Three Latin American Saints You Might Not Know

Short biographies of three Latin American Saints, one a missionary from Spain, and two born in South America, who deserve to be better known.

From Aleteia

By Daniel Esparza

The Church in Latin America, the world’s most Catholic region, is home to many witnesses of faith whose stories are not widely told.

When we think of Latin American saints, names like Rose of Lima or Bld Miguel Pro might come first. Yet the Church in Latin America, the world’s most Catholic region, is home to many more witnesses to faith whose stories are not as widely told.

Here are three saints whose lives, though less familiar, shine with courage, compassion, and holiness.

St. Pedro Claver (1580–1654) – The “slave of the slaves”

Born in Catalonia, Pedro Claver became a Jesuit missionary in Cartagena, Colombia, one of the main ports of the transatlantic slave trade. There he devoted his entire ministry to the thousands of enslaved Africans arriving in chains. He met the ships at the docks, bringing medicine, food, and comfort, tending to wounds and sickness. Claver baptized more than 300,000 people and is remembered for his conviction that every human being bears the dignity of Christ. He called himself “the slave of the slaves forever.”

Travel note: His relics rest in the Church of St. Peter Claver in Cartagena’s historic center, a pilgrimage site that draws visitors from around the world.

St. Teresa of the Andes (1900–1920) – Chile’s young Carmelite

Juanita Fernández Solar, later known as Teresa of the Andes, entered the Carmelite monastery at just 19 years old. Though her life was brief — she died of typhus less than a year later — her letters and diaries reveal a soul consumed with love for God. Declared the first Chilean saint in 1993, she shows how holiness is not measured by years but by depth of devotion. For young people especially, Teresa embodies the joy of surrendering everything to God without hesitation.

Travel note: Her shrine at the Carmelite monastery in Los Andes, north of Santiago, has become one of Chile’s most visited pilgrimage destinations.

St. Roque González de Santa Cruz (1576–1628) – Missionary among the Guaraní

Roque González was born in Asunción, Paraguay, the first native-born Paraguayan to become a priest. He worked tirelessly among the Guaraní people, building Christian communities marked by mutual respect and cultural integration. Unlike other missionaries of his era, González promoted learning in the Guaraní language and sought to preserve aspects of their culture. His efforts to defend Indigenous people from exploitation brought him into conflict with colonists. In 1628, he was martyred alongside fellow Jesuits Alfonso Rodríguez and Juan del Castillo.

Travel note: The martyrs are honored at the Sanctuary of the Martyrs in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, with local feast day celebrations drawing pilgrims each November.

A shared witness

Though their contexts were different — slavery in Cartagena, cloistered life in Chile, and mission frontiers in Paraguay — all three saints reveal the same conviction: faith is lived most authentically when it becomes love in action.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “The saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments in the Church’s history” (CCC 828). Pedro Claver, Teresa of the Andes, and Roque González each embody this truth in a uniquely Latin American way, showing that sanctity flourishes in every corner of the world.

For Catholics and non-Catholics alike, their stories invite us to see holiness not as something distant, but as a possibility close to our own lives — whether in acts of justice, youthful devotion, or mutual respect.