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Diego Carranza (born inMexico, 1559; died atTehuantepec, date unknown) was aDominican missionary inNew Spain.[1]
Carranza entered the Dominican Order on 12 May 1577, and was sent toNejapa inOaxaca after being ordained a priest. He was assigned to the mission among the forest-dwellingOaxaca Chontal people.
Despite resistance from the Chontal, who were uninterested in conversion to Christianity, Carranza was partly successful in his efforts to settle them in villages, baptize them, and convince them to dress in European clothing.[2] Among the villages in which Carranza erected churches wasSanta María Texcatitlán.
For twelve years Carranza led an exposed life, and contractedleprosy. He must have died quite young, but the exact date is unknown.[citation needed]
He composed, in theChontal language, a"Doctrina cristiana", "Exercicios espirituales", and"Sermones". They remained in manuscript, and were later lost.
In 1580, Carranza published grammatical studies on Chontal.[3]
About this time the fierce and man-eating Chontales, who had hitherto scorned to accept civilization at the point of the sword, yielded to the preaching of the devoted Diego Carranza and the other Dominican friars.
Studies on Chontal by Diego Carranza were available in 1580.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Diego Carranza".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.