ANUNCIACIÓN, DOMINGO DE LA

Dominican missionary and explorer; b. Fuente-Ojejuna (Vejuna), Estremadura, Spain, 1510; d. Mexico City, 1591. He was baptized Juan de Paz. His father, Ferdinando de Ecija, had five other sons and three daughters. In 1528 Juan and Alonso, his oldest brother, went to Mexico. Juan entered the Dominican Order in 1531 or 1532. He received a brief education in the Dominican convent and was ordained in 1534, sometime before October, by Julian Garcés, the Dominican bishop of Tlaxcala. He then apparently did missionary work among the Amerindians, probably at Tepetloaxtac, and learned native dialects. As a result, in 1544 or 1545 he wrote a Doctrina Cristiana for use in native catechetic work. (see catechisms in colonial spanish america.) The history of his province, begun by Andrés de Moguer, was continued by Domingo de la Anunciación down to 1580, and later completed by dÁvila y padilla. During a number of epidemics among the indigenous tribes, particularly in 1545 and again in 1577, Fray Domingo worked among the sick and dying. This may help to explain the fact that over 100,000 baptisms are attributed to him. He accompanied Governor Tristán de Luna y Arellano on the expedition of 1559–61 to the port of Ochuse (Pensacola Bay) and northwest Florida. He went out with scouting parties which, in search of food, explored parts of Alabama. The hardships he underwent on these expeditions undermined his health, but it improved after his return to Mexico. The last years of his life were spent in missionary work in Mexico.

Bibliography: v. f. o'daniel, Dominicans in Early Florida (New York 1930). h. i. priestley, ed. and tr., The Luna Papers, 2 v. (De Land Fla., 1928).

[a. b. nieser]