DIEGO OF ALCALÁ, St. — Born c. 1400 at San Nicolás del Puerto (Andalusia). Of humble birth, he showed from childhood a great love for solitude. He donned the Franciscan habit as a lay brother, in a life of religious virtue marked by extraordinary humility.
This did not prevent the Saint from displaying notable prudence and practical skill in daily affairs: “vir prudens in rebus gerendis, in periculis subeundis constans, in propulsandis fortis, in adversis patiens, in prosperis sapiens” (as Wadding will depict him [Annales, XI, p. 162]). In 1441 he was sent as a missionary to the Canary Islands, which had fallen into superstition. There he effected many conversions; in 1445, though a lay brother, he became guardian of one of the finest preachers of his time and a profound mystic. A man of holy life, he died while serving as definitor general.
His works: Commentaria in logicam Aristotelis (Madrid 1608); he supervised the first edition of the works of St. John of the Cross (Alcalá 1618), though omitting the Canticle; to this edition he added an introduction to the same works: Apuntamientos para la más fácil inteligencia de los escritos de N. S. P. Juan de la Cruz. He also composed spiritual poems, published after his death by D. Martín de Ugalde: Conceptos espirituales (Madrid 1668).