DIEGO di ALCALÁ, saint. - B. around 1400 at S. Nicolás del Puerto (Andalusia). Of obscure birth, from childhood he showed a great love of solitude. He donned the Franciscan habit as a lay brother, displaying extraordinary humility in his religious life.
This did not prevent the Saint from showing remarkable prudence and skill in practical life: « vir prudens in rebus gerendis, in periculis subeundis constans, in propulsandis fortis, in adversis patiens, in prosperis sapiens » (as Wadding would portray him [Annales, XI, p. 162]). In 1441 he was sent as a missionary to the Canary Islands, which had fallen into superstition. There he brought about many conversions; in 1445, although a lay brother, he became guardian of
Fuerteventura. In 1449 he returned to Spain. In 1450, for the Jubilee (and also for the canonization of s. Bernardino da Siena), he was in Rome as a guest of the convent of the Ara Coeli. He died at Alcalá on 12 Nov. 1463, after an active life rich in ecstasies and miracles. His canonization, insistently requested by Filippo II himself, was performed by Sisto V on 2 July 1588. His feast falls on 13 Nov.