Pedro de San José de Betancur

Pedro de San José de Betancur was born on 21 March 1626 in Vilaflor de Chasna, Tenerife. The Holy See's liturgical biography presents him as the son of a humble family of shepherds and farmers; at the age of twenty-three he left Tenerife and, after two years of travel, reached Guatemala.

In Guatemala he professed as a Franciscan tertiary at the convent of San Francisco in La Antigua. His charitable work was directed toward the sick, the poor, prisoners, unemployed migrants and young people without instruction. The Holy See links his work to an oratory, a school, an infirmary and a hostel gathered under the name Bethlehem, and describes how the community life of his followers gave rise to the male and female Bethlemite branches.

He died on 25 April 1667 in Guatemala. He was beatified on 22 June 1980 and canonised by John Paul II in Guatemala City on 30 July 2002.