CASTILLO, FRANCISCO del, venerable. - Peruvian Jesuit, b. in Lima on 9 Feb. 1615, d. there on 11 Apr. 1673. Received into the novitiate in 1632 and ordained priest in 1642, he was the apostle of his native city and its suburbs, especially of the Indians and blacks, even when he was confessor to the viceroy.
He enjoyed a reputation as a holy man, because of his practice of austere virtues, apostolic zeal, and mystical gifts. Indeed, guided in the ways of the spirit by Fr. Antonio Ruia de Montoya, Fr. del C. was favoured by God with extraordinary charisms.
His cause of beatification, begun as early as 1677 in Lima and in 1698 in Rome, was resumed in 1912. An autobiography of his has remained in manuscript.
