America's First Martyr: Fr. Juan de Padilla

American Catholic History

Noelle & Tom Crowe

History, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Education

5 • 724 Ratings

🗓️ 7 July 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Franciscan Fr. Juan de Padilla accompanied Coronado on his 1541 mission into New Mexico to search for the legendary Seven Cities of Gold. Father Padilla was looking for souls to evangelize and save. After Coronado’s search was frustrated, Fr. de Padilla remained behind to evangelize natives among the Ouichita — or Wichita — in modern day Kansas. Details aren't clear as to how or precisely where, but for his efforts he was the first to shed his blood for Christ in the New World. Three different markers in modern day Kansas mark places where his martyrdom could have happened. All three are within 100 miles of the geographic centerpoint of the contiguous 48 states. His martyrdom happened about 100 years prior to the first of the North American Martyrs in New York.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to American Catholic History.
0:08.2	If you like our podcast, be sure to follow us, give us a five-star rating, and a great review
0:14.3	wherever you get your podcasts.
0:16.6	Also, please become a supporter at Americancathichistory.org.
0:21.1	I'm Newell Heister Crow.
0:23.6	And I'm Tom Crow.
0:24.7	Today we're talking about the proto-martre of the Americas,
0:28.7	the Spanish Franciscan missionary priest, Father Juan de Padilla.
0:33.1	Not a whole lot is known about him,
0:35.0	but it is known that he is the first person to shed his
0:38.4	blood for Christ in what is now the United States. So he deserves an episode all his own.
0:44.3	Absolutely. And this opening brings up some interesting questions for Catholics in America.
0:50.0	Now, we all know about the North American martyrs, those eight Jesuits killed in what is now
0:56.1	New York and Ontario in the 1640s, or at least I hope we know all about them.
1:01.3	We did an episode about the three who were martyred near modern-day Orisville, New York.
1:05.6	The way they are presented, it seems like they were the first to be martyred in the new
1:09.7	world, but not so. This Franciscan
1:12.7	friar, Father Hwanda Padilla, earned the martyrs crown about 100 years earlier. Now, the North
1:19.1	American martyrs do have more detailed accounts of their lives and deaths, which may explain why
1:24.3	they're better known, and why they're canonized and Father de Padae is not.
1:28.8	True. And it's too bad because having a martyr in the center of the country, only 50 years after Christopher Columbus's first voyage, is pretty remarkable.
1:37.2	It would be pretty cool to see him canonized.
	...

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