life to helping those marginalized: lepers, prisoners, slaves and Indians and served as precursor of Human Rights.^[7]

Veneration

Peter de Betancur was distinguished by the humble spirit and austere life with which he practiced mercy.^[8] He was beatified on June 22, 1980, and canonized on July 30, 2002, by Pope John Paul II. At the homily read by Pope John Paul in Guatemala City on July 30, 2002, Peter was called the "first Canarian and Guatemalan saint", and he "... personifies "a heritage which must not be lost; we should always be thankful for it and we should renew our resolve to imitate it".^[8]

Peter's tomb is in the San Francisco Church in Antigua Guatemala. The Cave of Santo Hermano Pedro is located in the south of the island of Tenerife, in a desert on the outskirts of the city of El Médano. It is a very popular pilgrimage site, where the faithful present votive offerings to the saint. Inside the cave is a wooden statue of the saint. Also an important place of veneration is the Sanctuary of the Santo Hermano Pedro, which is built on his birthplace in Vilaflor.

Legacy

Peter is considered the great evangelist of the West Indies. He made a great social work comparable to that made centuries later by Mother Teresa in Calcutta, serving the most vulnerable and needy.

He is sometimes credited with introducing to the Americas, the Christmas Eve posadas procession, in which people representing Mary and Joseph seek a night's lodging from their neighbors. The custom soon spread to Mexico and other Central American countries.^[6]

Peter was known to work miracles also, some of them including healing sick people in under an hour. Also getting notes from deceased family members by setting rocks out and letting the member arrange them over time.

Gallery

• 
  Cave of Santo Hermano Pedro (Tenerife).
• 
  Veneration at the tomb of Hermano Pedro in Antigua Guatemala, 1979.
• 
  Interior of Sanctuary of the Santo Hermano Pedro in Vilaflor, Tenerife.

See also

• Bethlehemite Brothers
• List of saints of the Canary Islands

References

External links

• Media related to Peter of Saint Joseph de Betancur at Wikimedia Commons
• (Spanish) Hermano Pedro de San José Betancurt (1626-1667)
• (Spanish) Canonización del Beato Hermano Pedro de San José de Betancurt
• Website of the Obras Sociales Society with the biography of Pedro Betancur
• Patron Saints Index: Peter of Saint Joseph Betancur