Joan Gilabert Jofré

Joan Gilabert Jofré (1364–1417), also known as Padre Jofré or Pare Jofré, was a member of the Christian religious Order of Mercy and the founder of what is claimed to be the first psychiatric care institution in Europe, in Valencia, Crown of Aragon, in medieval Spain.

Joan Gilabert was born in Valencia on June 23, 1364. Having studied in Lleida, he returned to Valencia where he joined the Order of Mercy in 1370 and entered the Monastery of El Puig. He was ordained priest in 1375 and became a preacher. He eventually became Superior of the Order in Valencia. From 1391 he dedicated himself to the redemption of captives, for which he had royal privileges. The Constitutiones were modeled on the constitutions of the major orders of preaching friars. The friars of the order were required to preach and collect alms for a redemption fund, to be used only for redeeming captives. Initially, the Order's work was carried out in Valencia and the Balearic Islands, because of their proximity, but as the Spanish Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula proceeded, captives were redeemed from slavery further afield, in Andalusia and North Africa.