page_title: Peter of Saint Joseph de Betancur
section_title: Veneration
hierarchical_section_title: Peter of Saint Joseph de Betancur / Veneration
caption_attribution_description: Teneriffa, El Médano, Höhle des Hermano Pedro
context_page_description: Peter of Saint Joseph de Betancur y Gonzáles, O.F.B. Brother Peter of Saint Joseph Betancur) or more simply Peter de Betancurt, Hermano Pedro (Brother Peter), Santo Hermano Pedro (Saint Brother Peter), or San Pedro de Vilaflor (Saint Peter of Vilaflor), was a Spanish saint and missionary in Guatemala. Known as the "St. Francis of Assisi of the Americas", he is the first saint native to the Canary Islands, is also considered the first saint of Guatemala and Central America for having done his missionary work in those American lands. He was the founder of Order of Our Lady of Bethlehem.
context_section_description: Peter de Betancur was distinguished by the humble spirit and austere life with which he practiced mercy.  
  He was beatified on June 22, 1980, and canonized on July 30, 2002, by Pope John Paul II.  At the homily read by Pope John Paul in Guatemala City on July 30, 2002, Peter was called the "first Tenerifean and Guatemalan saint", and he "... personifies "a heritage which must not be lost; we should always be thankful for it and we should renew our resolve to imitate it".
  The healing of a child with an intestinal lymphoma was taken by the Catholic Church as the miracle required for his canonization. The circumstance occurs that this child was precisely a native of the native locality of the Saint, Vilaflor. This apostolic journey of Pope John Paul II also included Canada and Mexico, the latter country where he canonized Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, a seer of the apparitions of the Virgin of Guadalupe in 1531.
  Peter's tomb is in the San Francisco Church in Antigua Guatemala. The Cave of Santo Hermano Pedro is located in the south of the island of Tenerife, in a desert on the outskirts of the city of El Médano. It is a very popular pilgrimage site, where the faithful present votive offerings to the saint. Inside the cave is a wooden statue of the saint. Also an important place of veneration is the Sanctuary of the Santo Hermano Pedro, which is built on his birthplace in Vilaflor.
  Its liturgical holiday is April 25, although it is usually moved to 24, because the 25 is celebrated to St. Mark the Evangelist. Apart from the April holiday, in Tenerife is also celebrated on June 29, coinciding with the feast of St. Peter the Apostle.
caption: Cave of Santo Hermano Pedro (Tenerife).
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