Fray Andresito’s House
The House of Fray Andresito is one of the most spiritually and symbolically charged spaces in La Ampuyenta, in the municipality of Puerto del Rosario. Located very close to the chapel of San Pedro de Alcántara and just behind the House of Doctor Mena, this humble house is part of the Cultural Heritage Complex of the village and pays tribute to one of the most beloved and universal characters born in Fuerteventura.
In this house, on January 10, 1800, Andrés Filomeno García Acosta, popularly known as Fray Andresito or Friar Andrés, was born. The son of a peasant family, he lived his childhood and youth in La Ampuyenta, in a rural environment marked by simplicity, agricultural work and community life. Around 1833 he emigrated to America, like so many Canary Islanders of his time, beginning a life journey that would take him first to Uruguay and later to Chile.
It was in America that Andrés García Acosta became fully involved with the Franciscan Order. In Montevideo and, above all, in Santiago de Chile, he entered the Franciscan Recollect Order and dedicated his life to the apostolate, developing an intense social, charitable and religious work. His closeness to the most humble, his commitment to the needy and his austere character earned him enormous recognition among the different social strata of the Chilean capital, a popularity that has endured to the present day.
The figure of Fray Andresito is part of the history of the Canary emigration to America and his mark in the religious field. His humanitarian work has been the subject of numerous studies and biographies, especially in Chile, where his memory is still very much alive. As a result of that devotion, a cause for his beatification has been promoted in that country and is still in progress, reflecting the deep rootedness of his figure among the faithful.
The house where Fray Andresito was born has been transformed into a small and simple sanctuary. Its interior preserves a sober and recollected atmosphere, with explanatory panels, images and elements that help to understand his life and legacy. More than a museum to use, this space invites reflection and recollection, becoming a place to visit both for devotees and for those who want to know an essential part of the spiritual history of Fuerteventura.
Every year, around January 14, the date of his death in 1853 in Santiago de Chile, La Ampuyenta celebrates the festivities in honor of Fray Andresito. The events include cultural and recreational activities in the town’s Cultural Center, the celebration of the Eucharist in the hermitage of San Pedro de Alcántara and an emotional procession with the image of San Pedro to the House of Fray Andresito, reinforcing the link between the town and its most universal figure.
To visit the Casa de Fray Andresito is to enter the history of a simple man whose life transcended the limits of his native island. A place full of memory, devotion and humanity that connects La Ampuyenta with America and with one of the deepest pages of the Majorero identity.
