Ceferino Namuncurá
beatified Argentine (1886-1905)
Feast: 26 August (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Ceferino Namuncurá was born at Chimpay, Argentina, on 26 August 1886, son of the Mapuche 'Great Cacique', and baptised two years later by the Salesian missionary Domenico Milanesio, who had brokered peace between the Mapuche and the Argentine army.
At eleven his father sent him to school in Buenos Aires to become the defender of his people; he moved to the Salesian college of Pius IX, where grace transformed him. An aspiring Salesian, he died of tuberculosis at nineteen. He is the first indigenous Blessed of South America.
The miracles
The Dicastery's biography does not describe the miracles approved in the cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
A chieftain's son who wanted to serve his people as a priest and gave his short life to God.
The cause
Ceferino Namuncurá has been beatified; the cause continues. Favours received, and offers of help, go to the postulation, the office that carries the cause forward: Salesians: Blessed Ceferino Namuncura.
Connected on this site
- Pius IX Blessed“At eleven his father sent him to school in Buenos Aires to become the defender of his people; he moved to the Salesian college of Pius IX, where grace transformed him.” — this site's research
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Ceferino Namuncurá
- Wikidata Q184461 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Ceferino Namuncurá (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.