Rojas, Simón de, Blessed

ROJAS, SIMÓN de, blessed. - Friar of the Trinitarian Order, b. at Valladolid on 28 Oct. 1552, d. at Madrid on 28 Sept. 1624.

Having entered the Order at the age of seventeen, he taught philosophy and theology for a considerable time in various colleges; he was then superior and provincial (1621–24) of the province of Castile. Of great austerity, he fostered a singular devotion to the Virgin and, in order to spread it, founded the celebrated Congregation of the Slaves of the most sweet Name of Mary, better known under the title of the Congregation of the Ave Maria, whose first members were King Filippo III with his children and, following their example, the whole Spanish nobility. He was chaplain to the court of Filippo III and confessor to the Queen. A man of great charity, he carried out a subtle work of moral reform at court.

He wrote the valuable Trattato dell'orazione e sue grandezze (published at Buenos Aires only in 1939). He was beatified by Clemente XIII on 12 May 1766. Feast day: 28 Sept.

(pr. Enc. Cutt.)