Alfonso Rodríguez, Saint

ALFONSO RODRÍGUEZ, Saint. - Spanish Jesuit, b. in Segovia on 25 July 1532. Having gone into commerce and married, after the death of his wife and children and the loss of his property, he asked to enter the Jesuits, where, on account of insufficient studies in his youth and the impossibility of making them up at the age of 39, he was accepted in 1571 as a coadjutor. Sent to the college of Palma de Mallorca, he remained there 47 years, until his death (31 Oct. 1617), almost always occupied in the office of porter. The holiness of his life, soon widely known, and the amiability of his manner exercised a powerful influence for good on all who lived and dealt with him. It will suffice to recall St. Peter Claver, then a student of philosophy, who owed to him, besides effective counsel, also his missionary vocation, which A. foresaw in a vision. The extraordinary gifts with which he was favored, the visions, the heavenly illuminations, the intense sense of the presence of God in the soul, place A. among the ranks of the most illustrious mystics. Of these gifts he left a record and clear explanations in many writings, composed out of obedience, copied by many, but published only after his death. He was beatified on 20 May 1825, canonized on 15 Jan. 1888. His liturgical feast falls on 30 Oct.

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