Louis Bertrand

Louis Bertrand (Spanish: Luis Beltrán) was born on 1 January 1526 in Valencia, then in the Kingdom of Valencia under the Crown of Aragon. His parents were Juan Bertrand and Juana Angela Exarch. Later lives of the saint emphasize that he was related through his father to the Dominican preacher Saint Vincent Ferrer, whose memory remained strong in Valencia. Bertrand entered the Order of Preachers at the convent of Santo Domingo in his native city in 1544, at the age of eighteen, and was ordained priest in 1547. From early in his religious life he was noted for personal austerity, long prayer, and a severe but formative manner with younger friars.

After ordination he served as a preacher and as master of novices in the Dominican province of Aragon. His reputation for holiness, for prophecy, and for discernment of souls spread beyond the convent walls. In 1562 he obtained permission to go as a missionary to the Spanish territories in the New World. He landed at Cartagena de Indias and spent about seven years evangelizing indigenous communities in the New Kingdom of Granada (largely corresponding to modern Colombia), as well as in Panama and on islands of the Caribbean. Traditional accounts credit him with very large numbers of baptisms and with miraculous gifts such as speaking previously unknown languages. More cautious modern treatments note that he also learned native languages by ordinary study and that he repeatedly protested the violence and exploitation inflicted on indigenous peoples by Spanish colonists and soldiers.

In 1569 Bertrand returned to Spain. Sources give failing health and friction with colonial officials who resented his denunciations as the principal reasons. He resumed conventual life and served as prior of several Dominican houses, including the convent of Santo Domingo in Valencia. In these later years he was consulted by Saint Teresa of Ávila, who sought his judgment on her reform of the Carmelite Order; he gave that reform his support. He continued to preach in the Kingdom of Valencia and neighboring regions until his final illness.

Louis Bertrand died in Valencia on 9 October 1581. Popular veneration began almost at once. He was beatified by Pope Paul V in 1608 and canonized by Pope Clement X on 12 April 1671, in a ceremony that also raised to the altars other figures of the Catholic Reformation, including Saint Rose of Lima and Saint Francis Borgia. His liturgical feast is kept on 9 October. He is invoked as the Apostle of South America and is the principal patron saint of Colombia.