Jerónimo de Loayza

The Most Rev. Lord Brother Jerónimo de Loayza y González, O.P.
Archbishop of Lima
Jerónimo de Loayza, wearing the pallium over the choir dress of a Dominican bishop
Province	Seville (1544-1546)
See	Lima
Appointed	13 May 1541 (diocese) 12 February 1546 (archdiocese)
Term ended	14 January 1575
Predecessor	None
Successor	Diego Gómez de Lamadrid, O.Ss.T.
Orders
Ordination	ca. 1532
Consecration	29 June 1538 by Luis Cabeza de Vaca
Personal details
Born	1498 Trujillo, Cáceres, Crown of Castile
Died	14 January 1575 Lima, Viceroyalty of Peru, Spanish Empire
Buried	Lima, Peru

Jerónimo de Loayza y González, O.P. (1498 – October 25, 1575), was a Spanish Dominican friar and missionary, who was selected as the first Archbishop of Lima. He established the first hospital, initiated construction of the early cathedrals, and also established schools to educate the sons of both the Spanish rulers and Inca elite families. He supported the founding of the University of San Marcos in Lima.

Loayza was born in Trujillo in the Province of Cáceres. He entered the Dominican Order as a teenager, and after his religious profession, pursued his studies at Valladolid and at the Monastery of San Pablo in Córdoba.

His superiors sent Loayza to the missions of New Spain in 1529, where he worked in Cartagena serving both the Spanish colonists and the native Americans of the city. In recognition of the reputation he had gained in this, he was appointed the first Bishop of Cartagena on December 5, 1537 by Emperor Charles V, which was approved by Pope Paul III. He returned to Spain where he was consecrated for this office on 29 June 29, 1538 by Luis Cabeza de Vaca, at that time the Bishop of Salamanca.