Diego of Alcalá, Saint

DIEGO OF ALCALÁ, Saint. - B. around 1400 at S. Nicolás del Puerto (Andalusia). Of obscure birth, he showed from childhood a great love of solitude. He took the Franciscan habit as a lay brother, demonstrating extraordinary humility in his religious life.

This did not prevent the Saint from showing notable prudence and ability in practical life: « vir prudens in rebus gerendis, in periculis subeundis constans, in propulsandis fortis, in adversis patiens, in prosperis sapiens » (as Wadding would 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 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 St. Bernardine of Siena), he was in Rome as a guest of the convent of the Ara Coeli. He died in Alcalá on 12 Nov. 1463, after a busy life rich in ecstasies and miracles. His canonization, insistently petitioned by Philip II himself, was carried out by Sixtus V on 2 July 1588. His feast falls on 13 Nov.