Hoyos, Bernardo Francisco de

HOYOS, BERNARDO FRANCISCO de. - Spanish mystic, servant of God, apostle of devotion to the Sacred Heart. Born at Torrelobatón (Castile) on 21 Aug. 1711, died at Valladolid on 29 Nov. 1735, a few months after his priestly ordination, during the third year of probation, in the odor of sanctity. He entered the Society of Jesus at the age of fifteen (1726), pursued his philosophical studies at Medina del Campo and his theological studies at the College of St. Ambrose in Valladolid, rapidly attaining the highest degrees of perfection. His body was buried in the church of St. Ignatius, but the suppression of the Order caused its location to be lost.

H. is one of the most representative figures of mysticism in Spain, and through a series of trials and visions of profound significance he was prepared by God to become the herald of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in his homeland, a mission the young man fulfilled after becoming acquainted with the pamphlet of his French confrere Gallifet (v.) De culto Sacrosancti Cordis Dei ac Domini N. I. Christi, winning over to the same ideal his own spiritual director Fr. Juan de Loyola and two confreres, Agostino Cardaveras and Pedro de Calatayud. From this understanding were born the Tesoro escondido en el S. Corazón de Jesús descubierto a nuestra España (1734) of Loyola and the Incendios de amor sacrado (Murcia 1733) of Calatayud, which quickly spread, arousing a current of fervor toward the Sacred Heart. For this reason Spain has dedicated to H. a special statue in the monumental group erected to the Divine Heart on the Cerro de los Angeles near Madrid and in the retable of the national Sanctuary of Valladolid. His cause of beatification has been introduced before the Sacred Congregation of Rites.

Arnaldo M. Lanz