Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo (16 November 1538 – 23 March 1606) was a Spanish Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Lima from 1579 until his death.

At the behest of King Philip II, he went on to become Grand Inquisitor, considered unusual given no previous government or judicial experience.

Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo was born 16 November 1538 in Mayorga in the Valladolid province of Habsburg Spain.

Turibius' sister was Grimanese de Mogrovejo i Robledo (1545–1635).As a child, he was recognised as pious, with a strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

His uncle Juan de Mogrovejo served as a professor there, as well as at the San Salvador High School in Oviedo.

[3] In February 1571 Turibius’ learning and virtuous reputation encouraged King Philip II to appoint him Grand Inquisitor on the Inquisition Court at Granada.

Knowledge of canon law prompted him to remind both king and pope that priests alone could be delegated ecclesial dignities, but the Holy See prevailed.

Alone and on foot he traversed his entire archdiocese three times, regardless of inclement weather, ferocious wildlife or tropical heat.

Among these were Rose of Lima, Martin de Porres, Juan Masías and Francis Solano, who later became a close friend.

He made a point of checking that the priest was using the missal that Pope Pius V (in 1570, more than ten years before Turibius' arrival in the viceroyalty) had ordered should be used.

The start of Turibius' episcopate almost coincided with the end of eleven years under the viceroyalty of Francisco de Toledo, the fifth viceroy.

Mine operators and merchant princes lived an opulent lifestyle, thriving on the enforced labour of the indigenous people.

Called "reductions", Toledo's policy had forcibly relocated many of the indigenous peoples into new settlements, to gather labour to work in mines and other Spanish enterprises, to collect tributes and taxes, and to enforce their Christianisation.

The eighth viceroyal, García Hurtado de Mendoza made efforts to "crack down on the oppression of the indigenous population at the hands of the Spanish colonizers.

[10]" Partly because of a dearth of good priests, there were among the indigenous people enormous numbers who were baptised but who knew little of the christian religion.

Realising that some clerical behaviour had grown too scandalous to countenance, Mogrovejo sought reformation of priests under his charge.

There was also a row over the excommunication of Juan Ortiz de Zárate, mayor of Lima, after he had ordered that a suspected criminal should be taken by force from a church where he had sought refuge.

Mogrovejo worked to push through the ambitious aims from the Council of Trent, making evangelisation a core theme of his episcopate.

[1][2] He endorsed the council's decree of excommunication for clerics who engaged in business ventures; these often exploited the indigenous people.

His final words were those of Jesus Christ on the cross, as in Luke 23:46: "Lord, into Your hands I commit my spirit"[2][3] His remains were interred in the archdiocesan cathedral in Lima.