Turibius Alfonso de Mogrovejo was born in Villaquejida or Mayorga, in León, Spain. He studied law, especially at Salamanca, and eventually became president of the Council of the Inquisition in Granada. At the request of King Philip II, he was chosen as archbishop of Lima—while still a layman. He received all the sacred orders and episcopal consecration in Seville, and at the age of forty-two undertook the immense task of shepherding a diocese that stretched over 520 kilometers along the Pacific coast, and a vast ecclesiastical province reaching from Nicaragua to Paraguay and Argentina.
He governed through councils and synods, as well as tireless pastoral visitations. His efforts on behalf of the indigenous people, the moral renewal of society, and the proper formation of the clergy often met with opposition from the colonial government and from religious orders, who were protective of their privileges.
He died in 1606 in Santa, near Lima, and his body was buried in the city of Lima. Canonized in 1726, he is venerated as the patron of Lima and of Peru.
