Which inquisitor was later canonized as a saint?

The inquisitor later canonized as a saint was Pedro de Arbués. A canon regular and Roman Catholic priest from Aragon, he became one of the earliest officials of the reorganized Spanish Inquisition and was appointed inquisitor for the Kingdom of Aragon in 1484.

Arbués worked in a politically tense environment. The Inquisition faced resistance in Aragon, where local institutions defended traditional privileges and many conversos opposed investigations into alleged secret Judaism. On 14 September 1485, attackers struck Arbués while he was praying in La Seo Cathedral in Zaragoza. He died from his wounds on 17 September.

His death was used to intensify action against suspected conspirators and alleged Judaizers. The trials that followed led to executions and helped strengthen the Inquisition’s campaign, although historians have debated the precise identity and motives of everyone involved in the assassination.

Arbués was beatified by Pope Alexander VII in 1664 and canonized by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1867. He is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church as a martyr, with his major shrine at Zaragoza’s Cathedral of the Savior.