ROJAS, Simón de, Blessed. — Trinitarian friar of the Order, born in Valladolid on 28 Oct. 1552, died in Madrid on 28 Sept. 1624.
Having entered the Order at the age of 17, he taught philosophy and theology for a long time in various colleges; later he became superior and provincial (1621–24) of the province of Castile. Of great austerity, he nurtured a singular devotion to the Virgin and, to promote it, founded the celebrated Congregation of the Slaves of the Sweetest Name of Mary, better known under the title of the Congregation of the Ave Maria, whose first members included King Philip III with his children and, following their example, the entire Spanish nobility. He was chaplain to the court of Philip 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 Treatise on Prayer and Its Grandeur (published in Buenos Aires only in 1939). He was beatified by Clement XIII on 12 May 1766. Feast day: 28 Sept.
