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 priestly ordination, during the third year of probation, in a reputation for holiness. He entered the Society of Jesus at 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 Spanish mysticism. Through a series of trials and profound visions, he was prepared by God to become a herald of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in his native land, a mission he undertook after reading the GALLIFET, JOSEPH (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 fellow Jesuits, Agustín Cardaveras and Pedro de Calatayud. From this collaboration sprang Fr Loyola’s *Tesoro escondido en el S. Corazón de Jesús descubierto a nuestra España* (1734) and Fr Calatayud’s *Incendios de amor sacrado* (Murcia 1733), which quickly spread and stirred up a wave of fervour toward the Sacred Heart. For this reason Spain has placed a special statue of him in the monumental group erected to the Divine Heart on the Cerro de los Angeles near Madrid and in the altarpiece of the national shrine at Valladolid. His cause of beatification has been introduced before the Sacred Congregation of Rites.