Alonso Manso

Alonso Manso (* 1460 in Becerril de Campos, Spain, † September 27, 1539 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) was a Spanish bishop.

He studied theology at the University of Salamanca. He then became the canon of Salamanca and chaplain of the Prince Don Juan. On November 15, 1504, he was appointed bishop of Magua in the Dominican Republic. On August 8, 1511, Pope Julius II three dioceses in the New World, two in Hispaniola (Santo Domingo and Concepción de la Vega ) and one in San Juan, capital of Puerto Rico, whereupon Manso bishop of the Puerto Rican diocese was appointed. Before he arrived on the island, he founded on September 26, 1512 the first school for advanced studies. Upon his arrival in 1512 he was the first bishop in the New World. 1519 the Diocese of Puerto Rico has been extended by order of the bishop over the entire Leeward Islands. In the same year Manso became the first Grand Inquisitor of the East Indies. Two years later he directed the construction of the Cathedral of San Juan, which was in 1539, shortly after his death completely destroyed by a hurricane.

Bishop Manso mingled in accordance with the custom of his time in politics. He was the eighth Governor of Puerto Rico (official census, it was the tenth, but the first incumbent, Vicente Yáñez Pinzón, never arrived on the island and Juan Ponce de León had the position as No. 2 and No. 6 held twice ). Manso was, however, replaced a year later by his predecessor Pedro Moreno again.

The bishop initiated many things in the New World. He built not only the first school for advanced studies, but he also took the first episcopal consecration in the New World, when he in 1529 in the Cathedral of San Juan elected Bishop of Santo Domingo, Sebastián Ramírez de Arellano consecrated. He also founded two hospitals, namely Concepcion ( the first hospital in Puerto Rico), and San Ildefonso. Manso died in 1539 at the age of 79 years in San Juan. His successor as Bishop of Puerto Rico in 1541, Rodrigo de Bastidas y Rodriguez de Romera.