Fray Diego Morcillo Rubio de Aunon, O.SS.T. (sometimes Diego Morcillo Rubio de Sunon de Robledo) (January 3, 1642, Villarrobledo, Albacete, Spain—1730, Lima, Peru) was a Spanish bishop in Peru and twice viceroy of the colony, from August 15, 1716 to October 5, 1716 (interim) and from January 26, 1720 to May 14, 1724.
At a young age he entered the order of Discalced Trinitarians in Toledo. He studied theology at the University of Alcala. In Alcala King Charles II named him preacher of the royal chamber. He also became examiner (calficador) for the Supreme Council of the Inquisition.
On November 21, 1701 he was named bishop of Leon, Nicaragua, and on May 14, 1708 bishop of La Paz, Bolivia. Continuing his ecclesiastical advancement, he was appointed archbishop of La Plata, Alto Peru (Charcas, Bolivia) on March 21, 1714, and finally archbishop of Lima on May 12, 1723.
In 1716, while he was archbishop of Charcas, King Philip V named him interim viceroy of Peru. On August 15 he entered Lima and replaced Mateo de la Mata Ponce de Leon, president of the Audiencia. Mata had also been serving on an interim basis, since the removal of Viceroy Diego Ladron de Guevara on March 2, 1716. Morcillo occupied this post until October 5, 1716, when the position was taken up by Carmine Nicolao Caracciolo, Prince of Santo Buono, the official successor of Ladron de Guevara. Morcillo then returned to his ecclesiastical duties as archbishop of Charcas.
At the end of Caracciolo's term, Morcillo once again became viceroy, this time on a permanent basis. He entered Lima and took up the office on January 26, 1720. On the death of the archbishop of Lima, Antonio de Zuloaga, he also occupied that office.
Among his political accomplishments were a great increase in royal revenues from the colony, and the repulse of the English pirates on the coast.
During this time Pope Benedict XIII elevated two important Peruvian saints, Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo and Francisco de Solano. Morcillo donated large sums of money to the Trinitarian Order, to charitable works such as hospitals and schools, and for a convent for Discalced Carmelites in the town of his birth.
He was recognized as intelligent and a good administrator. He wrote a book entitled Clamores de la obligacion. He left the office of viceroy in 1724 after grave incidents in Paraguay. He died in Lima in 1730 and was interred in the crypt of the cathedral.
References
Other pages about Colonial Peru
-Alonzo de Alvarado -Ana Francisca de Borja y Doria -Ana de Castro -Andres Hurtado de Mendoza -Antonio de Mendoza -Antonio de Morga -Balconies of Lima -Baltasar de la Cueva Enriquez -Battle of Sangarara -Bernardo de Iturriaza -Blasco Nunez Vela -Cabildo (council) -Carmine Nicolao Caracciolo -Cathedral of Lima -Comentarios Reales de los Incas -Convento de San Francisco -Cristobal Ramirez de Cartagena -Cristobal Vaca de Castro -Diego Ladron de Guevara -Diego Lopez de Zuniga y Velasco -Diego Morcillo Rubio de Aunon -Diego Nunez de Avendano -Diego Quispe Tito -Diego de Almagro -Diego de Benavides y de la Cueva -Fernando Torres de Portugal y Mesia -Francisco Ruiz Lozano -Francisco de Borja y Aragon -Francisco de Toledo, Count of Oropesa -Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, Marquis of Canete -Government Palace (Peru) -Hans Heinrich Bruning Brookstedt -Hernando de Luque -Historic Centre of Lima -Jose Antonio de Areche -Jose Antonio de Mendoza -Jose de Armendariz -Juan Jimenez de Montalvo -Juan Pizarro II -Lima City Walls -Luis Jeronimo Fernandez de Cabrera -Manuel de Oms y de Santa Pau -Mateo de la Mata Ponce de Leon -Melchor Bravo de Saravia -Melchor Linan y Cisneros -Melchor de Navarra y Rocafull -Miguel Nunez de Sanabria -Osambela House -Pedro Alvarez de Toledo y Leiva -Pedro Antonio Fernandez de Castro -Pedro Bohorquez -Pedro de la Gasca -San Telmo (ship) -Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire -Torre Tagle Palace -Tupac Amaru II -Turibius of Mongrovejo -Viceroyalty of Peru
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Diego_Morcillo_Rubio_de_Aunon
