Juan Solano

Juan Solano, O.P. (c. 1505 – 1580), was a Spanish Dominican missionary and the second Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Cuzco, Peru (1544–1562).

Biography Solano was born in about 1504 in Archidona, a town in the Province of Málaga. He studied at the Colegio de San Esteban of the University of Salamanca. It was there that he decided to enter the Dominican Order. He began his novitiate in the last months of 1524, and made his final profession on 24 December 1525. Solano then served in various positions before becoming prior of the Monastery of Santo Domingo in Peñafiel.

In September 1543, Solano was nominated as the second Bishop of Cuzco by Emperor Charles V. After the defeat at Huarina, Solano joined the forces of Pedro de la Gasca. He was present at the Battle of Jaquijahuana, which decisively ended the uprising in favor of the royalist Viceroyalty of Peru.

Solano returned to Spain in October 1560, seeking support in his efforts to curb the behavior of the conquerors as well as the division of his diocese, which he considered too large for a single bishop. into the College of St. Thomas to which he left his entire estate. The college would later be transformed into the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, commonly called the Angelicum.

Solano died in Rome on February 19, 1580.